Core Requirements

The core curriculum is based on the faculty's belief that a liberal arts education should be broad and inclusive, introducing students to ideas and values of continuing concern and providing them with historical and spiritual perspectives on the complex problems of our society. The core curriculum is also designed to provide Covenant students with common learning experiences, to emphasize the God-ordained unity of knowledge, to provide a global rather than a provincial emphasis in learning, to focus students' attention not only on the past and the present but also on the future, and to develop students' capacities to learn not only through ratiocination but experientially. Crucial to the success of the core curriculum is the pervasiveness of a biblical perspective in every course.

All students who are candidates for a baccalaureate degree are required to take courses or demonstrate competency in each area of the core curriculum. Exceptions to these requirements are listed in the sections of the catalog describing particular majors. If a core requirement is fulfilled by demonstrating proficiency, no credit hours are awarded. These hours will be replaced with elective hours applied toward the minimum of 126 hours needed to graduate. Some programs will require more than 126 hours.

All students who are candidates for a baccalaureate degree are required to complete an intercultural experience. Students involve themselves, as participants/observers, in a cultural or ethnic setting other than their own culture of origin (or subculture of their own country), in a deep and meaningful way either as temporary members of a family, as workers in that society, or as volunteers in a service or mission agency, with the intention of engaging that culture as fully as possible in a specified period of time.

One component of this broad liberal arts core curriculum is the skill of public speaking. Beginning in Fall 2006, most departments will offer a ‘Speech Intensive' or ‘S' course that will satisfy this component. Many departments have designated their Senior Integration Paper (SIP) course as the 'S' course, which means this will come at the end of a student's studies at Covenant. Some departments have not designated an 'S' course and students pursuing those majors will be required to complete ENG 252 Speech. Below is a summary definition of what qualifies a course as an 'S' course.

‘S' course definition: A course in which students are required to make a prepared and organized oral presentation (minimum 12 minutes) to a class of peers and faculty. Instruction about form, content, and assessment will precede the oral presentation, and rubric-based evaluation of content, form, and delivery will follow it. In addition to whole-class instruction, there will be some level of mentoring interaction between professors and individual students.

With each list of major requirements, majors have designated the ‘S' course for the major or listed separately an alternate course which will satisfy this component. If the student completed the major's ‘S' course prior to Fall 2006, it will not satisfy the "S" requirement, and the student will need to complete ENG 252. Speech to satisfy this requirement. However, if the student takes that major's ‘S' course in a future term, the student will not be required to take ENG 252 Speech.

Another core component is writing skills that are grounded in our ‘W' courses, also taught within our majors as defined below.

‘W' course definition: A course in which the conventions of formal writing in the discipline are taught, including adherence to a style manual or other disciplinary parameters. A major writing assignment will incorporate pre-writing instruction about form, content, and assessment, and subsequent rubric-based assessment will address both content and form. In addition to whole-class instruction, there will be some level of mentoring interaction between professors and individual students. The SIP may not count as a ‘W' course.

Distribution Requirements

Distribution requirements allow a student to select courses of interest to gain exposure to a variety of disciplines contributing to the broad liberal arts content. Below are the four distribution requirements with the courses that can satisfy these components.

Fine arts distribution courses explore varied elements of human artistic inquiry and/or expression. Students who successfully complete this requirement will have demonstrated the ability to:

• Engage various elements of human creative process as found in the visual, musical or theatrical arts.
• Appreciate the products of human creativity in the visual, musical or theatrical arts.
• Think biblically about the process and products of human creativity in the visual, musical or theatrical arts.

Humanities distribution courses explore varied elements of human culture, thought, and/or literary expression. Students who successfully complete this requirement will have demonstrated the ability to:

• Engage various elements of human thought, literary expression and cultural development.
• Recognize the interplay between human thought, literary expression and cultural development.
• Think biblically about the process and products of human cultural development, thought and literary expression.

Natural science lab distribution courses explore elements of scientific investigation and content, including hands-on laboratory experiences, in one or more of the natural sciences. Students who successfully complete this requirement will have demonstrated the ability to:

• Engage various elements of scientific exploration in physical or biological sciences.
• Appreciate the products of scientific study in physical or biological sciences.
• Think biblically about the process and products of scientific endeavor in physical or biological sciences.

Social science distribution courses explore human behavior at the individual, group, and structural levels, as well as the interplay of these factors. Courses will make use of social and/or behavioral science methods, both quantitative and qualitative. Students who successfully complete this requirement will have demonstrated the ability to:

• Engage various elements of the exploration of human social interactions, institutions and behaviors.
• Appreciate the products of the study of human social interactions, institutions and behaviors.
• Think biblically about the process and products of the study of human social interactions, institutions and behaviors.

Courses Satisfying Two Requirements: To encourage breadth in the overall academic programs, a course in a student’s major department will normally not be allowed to satisfy a core distribution requirement. However, courses that are not "prefixed" in the major department, but are nonetheless required "supporting courses" for the major program may be used to satisfy core distribution requirements while also satisfying major program requirements. Also, it is permissible to use a course to satisfy a core distribution requirement and meet the requirements of a minor or a second major when the core of the first major is already satisfied.

Examples: In the art major, a course with an ART-prefix could not be used to satisfy the fine arts distribution requirement. In the biology major, supporting course requirements include chemistry (CHE) lab courses. These CHE lab courses would count toward fulfilling the natural science lab distribution requirement for a student majoring in biology, whereas BIO lab courses would not.