Core Requirements
Students tailor much of their academic programs to their own goals and needs, but there are minimum curricular requirements for receiving a degree from Juniata. Special adjustments in these requirements will be administered by the Registrar according to policies developed by the Curriculum Committee. Questions will be answered by the Registrar or faculty advisers. Also, all courses available for college credit require Curriculum Committee approval.
Students are responsible for ensuring that all graduation requirements are completed. The student must satisfactorily complete or maintain a MINIMUM of the following:
I. Students must complete at least 120 credits with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.00 to graduate.
II. Liberal Arts: Distribution
The intent of the distribution requirement is to assist students
in broadening their education. This breadth helps students to develop
and retain the intellectual flexibility necessary to cope with their
rapidly changing environment.
Students must complete at least six credit hours of coursework in
each of the following five areas. In three of these five areas,
at least one course must have a prerequisite or be at the 300-level.
Fine Arts (F): The Fine Arts requirement enlarges the domain of students' sensibilities and extends the range of their expressive abilities by providing a minimal acquaintance with the fundamental forms of aesthetic experience. Courses either involve students in the practice of certain artistic skills or in the study of the history of their development and practice, or both. Offerings include courses in Art, Music, Theatre, and Creative Writing.
International Studies (I): Because we live in a steadily shrinking world, almost every issue of significance quickly becomes a global issue. Introducing an awareness of foreign values and points of view into the intellectual habit of our students is especially important. Liberal arts learning at its best should equip our students to deal responsibly with the larger world they inhabit. A course may receive an "I" designation if it meets one of the following criteria: 1. The primary aim of the course is to introduce students to the history, culture, or civic life of one or more culture(s)/ country(ies) other than the United States, or to compare the history, culture, or civic life of the United States and one or more other culture(s)/country(ies); 2. The course requires students to think and express themselves in a language other than English; 3. The course examines the social or cultural world of humans at a systemic level, i.e. it examines the international economic system, international politics, international law, etc. "I" courses include anthropology, foreign languages, geography, non-U.S. history, non-U.S. political science, non-U.S. art history, and non-Western literature and religion.
Social Science (S): No education in modern times would be adequate without some understanding of how human behavior is determined, both individually and corporately. Leadership requires knowledge of both the insights and limitations of scientific study of the forces and factors which structure human life. Social Science courses include anthropology, business, economics, education, peace and conflict studies, political science, psychology, and sociology.
Humanities (H): Students need to have some sense of their 'cultural identity,' that is, what are the forms of thought, literature, and history which have given shape and meaning to western life. An indispensable aspect of this study is acquiring the habits of mind (skepticism, imagination, judgement) necessary to reinterpret the values of this heritage in the face of the complexity and ambiguity inherent in every human situation. Humanities courses include offerings in communications, foreign languages, history, literature, philosophy, and religion.
Natural Sciences (N): Nothing is more central to intellectual advance than the study of nature and the acquisition of those analytical attitudes of mind necessary for systematic inquiry about the universe in which we live. To learn the role of accident and revision in the process of discovery is as important as learning the methods and discipline for the scientific pursuit of truth. Science courses that fulfill this requirement include astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, physics, mathematics, and computer science.
III. Cultural Analysis Component
Each student takes two courses designed to develop the necessary
skills to identify, understand and analyze culture. The first Cultural
Analysis (CA) course, chosen from a selection of approved courses,
prepares students with the skills to think critically about culture
from a variety of theoretical and comparative perspectives. Students
are introduced to a variety of texts and media selected to stimulate
discussion of the nature of modernity and how the interactions between
proponents and opponents of the modern have shaped the world in
which we live. Course materials reflect some of the principal ideas
and assumptions behind the institutions and beliefs that inform
perceptions, definitions and critiques of the modern world. CA I
courses can not satisfy distribution (FISHN) requirements. For CA
II, students also have a choice from among a list of courses designed
to enhance their skills in identification, understanding, and analysis
of culture. CA II courses may be used for POE (Program of Emphasis)
requirements.
IV. Communications Component
A) The College Writing Seminar, an interdisciplinary course in the
freshmen year, introduces students to the diverse modes of thought
and communication that characterize the college experience, and
will help them think and express themselves more effectively in
and out of the classroom. The course focuses primarily on reading
and writing skills, and integrates instruction of computer and library
research skills and attention to study skills, career planning,
and other issues relevant to first-year college students. The integrative
approach is based on the belief that curricular and co-curricular
activities are inseparable, and that life skills cannot and should
not be compartmentalized.
B) In addition to the College Writing Seminar, students will take at least four "C" courses (minimum 12 credits), two of which must be writing-based and two of which may be speech-based. Two courses must be in the P.O.E. and at least one of those courses must be at the 300-level or above.
A writing-based (CW) course requires at least 25% of the grade be determined by one or more writing assignments that receive structured feedback on the writing by the instructor. This structured feedback appears on: 1) one or more writing assignments that require multiple submissions to be reviewed and commented upon by the instructor; and/or 2) multiple writing assignments where earlier graded, commented upon assignments are returned to students before later assignments are due. Either option pertains to individually written or collaboratively written assignments. A speech-based (CS) course requires at least 25% of the grade be determined by active student participation in two or more oral individual or group presentations, and it fulfills two requirements: (1) The course aims to develop rhetorical skills (speech design and delivery, listening, negotiation, leadership, persuasion, collaboration, or decision making) necessary for effective and creative speech in individual, group or public presentation. (2) The course offers students at least two opportunities to demonstrate these skills. Evaluation of the first opportunity guides improvement of the second.
V. Quantitative Component
Students must demonstrate (1) basic competency in statistics, and
(2) an understanding of basic mathematical skills. To satisfy the
requirement students have three options: (1) completion of a "Q"
course, which deals explicitly with both statistical and mathematical
skills or (2) completion of a statistical (QS) and a mathematical
(QM) course or (3) pass proficiency exams in math and statistics.
VI. Program of Emphasis (POE)
More than 50 percent of Juniata graduates elect to develop an individualized
POE. Students are encouraged to select the POE format that best
serves their needs.
The Program of Emphasis (POE) is Juniata's unique approach to focused education in an academic area of a student's choosing. Somewhat similar to a traditional "major," the POE consists of up to half of the total degree and is an opportunity for students to explore in depth a particular discipline or to craft an interdisciplinary plan to study an area. With advisers' help, students draft a POE goal statement, identify classes, and develop rationale for their program. Students may choose an already developed "Designated POE" or construct their own "Individualized POE" with the help of their two advisers and the approval of the appropriate faculty committee.
Students must design and complete a Program of Emphasis (POE) consisting
of 45-60 credit hours with a minimum of 18 credit hours at the 300-
or 400-level. Interdisciplinary POEs may have a maximum of 90 credit
hours.
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