Foundation Elements for all Baccalaureate Degree Programs

General Studies Requirement

The General Studies requirement provides broad knowledge, depth of understanding, and intellectual skills for undergraduates to succeed and grow during and after their University experience. Critical habits of mind are nurtured, enabling students to build on the educational competencies necessary to participate intelligently as leaders and professionals in their communities.

Students:

• Develop the necessary skills and knowledge for clear composition and communication, critical, reflective thought, methods of original scholarship and research, and development of intellectual and academic discipline for a major field of study in their chosen professions or further pursuit of education;
  
• Develop skills and concepts of mathematics and of scientific methodology, including skills and knowledge for accurate quantification and careful analysis in the logic of scientific disciplinarity; develop an awareness and appreciation of physical, biological and ecological environments;
  
• Understand and interpret fine arts such as music, drama, cinema, painting and sculpture as ways in which creative art connects imagination and experience with universal meanings;
  
• Realize the importance of and appreciate literature as a dialogue between critics, writers and readers, as the cultural manifestation of history, power, and community and as real expressions of human experience;
  
• Apply evaluative reasoning and intellectual values in the study of composition, by argumentation, interpretation and criticism of a variety of texts and literary works; acquire the skills of communication appropriate to literary and language studies and, where possible, responsibly expand the potential and purview of that discourse according to their faith, understanding, human hopes, values and abilities;
  
• Develop a respect for intellectual pursuit, universal truths, ethics and individual worth in ways that bring about a love of knowledge and moral truth, which find their origins in Classical, Judeo-Christian, and other worldviews;
  
• Foster a compassionate understanding of human enterprises and of cultural and ethnic differences within contexts of geographical, historical, psychological, sociological, political and communicative endeavors; and
  
• Consider the purposes and benefits of the historical method for research and understanding, to probe the relationship that exists between history and one's identity, thereby testing the postulates that without a sense of history, life is a series of disconnected happenings; by acquiring a historical sensitivity to diverse cultures and peoples in order to move beyond prejudicial and stereotypical attitudes and to interact positively with the increasing multicultural influences in American society.

Major

Most Patten University baccalaureate degrees provide a 30-36 semester unit major in a specific field of study.

Total Major Units 36

Biblical and Theological Studies Requirement

Patten University maintains, as a distinctive characteristic, the inclusion of Judeo-Christian values in all of its undergraduate degree offerings. Students seeking a Bachelor of Arts degree are required to complete 30 credit hours of Biblical and Theological Studies courses as listed below. Students seeking a Bachelor of Science degree are required to complete 9 credit hours of Patten Distinctives as listed below.

Electives

Students seeking a Bachelor of Arts degree will need to complete 3-6 additional units of electives. Students seeking a Bachelor of Science degree will need to complete 26 additional units of electives chosen from any of the University’s Bachelor and Associate degree programs.

Christian/Community Service

One of the exciting and unique requirements at Patten University is Christian/Community Service activity. Patten University places a high value on students identifying and taking responsibility for addressing needs in their church or community. Students in the baccalaureate degree programs must complete 45 clock hours of Christian/Community service activities each semester they are enrolled at Patten.

A service supervisor may be a church pastor, faculty member, or a director of a specific agency as approved by the student’s advisor. Students may choose from a wide variety of activities, including local community betterment programs, volunteer tutoring programs, urban missions, prison ministries and various church volunteer activities.

Summary of B.A. Requirements:

Summary of B.S. Requirements:

*Transfer students may satisfy this requirement with the following General Education distribution from an accredited institution (see Transfer Credit and Advanced Standing for more detail on transfer policies).

English/Communication (9)
Humanities (6)
Natural Science w/Lab (4)
Mathematics/Computer Science (6)
Social Sciences/Behavioral Sciences (12)
Electives (from the above listed areas) (6)