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Academic Approach

Our core curriculum is designed to provide transferable skills rooted in The Four Pillars of the Miami Plan. These Four Pillars are an embodiment of our university mission and values, informing our instruction and guiding us in all we do. Anchored by The Four Pillars, each of the unique courses in the Miami Plan core curriculum are designed to broaden perspectives, build global literacy, and provide students with the willpower and expertise required for success in today’s world.

The Four Pillars

The Four Pillars are the crux of the liberal education you will receive at Miami University. Every course you take within the Miami Plan will meet each pillar in a fundamental way.

Pillar One: Civic-Mindedness and Social Engagement

You will understand and articulate how your research and studies relate to the greater social good; you will understand your education not simply as preparation for a better job but for global civic engagement and service to others.

Pillar Two: Collaboration and Innovation

You will gain experience in collaborative and innovative research, effective teamwork, adaptability, creativity, entrepreneurship, leadership, and technological literacy.

Pillar Three: Communication and Expression

You will realize your capacity to communicate research and ideas — and, as applicable, to persuade — with sophistication, force, and clarity, orally, in writing, and through other audio/visual/semiotic means.

Pillar Four: Critical and Integrative Thinking

You will systematically research and explore complex claims, objects, texts, and problems through the development of questions and hypotheses, collection and analysis of evidence, the formation of sound conclusions or judgments, and a habit of self-scrutiny and revision.

Perspective Areas

Miami's academic approach includes courses that empower students to examine issues from a wide array of perspectives.

Arts and Humanities

Understand, appreciate, and critically engage creative works and histories of the arts and the diversity of human experience.

Formal Reasoning and Communication

Execute problem solving, pattern finding, formal reasoning, communication, and advanced writing.

Global Citizenship

Foster ethical citizenship and an awareness of the contexts in which diverse identities and social roles are created by focusing on a deeper understanding of self and others in a multilingual and multicultural world.

Science and Society

Explore the complex connections of our physical and biological environment, human behavior, and society.