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Academics
Learning and Community
The heart of Sewanee is its academic life. Finding friends, growing spiritually, and building leadership skills in organizations and on athletic teams also comprise the Sewanee experience, but classes define the rhythm of each week. At Sewanee, small classes with plenty of collaborative work, discussion, and frequent writing assignments are common. "It is a small, intimate community with a clear sense of purpose, coherent values, and a collegial atmosphere" observed the authors of Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter (George Kuh, et al. 2005).
The Curriculum at Sewanee - Three Components
First
Over the four years at Sewanee, students take a minimum of 32 courses. Roughly one-third of those are general education, and these courses shape especially students' first two years in the College. Courses in general education aim to encourage intellectual breadth and to build the skills necessary both for advanced study and for life and work beyond the Mountain.
Second
The student's major, often left undeclared until the end of the sophomore year, is limited roughly to another third of the courses in a Sewanee career. Complementing breadth, the major provides intellectual depth, opening the way to substantive knowledge and refining the methodological skills a person needs to make and evaluate arguments, to make independent discoveries, and to speak with authority. The major defines especially the last two years at Sewanee and culminates in comprehensive exams or exercises. Happy indeed are those seniors who have "comped."
Third
The final third of any student’s work is the category of electives. Spread across all four years, elective courses should be chosen strategically, whether to deepen the major, to shape a minor or a concentration, or merely to explore something for the sheer joy of it.
Accreditation
The University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. To contact, write to Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097 or online at www.sacscoc.org, or call 404.679.4500.
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