1. Who can enroll in a WittSem? 

Only first-term, first-year Wittenberg students. The WittSem program gives students a chance to study and form friendships with people in their graduating class right from the start as well as work closely with a Wittenberg instructor deeply committed to teaching first-year students. In most cases, your WittSem instructor will be your academic advisor until you declare your major.

2. What do the WittSems have in common?

The WittSems fulfill the Integrated Learning ("L") requirement for General Education.  The Integrated Learning Requirement states:

"A student should gain an understanding of connections between differing modes of inquiry, experience learning as a shared experience, and see the relationships between the world of learning and their lives."

This means that students will learn to adopt an interdisciplinary perspective in their WittSems, approaching an academic topic from multiple points of view. In addition, the WittSem program has identified 3 crucial academic transition issues that first-year students need to master early in their college careers to be successful at Wittenberg. These transition goals are built into each WittSem, regardless of the topic:

• developing college learning skills (problem solving, reasoning, synthesis, comparison, analysis/critique)
• understanding the theory and practice of the liberal arts and liberal learning
• understanding and practicing academic integrity

  

3. How will students be placed in the WittSems?

Incoming first-year students can view a list of available WittSems and their course descriptions on the Pre-Orientation Portal.  A list of previous  WittSem course descriptions is available on this site.  First-year students should be prepared to select several WittSems that they have an interest in.  On the Pre-Orientation Portal students will submit those preferences along with their other course preferences for the Fall semester.  The Registrar will use the preference list to enroll you in one of the WittSems you selected.

Further questions can be directed to:
Ty Buckman
Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs & Curriculum 
(937) 327-7924
tbuckman@wittenberg.edu