The core curriculum is comprised of eight sequenced courses, (32 semesterhours) beginning in the student's first semester and continuing until complete. Students are required to take:

CORE 110 Communications I - African American Heritage
CORE 130 Mathematics
CORE 140 Communication II - African American Heritage
CORE 210 The Varieties of Literature
CORE 220 The Creative Arts
CORE 230 Natural Science
CORE 250 Humanities: Thought and Experience
CORE 360 The World and Its Peoples.
Four of the eight core courses -- CORE 110, 140, 210, and 250 -- are designated by the faculty as writing-intensive. In these courses, special effort is made to teach written and oral communication skills in the context of the other content of the course. Writing-intensive courses require substantial, formal written work. The instructor devotes time to good writing, logic, organization, grammar and the importance of rewriting. Students may be required to do less formal writing, also write informally, journals, short essays, etc.

 

The foundations of public speaking are laid in Core 110 and Core 140, with other speaking components in Core 210 and Core 250 throughout the core. Transfer students may be exempted from certain of Fisk’s core courses, depending upon their prior course work. In particular: CORE 110 maybe waived for students whose transfer credits include a course in English composition and a course in fundamentals of public speaking.