When you think of alumni who best represent the mission of Covenant College, what sort of characteristics do you notice? 

That’s the question Carole Yue, a professor of psychology at Covenant, asked the college’s faculty and staff in August of 2023. Once she had their responses, she had more questions:

“Ok, these are characteristics that we value. What about the current (core) curriculum might be supporting that, and what might be barriers?” she said. “How we could put together a curriculum that really stayed true to the college, but also spoke to where the students are now?”

Now three years later, Covenant is rolling out an updated and streamlined core curriculum, designed to support, teach, and encourage that knowledge and those character traits in the incoming classes.

“We’re trying to figure out, as I think everybody is, how do we serve this cohort of students who are digital natives and living in a much more globalized world? How do we prepare them [for life]?” said Collin Messer, vice president for academic affairs at Covenant. “We’re still committed to the same fundamental outcomes for our students that we always have been.”

The previous core curriculum dates from the 1990s, and there was growing feedback that some of the courses were outdated, Messer said. The core curriculum also included a number of one- and two-credit classes that felt unimportant to students. And trying to meet 18 learning objectives in 58 course hours took up too much room in students’ schedules. 

The new core — designed by a committee led by Yue and Messer — is streamlined, based around four primary objectives and four tentpole classes. Every class is worth at least three credits, proving the college’s commitment to hire or maintain the faculty to teach them; the new core is between 50 and 52 credits, depending on a student’s major and credits a student transfers in. 

First, the objectives. Messer said students graduating from Covenant should be able to narrate the content and form of the Bible and its doctrines; develop research abilities for both scholarship and problem solving; have effective communication skills; and develop “faithful cultural empathy and stewardship.”

Messer understands that people have strong opinions about the Christ-centered education that Covenant provides. 

“These are high stakes things. What does it mean to have an identity in Christ, what does that actually mean?” he said. “When you say ‘What are we doing? How are we forming humans (with our curriculum)?’ people get pretty worked up about that.”

So here’s what is not changing: a quarter of the classes in the core are still Bible or theology classes. Students will continue to take Introduction to Old Testament and Introduction to New Testament as well as Doctrine 1 and Doctrine 2.

“It was really, really important that we keep that in the core,” Messer said.

The core also still includes contemporary world history, and inquiry – or introductory – courses in the social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, and culture.

But the new core includes a larger focus on what Messer and Yue call “shared experience” classes: courses every student will have to take.

All incoming students, freshmen or transfers, will take a course called Cornerstone their first semester, designed to welcome students and help them develop the skills they need to succeed, Yue said.

The class focuses on teaching students about their callings: both spiritual and vocational. Students will learn about what makes the Reformed tradition unique, and the course will help students think of their college experience as a pilgrimage, encouraging them to think about how they invest their time. 

“You follow, you do what you love, whether that’s scrolling on your phone or hacky sack on the quad or studying, whatever you’re doing is where your heart is oriented,” Yue said.

First-year students will also take a fine arts course that introduces them to music, art, theater, and literature, “so they get a little taste of everything,” Yue said. The idea is that students learn both to appreciate and try their hand at creating different forms of art. 

“A lot of the time students are like, ‘Oh, I’m not good at drawing, I’m not good at music.’ I think faculty want to break through that,” Yue said. “You can still do it because you’re made in the image of the Creator.” 

Year Two also has a shared experience class called “Narrating the West,” introducing students to the idea of examining their own culture and expectations and how those compare to literature. “Different cultures are different, and you don’t realize the biases you’re bringing,” Yue explained. “We ask students to examine themselves.”

Messer said the course will guide students to identify the biases in the literature they study as well as in themselves and compare those perspectives to Scripture. 

The final shared course comes in Year Three and is primarily taught by faculty from the social sciences. It focuses on how the church is involved in the world, and how students can be involved in both the world and the church. 

“The idea is they have some experience, starting to think about what comes next, and prepare them to work more outward,” Messer said.

Both the faculty and board unanimously approved the new core curriculum, Yue said. The changes begin to go into effect this fall, though there will be a transition period as upperclassmen finish out the core they started with. 

“I think I’m excited to just see it implemented,” Yue said. “Our graduates are going out prepared to be the hands of Christ.”