Academic Information

Welcome to your academic information headquarters! Here you will find all sorts of links, tips, and other helpful information about how to best prepare for your academic life at Bethel. Take some time over the summer to check it out! For more complete information, check out the Academic Information homepage.

Introduction to the Liberal Arts (ILA)

All first-year students are enrolled in this course in their first semester at Bethel. In ILA, you talk and learn together with a small group of students, a faculty member, and an upperclass student TA about the transition to Bethel as a Christian liberal arts university and just what that means. Check out this note from Naomi Ludeman Smith, director of first-year programs, or go to the ILA website to learn more.

"Humanities" or "Introduction to the Creative Arts/Christianity & Western Culture"... Huh?

When you get your schedule for the fall semester, you will notice you are probably enrolled in one of three General Education courses (GES): Western Humanity in Christian Perspective I, Christianity and Western Culture (CWC), or Introduction to the Creative Arts (CA). So what's the difference?

If you are in the four-course Humanities Program, you will replace five General Education courses over two years. (You replace Introduction to the Creative Arts, CWC, College Writing, Christian Theology, and a "Contemporary Western Life and Thought" course). Humanities integrates history, the arts, theology, philosophy, and literature into a single experience by studying the great books and art of the Western tradition. For instance, you'll read Plato's philosophy and visit a museum with Greek sculpture in the same week.

Humanities emphasizes how Christians responded to their surrounding culture, beginning in Greco-Roman times and continuing through the postmodern age. In your first year, you'll read such authors as Augustine, Dante, Calvin, and Jane Austen, and you'll write papers that encourage you to pursue the questions they raise about faith, politics, and "the good life." To learn more, check out the Humanities homepage or contact the director of the program at d-ritchie@bethel.edu.

If you're not in Humanities, you will be taking the CWC/CA option.

Christianity and Western Culture (CWC) and Introduction to the Creative Arts (ICA) are two separate courses that may be taken in any order, enabling you to begin crafting your own academic program in your first year at Bethel. Both courses are team-taught by faculty from a variety of disciplines, exposing students to the diversity of the College of Arts & Sciences faculty while fostering a relationship with one Christian scholar in small group meetings.

In one semester of CWC you will discover the “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) of which you are a part. You will meet church fathers like Augustine and Tertullian, martyrs like Perpetua and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, reformers like Martin Luther and Erasmus, leaders like Constantine and Joan of Arc, thinkers like Thomas Aquinas and Blaise Pascal, and evangelists like the Apostle Paul and Billy Graham. Through large group presentations and small group discussions of short readings from this cloud of witnesses, your professors will help you place yourself in the diverse story of Christianity. In particular, CWC explores how Christians have related to larger cultural issues throughout history, such as slavery, war, gender, economics, science, imperialism, and the relationship between the church and the state.

For more information, check out the CWC Blog. For a more in-depth explanation of the difference between the Humanities and CWC/CA programs, read this helpful article.

Who is my advisor and what do they do?

Each new student is assigned an academic advisor. In addition to helping you figure out your course schedule for each upcoming semester, your advisor will also work with you to help you decide the best academic path for you while you're at Bethel as well as possible career paths. To learn more about what they do, read this short article from our Associate Dean of General Education and Academic Services Deb Sullivan-Trainor.

During Welcome Week, you will be able to meet with the entire department in which you are planning or considering a major as well as have a chance to get together with your advisor and a handful of other advisees. Your advisor will also be able to help you out if you need to change a class or two (or your entire major). You will be able to do this during the day on Friday, August 31.

Language and Math Placement Testing

If you are going to be taking Math for El. Ed. 1 (MAT210M), Precalculus (MAT122M), or Calculus (MAT124M) during the fall 2007 semester (check your schedule!), you must take a math placement test. Placement testing will be on Friday, August 31, from 8-9:30 a.m. in CC120 or CC325. Please bring a No. 2 pencil and your ID; no calculators will be allowed. For placement exam policies and review topics (see "Objectives" links) go to this link.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The math placement tests are taken online, so you will need to have your Bethel Account set up BEFORE taking this test. To set up your account, go to https://directory.bethel.edu/account/, click on the link "Sign Up for a New Account," and follow the instructions to set up a new account.

For more information on the language requirements, check out the Language Requirements homepage. You will be able to access the language testing information there as well.

Academic Support

Sometimes, college academics can be just plain hard! At Bethel, we have designed several support systems to make sure students get all the help they need. It's up to YOU to ask for it, though. Check out the Academic Enrichment and Support Center's website. There you'll find tips on test taking, note taking, reading, time management, and MUCH more.

To get a head start, check out this Top 10 List of ways to achieve academic success at Bethel.