General Professional Studies (GPS)
GPS 1100 Communication in Professional Contexts (Foundations). An introduction to communication in professional contexts, focusing on the nature, value, acquisition, and practice of excellent professional communication skills and competencies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Periodically)
GPS 1200 Teamwork in Professional Contexts (Foundations). An introduction to teamwork in professional contexts, focusing on the nature, value, acquisition, and practice of excellent teamwork skills and competencies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Periodically)
GPS 1300 Project Coordination in Professional Contexts (Foundations). An introduction to project coordination in professional contexts, focusing on the nature, value, acquisition, and practice of excellent project coordination skills and competencies 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Periodically)
GPS 1400 Leadership in Professional Contexts (Foundations). An introduction to leadership in professional contexts, focusing on the nature, value, acquisition, and practice of excellent leadership skills and competencies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Periodically)
GPS 2291 Topics. Intermediate-level examination of special subjects within General Professional Studies according to the interest of faculty and students. 1-3 semester credit hour/s. Course Repeatable. Maximum number of units allowed: 12.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Periodically)
GPS 3000 Personal Tenacity & Accountability. “Nuts!!: Learning Tenacity and Accountability Through Military Leaders": The course will examine issues of leadership, tenacity and accountability through several important military leaders and engagements such as George Washington at Valley Forge; Lt. Gen Harold Moore and the battle of Ia Drang Valley; General Anthony McAuliff at the siege of Bastogne; and examine their leadership through the lens of Jim Collins’ classic, From Good to Great. Prerequisite: General Professional Studies Major. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3100 Lifelong Learning & Change Management. Professional success requires adaptation, change, lifelong learning, and the management of multiple demands. This course examines texts by ancient, medieval, and modern philosophers of relevance to the following questions: What is a successful human life? What roles do work, study, and leisure play within such a life? How does such a life balance the rival demands among a person’s various roles (e.g., personal, professional, and social)? What beliefs, attitudes, practices, and institutions facilitate successful living? Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Designation: Writing Intensive
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3200 Sustainability & Citizenship. This course examines the environmental and health consequences of societal decisions like the widespread use of pesticides, fossil fuels, single-use plastic, and a car-centered built environment. How can we best tackle the two biggest environmental challenges: climate change and toxic contamination of humans and ecosystems? Are we always doomed to make decisions that fix one problem while creating a hydra-head of unintended consequences? Or can we learn to make decisions for the long term that promote human health, resilient communities, and a sustainable environment? Prerequisite: General Professional Studies Major. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Designation: Writing Intensive; Sustainability
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3300 Information, Application & Design I. Graphic Design Essentials: The creation of visually dynamic publications and presentations is essential to many jobs in today's career landscape. This class will focus on building quality print and digital publications using professional software. We will explore design theory and industry-wide best practices. When finished, you will have multiple items for your portfolio. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3391 Advanced Topics. Advanced examination of special subjects within General Professional Studies according to the interest of faculty and students. 1-3 semester credit hour/s. Course Repeatable. Maximum number of units allowed: 12.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall Term, Even Years)
GPS 3395 Independent Study. Designed to encourage the superior student to study in-depth and to research an area beyond the undergraduate course offerings. 1-3 semester credit hour/s. Course Repeatable. Maximum number of units allowed: 12.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Periodically)
GPS 3400 Cognitive Flexibility & Problem Solving I. A study of logic in its application to the solution of real-world problems. Students will learn to identify inferential patterns in natural language, break arguments down into their most basic components, and use techniques of formal and informal reasoning to critically evaluate the logical structures of concrete arguments. The skills of argument evaluation will then be applied to problem cases in each student’s field of professional interest. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3500 Inquiry, Curiosity & Judgement. Developing A Moral Compass for Ethical Decision-Making Through Critical Thought and Art Analysis: How do we develop inner strength and moral fortitude as we navigate through life? In this course we will discover what is human about the humanities by searching for the inner truth and beauty apparent in creation represented by humankind and nature. Through the study of aesthetics, we will gain a heightened sensitivity to our sensory experiences, which will guide us to reflective thought. Learning a structure for the analysis of works of art will not only prepare us to understand the depth and profundity of human expression in works of art, but also help us to develop a moral compass by preparing us to become critical thinkers capable of informed ethical decision-making. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3600 Relationship Development: Interpersonal & Multi-Cultural. Intercultural and Multicultural Engagement: Exploring Communities and Their Literary/Cultural Texts: This course allows students to interact with diverse groups of people in order to learn more about local communities, different cultural spaces, diverse faiths and places of worship, changing neighborhoods, and local histories. We will cultivate skills for communicating across cultural boundaries and will study recent multicultural literary, academic, and cultural texts that challenge us to engage with a variety of social and cultural perspectives. In addition to reading narratives online and in print, students will have the opportunity to arrange their own visits to different sites of cultural interest in their local areas (e.g., houses of worship, community centers, neighborhoods, business districts, festivals, museums, performance centers, etc.) as part of our efforts to study communities, their stories, and the diverse cultural texts that illuminate their identities. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Designation: Global
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3700 Cognitive Flexibility & Problem Solving II. This course will address the growing need for quantitative, scientific, and financial literacy in both the social sciences and civic life. Students will examine the use and misuse of quantitative information in the scientific literature, popular press and public policy. The course will emphasize the scope and limitations of the quantitative methods as well as the insights they can and cannot provide. Additionally students will apply general quantitative reasoning skills in tasks aimed at promoting general scientific and financial literacy. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies 3 semester credit hour/s.
Designation: Engaged Learning
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3800 Information, Application & Design II. Political Tribalism: in this course students will examine political parties, factions and special interest groups, as well as racial, gender and other forms of bias, by focusing on the tribal dynamics of groups, both in political and social life. Students will work to design new strategies to avoid or curb tribal tendencies and be trained to understand opportunities for finding common ground and working beyond the narrow identities associated with groups. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 3900 Benedictine Wisdom for Today. This course will teach students the skills of careful reading, attentiveness, writing, and dialogue via Benedictine lectio divina. We will read deeply from texts in the Benedictine Wisdom tradition, including the Bible, the Rule, and works by Hildegard, Bernard, Merton, and the Tibhirine monks, all while considering timeless and timely topics, such as listening, discernment, obedience, humility, discipline, free will, attentiveness, work-life balance, the virtue of silence, hospitality, and dialogue, etc. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 4000 Emotional Intelligence, Collaboration & Success. The course will focus on the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues that enable individuals and groups to flourish. We will explore positive psychology by learning about the research and application of this research with special emphasis on topics such as happiness, empathy, compassion, optimism, resilience, flow, forgiveness, gratitude, and generosity. Upon completion of the course students will be able to apply their learning to enhance personal functioning. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)
GPS 4100 Language and Culture: Navigating Differences. Sociocultural Aspects of Language: Examines how factors such as ethnicity, gender, and social class affect the use of language in personal, professional, and public spaces. Considers the impact of social, cultural, and political factors on language use in linguistically diverse communities. Prerequisite: Major in General Professional Studies. 3 semester credit hour/s.
Campus: LISLE (Typically Offered: Fall and Spring Terms)