Academic Catalog

Special programs

Adult programs

Bachelor degree programs with majors in organizational leadership and nursing are offered in the evening. For more detailed information, see the Division of Adult and External Studies (DAES) section.

Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning

The Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning, known as CITL, was established with a grant from Lilly Endowment. It has three main areas of activity:

  • Research - CITL is conducting research on the dynamics behind the changing ethnic composition in a rural Midwest community and its implications for higher education.
  • Educational Access - CITL is working to make a Goshen College education accessible to Latino students and in the process enabling the college to better serve other culturally diverse students.
  • Transformed Learning Community - CITL is creating an intercultural learning community for all Goshen College students that prepares them for communication, understanding and collaboration needed in the 21st century.
    See http://citl.goshen.edu/ for more information.

Honors opportunities

The academic ethos at Goshen College is rigorous and engaging. Requirements for the Dean's List and the Latin Honors system for graduates are described in the Academic policies section of the catalog. Two special honors opportunities are described below.

Academic Symposium

An annual Academic Symposium features exemplary student research and writing. The symposium brings together students and faculty members involved in original research and scholarly activity from all disciplines. A selection of papers representing the quality of student reserch at Goshen College is publichsed on the Academic Symposium Web site: http:www.goshen.edu/honors/Research Symposium.

Maple Scholars

Each summer the Maple Scholars program supports numerous student-faculty research partnerships. Maple Scholars is an eight-week program that gives students the opportunity to participate in independent research alongside Goshen College faculty of various disciplines. Each scholar is paired with a faculty member who works with and supervises individuals to help carry out their work. Students who are selected as Maple Scholars live in campus housing and receive a stipend See www.goshen.edu/academics/maple_scholars.php for more details.

Indianapolis Peace Institute

Goshen collaborates with Earlham and Manchester colleges to offer an urban peacemaking experience. The city of Indianapolis is the classroom. The peace house program combines a living and learning experience with other college students, academic study and an internship at an Indianapolis agency. A 14-week, 15-credit program in fall or spring semester. Summer internships also available. For more information, contact a PJCS faculty member, the associate dean for international education and off-campus programs, or see http://www.indianapolispeaceinstitute.org/

Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center

Owned and operated by Goshen College, the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center is a 1,150-acre complex of fields, forest, bogs and meadow located 30 miles south of the campus. Opportunities are available for field research in natural sciences as well as teaching internships in outdoor education. More than 6,000 K-12 children each year are guests at Merry Lea. Facilities include an environmental-education building that houses a classroom, offices and library, a Farmstead, a pavillion, and some housing with overnight accommodations. Rieth Village, a set of "green" collegiate laboratory/residence buildings was completed in 2006. Rieth Village received a Platinum award, the highest level possible and one of only 43 in the nation, from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system. LEED buildings are required to meet rigorous standards in areas such as enery efficiency, water management, use of recycled materials and indoor air quality. Merry Lea offers undergraduate courses in environmental science and education. A master's degree program in environmental education began in 2008.See www.goshen.edu/merrylea/ for more information.

Goshen College Music Center

The Goshen College Music Center, opened in 2002, is a beautiful award-winning facility with excellent acoustics. The Music Center contains the 1,000-seat Sauder Concert Hall, 300-seat Rieth Recital Hall, rehearsal rooms, classrooms, practice rooms, and offices. The Hershberger Art Gallery features rotating exhibits by guest artists, faculty and students. The Music Center hosts a popular annual Performing Arts Series with world-class performers as well as dozens of other concerts. The Community School of the Arts, based in the Music Center, offers piano lessons, Suzuki string lessons, children's choirs and other musical activities to more than 300 families. The Acorn Project provides subsidized music lessons for low-income families. String orchestra opportunities are also offered for home-schooled students and older adults. More information is available at www.gcmusiccenter.org.

Off-campus May-term courses

Each May-term, marine biology courses are offered at Goshen College's marine biology facility on Long Key in Florida. Environmental science courses are also offered each May at Merry Lea. Most other courses in the list below are offered every two years. Off-campus May term courses offered by Goshen College in 2006-08 were:

  • Anabaptist History in Europe
  • The Arts in London
  • Biology of the Sea (Florida)
  • Borderlands (Texas/Mexico)
  • Business in Spain
  • Camping and Recreation (Boundary Waters, Minnesota)
  • Field Experience in Environmental Biology
  • General Ecology (Merry Lea)
  • Marine Biology (Florida)
  • Ornithology (Merry Lea)
  • Religious Journalism

Other off-campus programs

In addition to Goshen College SST and May-term courses, many other possibilities for off-campus study exist in cooperation with other colleges and universities. (See list below.) For information about registering for any of these programs, contact the associate dean and director of international education.

Financial policies for off-campus programs

Special arrangements make it possible for students to register for Goshen College credit while participating in the programs below. However, since tuition and fees are collected and passed on to the other agencies or colleges, sources of student financial aid and scholarships while enrolled in these programs are nearly always limited to outside funding such as Pell grants, state grants, non-Goshen College scholarships and Stafford Loans.

Goshen College tuition discounts, scholarships and direct financial aid can be used only when a sponsored program is required for a student’s major and those requirements cannot be fulfilled without the sponsored off-campus experience (Spanish major, e.g.). For Goshen College financial aid to apply to required off-campus study, an application must be submitted and the major must be declared by spring advising days prior to the year of off-campus study.

To obtain information on financial aid, contact the student financial aid office. Academic credits earned in these sponsored off-campus programs are considered residential credits. However, these are not Goshen College programs. Therefore, May-term fees are charged for students who were off-campus in one of these affiliated programs during fall or spring semester.

Off-campus programs affiliated with Goshen College

  • Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies offers summer programs in Mancelona, Mich., and other locations. Contact the environmental science director for more information or see www.ausable.org.
  • Brethren Colleges Abroad offers academic-year and half-year programs in Europe, Asia and South America. Contact Spanish professors for more information or see www.bcanet.org.
  • Central American Study and Service (CASAS) in Guatemala offers semester or summer programs in Spanish and Central American studies. See http://semilla.org.gt/ingles/CASAS/casas.html for more information.
  • Chicago Center offers semester and summer programs in Soc 302, Urban Diversity and many internship possibilities. Because of special financial arrangements with this program, students who spend the fall or spring semester at Chicago Center are not charged extra for a May term at Goshen. See www.chicagocenter.org for more information.
  • Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) offers various semester and summer programs. For further information, see www.bestsemester.com. Semester programs of CCCU include the Los Angeles Film Studies Center. Located near major production studios, the program combines seminar courses with Christian context and a liberal arts perspective. Participation in this program is required for theater and communication majors who elect a film studies concentration.
  • Council on International Education Exchange offers many academic-year and half-year programs in Europe, Asia and Latin America. See www.ciee.org for more information.
  • Lithuania Christian College has summer TESOL internships and semester study opportunities. See www.lccbc.org for more information
  • Oregon Extension, in an old logging camp, offers an interdisciplinary fall semester and a women’s studies May term for students from Christian colleges. Contact www.oregonextension.org for more information.
  • Washington Community Scholars Center, sponsored by Eastern Mennonite University, has semester, year-long or spring/summer programs available in Washington, D.C. Includes significant internship experience and course work at a nearby university. See www.emu.edu/wcsc for more information.