Summary of Shape Framing Questions for Graduate Programs
February 1, 2006

This is a brief summary of some of the ways that the various graduate programs of PLNU live out part of our institutional mission.  Each program was asked to provide brief answers to the questions below.  For further program specific details, see the individual program answers contained in the appendices of this document. 

1. How are you building a sense of community in your program?  How do you connect students to one another?  How do you connect students, faculty and staff to each other to form a single learning community?

Building community takes intentional work particularly in the graduate programs because there is a greater use of adjunct faculty and the students are adult learners the majority of whom are taking classes on a part-time basis while working full time and carrying family and other responsibilities.  Some of the specific tools used to build community include:

• Admissions Process – The staff and faculty work in concert to provide a highly personalized admissions process for the students.  This includes guidance from faculty before the students enter the program.
• Course Sequencing – Some programs use cohorts (a group of students that take all of their classes together) and others use common introductory and capstone courses.  The intent is to put students together repeatedly to help them to build relationships with each other.
• Course Structure – Many courses use group projects and small group discussions.
• Breaking Bread Together – Multiple hour courses often include a coffee break at every meeting.  At this time students and faculty share food and talk informally.  Other courses have students rotate brining in meals weekly so that the group shares dinner together.  These informal times include sharing major life events (weddings, births, deaths, promotions, etc) and discussing work and family life.
• Conferences and Intensives – Various programs hold annual conferences and/or intensive courses where the students and faculty are together all day long for multiple days.  These events include sharing meals and informal conversations.
• Research/Thesis Presentations – Students are encouraged or required to attend the thesis presentations of other graduate students.  This builds an academic community and provides encouragement for students who are completing projects.
• Communications – There is extensive use of e-class and e-mail in these programs particularly to foster communication between class sessions.  In addition students have faculty and staff phone numbers (often including cell and home numbers) so that they can reach faculty as needed.

2. How do you root this community in Christ?

• Christian Faculty and Staff - The programs begin by hiring a team of faculty and staff that are Christian and intentional about their faith being part of their work with students.  Faculty are open about their faith when talking to students and will invite students to come to church or participate in ministry related events.
• Intentional Outreach – Many of the programs are working with professionals who may not be churched, thus they see part of their mission to reach out to students in the love of Christ in the context of providing high-quality education.  This perspective shapes a variety of programmatic structures.
• Prayer and Devotions – Times of prayer and devotions are part of class sessions and staff meetings.
• Spiritual Emphasis Week – Many of the programs have a spiritual emphasis week at least once a year.  This includes chapel services with guest speakers (including the PLNU Chaplain) and student lead worship.
• Course Content – Courses use illustrations to link faith with professional practice.  Some coursework is intentionally Christian (where appropriate). For example classes on professional ethics, management and leadership contain an overtly Christian component.
• Research/Thesis - Thesis and research work is done under the supervision of a Christian faculty member and it is in the context of that relationship that students have the deepest exposure to a faculty member and his or her spiritual life.

3. Frederick Buechner in Wishful Thinking defines vocation in the following way:

Vocation: It comes from the Latin, vocare – to call, and means the work one is called to by God.  The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. 

How are you helping students to discover or refine their sense of vocation?

• Modeling - Faculty share with students their own sense of call and modeling how it has played out in their professional, personal and spiritual lives. 
• Thinking Theologically - Adult learners often come to these programs because they have a sense of vocation.  The educational process is one of helping them to refine their sense of call by encouraging them to think theologically about their profession.  Parker Palmer’s books including The Courage to Teach and Let Your Life Speak are used in some programs to start conversations about vocation.
• Gift Assessment - Students are helped to assess their skills and gifts to identify potential sources of “deep gladness” in their professional lives.
• Mission Field – Students are asked to consider their professional world as a mission field and the integration of faith with their profession is discussed in various courses.
• Balanced Lives - Many programs focus on “balanced” lives somewhere in their curriculum. For example to be an effective leader, one needs to maintain all aspects of a healthy life including a spiritual one.

4. How are you encouraging students to answer the call to use their gifts for the good of the world (both around the corner and around the globe)?

• Servant Leaders – In many programs there is coursework that helps students to understand the meaning of “servant leader” and apply it to their professional lives.
• Ministry Opportunities and Service Learning - Students are exposed to “ministry opportunities” in their professions (e.g. contact with people who teach in inner city schools, micro-enterprise development) and invited to participate in ministries that are of particular interest to their professor.  There are courses that have a service learning component, for example a practicum at the Mid-City Medical Clinic or assistance with Special Olympics.
• Recovering Their Joy – An emphasis is placed on helping weary professionals to rediscover the joy in their professions.  Many of our graduate students are in leadership positions and have been worn down by the “administrivia” of their jobs.  Some of the process of continuing education is to help them recall what they love about what they do and how they can use their work for God’s purposes.

5. How are you helping students to strengthen the connections between their intellectual, professional and spiritual lives?

• Real World Examples - Real problems that students have encountered in their professional lives during the week are used as in-class examples.  This gives the class an opportunity to work on faith and profession integration issues that will be implemented the next day.
• Coursework - Specific course work in all programs focuses on various aspects of forming connections between students’ intellectual, professional and spiritual lives.  Students are often asked to write on this topic.
• Being Sensitive to the Unchurched - Many of the graduate students are unchurched and attending PLNU is part of the process of them opening the door to Christianity and a vital spiritual life. The approach to the interaction between faith and learning is sensitive to this reality.
• Community Engagement - Encouraging students to become more involved in the larger professional community both in their region and in the nation so that their values can be one voice in the conversation.

6. How do you support students academically, spiritually and emotionally (either formally or informally)?

• Faculty Mentoring and Communication - Students are assigned an advisor who also serves as a mentor.  Communication is fostered via e-mail, e-class and the use of home, office and cell phone numbers.  Office hours are often scheduled at night and on the weekends to best accommodate the schedule of the students.
• Site Visits - When appropriate site visits are made to the students’ place of employment to help customize their learning experience to match their work environment.
• Networking – In many programs the classes are small and students are encouraged to build strong relationships with each other and faculty members.   There is a great deal of intentionality in building a community.  These relationships can provide a strong support network that will last beyond the completion of their degree.
• Training in Information Tools - Librarians and IT personnel provide customized training for graduate classes to help maximize the students’ ability to use the electronic resources at PLNU
• Professional Exam Support – Assistance is provided to students who are preparing for professional exams, this includes review and study sessions.

7. What do you hope will be different about the graduates of your program because they attended PLNU rather than another university of equal academic quality?

• Competent - That they will be competent, innovative, ethical professionals and leaders in their professional community.
• Caring - That they will become more caring professionals because they were cared for by the PLNU faculty and staff.
• Christian - That they will demonstrate by their work the academic rigor as well as the Christ centeredness of our programs and that they will be able to address issues about how their faith and their profession intersect and interact.
• Called - That they will have a passion for their profession and see it as a calling as well.

 

Individual program responses:
Biology
Business
Education – Arcadia
Education – Bakersfield
Education – Inland Empire
Nursing
Theology
Theology – MMin
Graduate Student Survey Data
Alumni Survey Data