Office of the Registrar

The Wittenberg Plan

Comprehensive Requirements in the Liberal Arts and Sciences

At Wittenberg, we are serious about our promise to provide you with an education possessing both breadth and depth. The major program you select will give you the chance to pursue an area in depth.

But, what about breadth? Many schools attempt to achieve breadth merely by asking students to select courses from several departments. At Wittenberg we just don't think that distributional requirements are sufficient. After all, how can a student make informed choices about what kinds of courses to take in which department? To be sure, students need to experience learning in several departments, but that just isn't enough to provide the kind of broad educational experience students will need to meet the demands of the next century. How can a student achieve a broad-based education that makes sense and meets the needs of today's student population?

To answer that question, the Wittenberg faculty has designed a comprehensive program based on learning goals in 16 areas. As students work both through courses created specifically to meet some of these goals and through major programs, they participate in a learning experience that prepares them for a lifetime of learning. These goals reflect our belief that there a number of fundamental skills and understandings that all students should develop if they are to be well-educated. Wittenberg's program of comprehensive education in the liberal arts and sciences informs the specialized study of the major and provides the curricular integrity and coherence called for by Wittenberg's academic mission and tradition of academic excellence.

What does Wittenberg consider essential to your success in the twenty-first century? How can we help you prepare for lifelong learning, for a successful career, and for your future role as a citizen in a multi-cultural and global society?

First of all, you need to establish a strong foundation for your college career. Wittenberg has established learning goals in six areas that are essential to preparing you to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing world:

Foundations

Of course, you must also build on the foundation that you gain when you acquire skills and knowledge in writing, research, foreign languages, mathematical reasoning, speaking, and computing. At Wittenberg, you have the opportunity to use these skills in courses that meet learning goals in the Liberal Arts and Sciences.

All courses that count toward your comprehensive requirements in the liberal arts and sciences and all major programs address the Diversity of Human Experience. The Wittenberg faculty believes that all students should gain an appreciation and an understanding of the role of human diversity in contemporary culture. Thus, a Wittenberg education helps you understand how gender, ethnicity, national culture, religious heritage, age, life experience, and philosophical differences shape the global and multi-cultural society in which we live.

The following seven learning goals introduce students to ways of knowing and encountering the social, cultural, and natural worlds. Courses from many departments have been approved to meet each of these learning goals. The variety of departments participating in the Wittenberg Plan demonstrates the inter-disciplinary and transdisciplinary nature of learning at the modern university.

Learning Goals

Finally, we recognize that some essential forms of learning occur outside of the traditional academic curriculum. Therefore, students at Wittenberg are asked to achieve two learning goals described as Co-Curricular Activities.