Patrick Henry College
Academic & Curricular Organization Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A.)
Department of Classical Liberal Arts Classical Liberal Arts History Literature Department of Government Economics & Business Analytics Government Journalism Strategic Intelligence in National Security
Patrick Henry College awards the Bachelor of Arts degree. The B.A. degree requires the satisfactory completion of a minimum of 121 credit hours and is awarded once all graduation requirements are fulfilled.
Core Curriculum
Patrick Henry College structures its academic program around its distinctive, classical liberal arts core curriculum consisting of 63 credits plus foreign language. Regardless of major, every student will take the following courses:
Tracks Tracks are specializations generally consisting of 12-27 credit hours included in the required major credits; tracks may also influence the types of applicable apprenticeships. Currently, two majors have tracks: Government: American Politics & Policy Government: International Politics & Policy Government: Political Theory Government: Strategic Intelligence Journalism: Political Journalism Journalism: Liberal Arts Students majoring in Government have the option of taking a broad range of courses without declaring a track. Students majoring in Journalism must choose between the Political Journalism and Liberal Arts tracks.
BIB203 Theology of the Bible I BIB213 Theology of the Bible II BIB223 Principles of Biblical Reasoning CLA201 Research & Writing CLA213 Logic CLA223 Rhetoric ECO303 Economics for the Citizen GOV203 Constitutional Law GOV213 Freedom’s Foundations I GOV223 Freedom’s Foundations II HIS203 History of the United States I HIS213 History of the United States II HIS223 History of Western Civilization I HIS233 History of Western Civilization II LIT213 Western Literature I LIT223 Western Literature II MAT203 Euclidean Geometry MUS303 Music History and Appreciation PHI203 Philosophy SCI223 Biology SCI221 Biology Laboratory SCI233 Physics SCI231 Physics Laboratory Modern/Classical Foreign Language (See Foreign Language Requirements)
Major Electives Major Electives are built into most academic majors. Major Electives require students to choose courses that meet certain qualifying conditions, which are explicitly and exhaustively listed in the student’s academic program page of the Catalog. Generally, the course must be an upper level course (junior or senior) within selected course prefixes. Major elective requirements are included in the required major credits.
Learning Objectives for the Core Curriculum
Students will be able to: 1. Apply biblical principles to the study of the classical liberal arts. 2. Analyze competing philosophical systems underlying public debates in contemporary culture, science and politics in light of biblical Christianity. 3. Understand important concepts in the Western intellectual tradition, particularly those regarding the development of liberty in the American context. 4. Describe, apply, and defend historic, biblically-faithful Christian doctrines. 5. Apply scientific methods to the study of the natural world. 6. Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills.
Open Electives Open electives allow students to pursue areas of interest not specifically required by their major. Each major contains 11-24 credit hours of open electives in addition to the core curriculum and major courses. Students may use any transferred course that does not have a PHC equivalent as an open elective or they may choose from any successfully completed PHC course.
Minors at Patrick Henry College Minors are secondary academic studies consisting of 1521 credit hours from a single discipline. A maximum of 6 credits that fulfill a major requirement may be also applied to the minor course of study provided that a minimum of 12 credits are unique to the minor. Students are not required to minor, may choose only one minor, and may not minor in the discipline of their major. Once declared, minors must be completed or withdrawn prior to graduation. Minors cannot be added once a degree is conferred. The minimum satisfactory grade for a minor course is C-. Students must take at least 60% of the credits applicable to a minor at Patrick Henry College. Patrick Henry Colleges offers the following minors:
Majors In addition to the core curriculum, 36-49 credit hours of major courses are required for the completion of the Bachelor of Arts degree. PHC offers the B.A. degree in the following academic majors which are organized into 2 academic departments:
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