The Alpha Program matches the College’s most experienced faculty and scholars with first-year students in small, seminar-style classes. Alpha encourages you to challenge yourself academically, to travel into a realm of thought you have previously only imagined, provides occasions to match wits with some of the Loyola faculty’s best minds, and offers a chance to meet other first-year students who share the same passion for learning and knowledge.

Students who choose to live in Alpha House will enroll in one Alpha seminar and will live together in either apartments in Campion Tower or doubles-style living options (based on living preference).  These living-learning communities will provide students with an opportunity to share their passion for learning both in and out of the classroom and will create an environment that supports the hallmarks of a Jesuit education where intellectual, social and spiritual pursuits blend seamlessly.  Once a month, an Alpha faculty member will host a program in Alpha House.  Other shared activities will include community service projects, Jesuit values dinner discussions, a theater trip to New York City and more. 
 
While 336 students can enroll in the Alpha seminars, there are only 105 spaces available in the Alpha House, so interested students should sign-up as soon as possible.

The Faculty
Alpha faculty, among the very best teachers and scholars at Loyola, are dedicated men and women who have devoted their lives to the study and command of their disciplines. They will share their work with you, helping you venture further into the world of academics and welcoming you into Loyola’s community of scholars. Your Alpha professor will serve as your academic advisor until you declare your major, helping you to register for classes, consider possible majors, and make decisions that could affect your future career. Most importantly, you will begin a relationship that will have a lasting effect on your entire experience at Loyola.

Alpha Seminars
Where Reason and Belief Coincide
In Alpha, you’ll discover the vitality of the Catholic  educational tradition, which holds that belief and reason are mutually illuminating and the examined life is worth living. A Jesuit education explores the ways in which this ideal affects human culture, and Alpha Seminars represent Jesuit Education at its best. Alpha seminars, which are limited to 16 students, focus on disciplines as wide ranging as theology and business, literature and biology, computer science and fine arts, philosophy and history. Seminar professors will introduce you to their scholarly work, sharing the benefits of careful reading, critical writing, scholastic conversation, and the life of the mind. Outside the classroom, you’ll spend time engaging in cultural excursions designed to complement the seminars and enrich your understanding of the world around you.

 

Alpha Program seminars are three-credit courses. They meet for three class periods and for 50 additional minutes each week to allow for in-depth exploration of the subject being studied as well as trips to museums, theaters, and restaurants. The relationship between the faculty members and their students is at the heart of the seminars.

All students are required to take at least three non-departmental electives. Therefore, Alpha electives provide an opportunity for students to explore new areas of study while fulfilling one of the non-departmental graduation requirements.

Common Text Program
The Common Text Program, will involve every member of the freshman class in reading Eboo Patel’s Acts of Faith. Your Alpha class will meet to discuss this book during fall orientation in preparation for the Common Text events that take place once the semester begins.