top of page

At the OE we do one course at a time.  The sixteen week semester is divided into four segments, and each segment is directed by a question.  Students receive 3-4 credit hours in each segment based on independent research projects conducted in the discipline of their choice.  View overview here.

​

FIRE UP YOUR MIND

ACADEMICS

At the OE we do one course at a time.  The sixteen week semester is divided into four segments, and each segment is directed by a question.  Students receive 3-4 credit hours in each segment based on independent research projects conducted in the discipline of their choice.  View overview here.

SEMESTER SEGMENTS:

SEGMENT 1: WHAT IS

NATURE?

 

SEGMENT 2: WHAT IS

COMMUNITY?

SEGMENT 3: WHAT IS A

SUSTAINABLE

WORLD?

 

SEGMENT 4: WHAT DOES IT MEAN

TO BE HUMAN?

Every autumn since 1975, several dozen college students from across the country have taken a step “out of the current” for an unusual semester of vigorous intellectual exploration.  Students earn 17 credits, but focus on one topic of study at a time.  Daily reading, small group discussion, and one-on-one conversations with faculty members comprise the heart of the OE program.

​

​

The more serene setting invites students to pursue the kinds of questions that build up during a college education, but that often don’t get the attention they deserve in the normal routine.

​

Questions like:

​

  • What kind of person do I want to be?

  • What kinds of relationships do I want shaping my life?

  • What does it mean to live in a way that is sustainable?

  • What do I believe about God and the ultimate questions of life?

  • What do all these facts and ideas mean, and what kinds of responses do they ask of me?

  • What institutions and larger purposes are worthy of my life?

  • What is the fire I want to carry?

WHAT CREDITS
ARE EARNED
​

  • A total of 17 credits are earned for the semester.

  • The credits may be used to satisfy General Ed requirements or, at the discretion of the student's home college, upper-division major requirements.

  • Students receive three or four semester hours of credit in each segment based on their projects. Students complete research in the discipline of their choice: literature, sociology, philosophy, psychology, biology, religion, history, education, business, political science, environmental studies, art, and communication studies.

  • Three hours of credit are earned in "Composition and Rhetoric."

  • One hour of credit is earned in "Wilderness Recreation"

bottom of page