Academics

This course examines the importance of culture and worldview in an increasingly multicultural world and will give special attention to “reading” the city in preparation for service. It explores cultural diversity and the necessary skills for identifying the traits of different cultures (including the student’s own), in order to equip them to effectively interact with people of other.

This course introduces students to university-level writing and focuses on communication structure, rhetorical strategies, writing processes, argumentation, research, and documentation. The course also includes an emphasis on revision through workshops and other formats This course is graded on an A, B, C, NC-, ND+, ND, ND-, NF scale. Any N grade indicates no credit earned for the course and will not affect the student’s cumulative GPA.

A continuation of English Composition I, this class focuses on writing across the curriculum/writing in the disciplines. Students are introduced to the basics of reading and researching in various majors. The class is organized around a research project relating to the student’s fields of interest. By the end of the semester, students learn how to: develop an actionable central research question, propose a research project, conduct primary and secondary research, design a research project for multimodal platforms, and present their research in an oral presentation. This course is graded on an A, B, C, NC-, ND+, ND, ND-, NF scale. Any N grade indicates no credit earned for the course and will not affect the student’s cumulative GPA.

This course provides an orientation to college life for first-year students at Johnson University. The course supports the adjustment of students to college life by providing guidance on spiritual health, physical health, time management, organization, reading for comprehension, study skills, note taking, test taking, stress management, relating to others, and other skills necessary for a successful college experience. Students will also learn about the concepts of calling, purpose, vocation, and work in order to reflect on their own strengths and gifts and produce a personal purpose statement and action plan.

This is a survey of the history of Christianity from its Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts in the first century to its global present, examining the development of the church’s theology, organization, spirituality, and social impact. The modern era emphasizes Stone-Campbell Movement origins and identity.

This course will bridge connections between students’ field of study and their service-learning placement. The core focus will be to cultivate reflective service and spiritual formation through self-awareness, metacognition, and thoughtful engagement in a variety of cultural settings. Students will explore poverty, development, and personal and community change as it relates to their service placement.

As an interdisciplinary course designed as the culmination of four years of undergraduate study at Johnson University and integrating the Bible, Arts & Sciences, and professional areas of the curriculum, the senior capstone seminar focuses on the Christian worldview, especially the discipline of ethics. It makes significant connections between course content, skills learned, and application to life and ministry, and serves as a bridge to life-long education.

Students consider a variety of moral dilemmas that prevail in societies and organizations. They gain a deep understanding of the complexity of such moral dilemmas by establishing and applying ethical principles derived from philosophical and theological perspectives on how humans can and should interact ethically and morally.

The Service Learning program enables students to apply classroom learning to real-life situations by providing voluntary service in the church and community. While the recipients benefit from the services of student volunteers, students also benefit from identifying their gifts and strengths, learning to work with others, developing skills in critical thinking and problem solving, confirming their career decisions, and gaining a lifelong commitment to community involvement and civic engagement. Students choose their areas of service and are expected to be supervised during service for accountability purposes.

This course introduces students to concepts and practices of healthy personal and social interactions. It emphasizes a Christian worldview when considering topics such as communication skills, problem solving, personality styles, relationship stages, relationship enhancement and enrichment, societal expectations, and the impact of family dynamics, interpersonal violence, and unhealthy coping strategies on relationships. Additional areas receiving special attention include conflict management styles, cultural diversity, special needs in families, stress, and relationship management.