Program

Interdisciplinary Courses

Interdisciplinary (ID) courses provide areas of integrated learning in which students wrestle with and address complex questions that face our society, and are woven throughout the curriculum. Throughout their QuEST, students will be challenged to answer these questions by examining different perspectives, theories and experiences in order to arrive at a more discerning conclusion. Students cultivate adeptness in navigating complexity and thinking holistically about these issues in order to reflect upon their own beliefs, as well as bridge values and assumptions of diverse perspectives. In turn, students are empowered to respond to unexpected and ever-changing realities they will encounter in life, work and society. Interdisciplinary courses include:

IDFY 101/2 First Year Seminar

IDCR 151 Created and Called for Community

IDNW 2xx Non-Western Studies

IDCC 260 Cross-Cultural Studies

IDPL 3xx Pluralism in Contemporary Society

IDET 3xx Ethics

IDWV 3xx World Views

IDST 3xx Science, Technology and the World

Lists of specific courses meeting QuEST requirements, including those cataloged within specific departments which are approved to meet the ID course objectives, are identified in the course descriptions and are published each semester by the Office of the Registrar. Course titles and content in each category may vary from semester to semester.

Writing Across the Curriculum

Effective writing is a distinctive of the Messiah College education. The Writing Across the Curriculum Program (WAC) at Messiah College is composed of a College-wide community of teacher-scholars committed to the principle that writing is a fundamental mode of self-discovery, intellectual understanding, and human interaction. Therefore, the program is further committed to the principle that both the teaching of writing and the use of writing to further and disseminate human insight into the world around us is the responsibility of every educator. Courses which have a writing-enriched designation incorporate writing instruction and analytical assignments which require a minimum extent of pages as well as drafts to instill the skill of writing as a process.

The specific objectives of the WAC Program in terms of curriculum are outlined in other documents, but the fundamental mission of the WAC Program includes the following:

• To ensure that all students will graduate with abilities in writing that will enable them to communicate effectively with various audiences and in multiple writing situations.
• To encourage all students to understand and employ writing as a means of learning and self-discovery, and to encourage the use of writing as a means of life-long learning.
• To equip faculty members in their efforts to be more effective teachers of writing, and to promote the use of writing as a fundamental form of pedagogy across all disciplines.
• To nurture a culture of writing on campus that values and celebrates writing and reading in all areas of campus life.

The writing program at Messiah includes five classes: (1) the College Writing Workshop, (2) a First Year Seminar, (3) a writing laboratory, (4) Created and Called for Community (5) a writing-enriched course developed for the major (major-w).

College Writing Workshop. Although not a course required of the majority of our entering students, basic writing is an important element in any writing-across-the-curriculum program. It will both help students who have particular needs and will provide an important support supplement for those students in their First Year Seminar course. The hours it represents fall under the “elective” category in the General Education/Major/Elective scheme. This part of the writing program, for those of whom it is required, may be satisfied by completing IDWR 099 College Writing Workshop during the fall semester of the student's first year.

First Year Seminar. The seminar is the standard first-year writing experience in our program, and is consequently required of all students. While the content topics of each seminar vary widely, there is a substantially common approach to writing instruction and related assignments among the seminars. The requirement must be satisfied in the student’s first year by completing one of the many First Year Seminars which are offered primarily during the fall semester. Students who do not complete First Year Seminar with at least a B- must take a writing assessment. Students who do not pass the writing assessment must take a 1 credit Writing Lab in the Spring semester.

The Writing Laboratory is designed to help those students who, after completing First Year Seminar, demonstrate the need for further writing instructions. All students who earn below a B- in First Year Seminar are required to take a writing assessment in the first weeks of the Spring semester. Students who fail that assessment will be required to take the writing lab.

Created and Called for Community. As part of Messiah’s year-long sequence this course builds on the intellectual and writing skills developed during First Year Seminar in a common learning context. Students will complete assignments which use reflexive and transactional writing. The Writing Committee continues to give guidance to instructors teaching in Created and Called for Community. Transfer students who do not enter with an equivalent for FYS can waive the FYS requirement if they take CCC and demonstrate writing proficiency by earning an average of B- or better on the writing assignments.

Writing Enriched Course in the Major [Major-W]. The major course with writing emphasis is taken within the students’ chosen disciplines and is intended for students to take subsequent to completion of First Year Seminar and Created and Called for Community; its primary purpose, in relation to writing, is to allow students to begin to acquire familiarity with the expectations of their own professional discourse communities. There is considerable variation in the kinds of courses into which various majors incorporate the writing emphases; each department is responsible for addressing this requirement as part of the academic major.