The Pendle Hill Core curriculum is shared by all undergraduate students at Malone University. As they navigate The Core, students work closely with their academic advisors to shape the general education program to match their own emerging interests.
Malone University is committed to equipping graduates to put “Christ’s Kingdom First” in all of life. In part, this means cultivating in students the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that will equip them to serve effectively in the workplace. This goal is addressed both through specialized study in the major and throughout the general education program. In a day when most people will engage in multiple careers across a lifetime, our general education curriculum cultivates crucial abilities that transcend specialization, such as critical and creative thinking, interaction with knowledge and ideas, communication, and problem solving. Whatever their callings, we are committed to preparing students to serve faithfully and effectively.
The Pendle Hill Core at Malone University seeks to guide students along the path of wisdom as they discover their calling, develop critical and creative thinking skills, and mature into faithful, socially aware world citizens who are prepared to serve, to solve problems, and to be agents of transformation in the communities in which they live and work.
The Core begins with a seminar of community building and self-discovery and continues through a core curriculum that requires students to apply critical thinking and creative expression. These courses progress from Foundations courses that establish a strong framework for Christian higher education to engaging courses designed to deepen and expand our understanding of people, creation, our nation, and our world. In some components of the Core, all students take required courses in common; in other components students have opportunities to make choices and follow The Core that best fits their interests and calling. The Core culminates in an interdisciplinary capstone course, which serves as a bridge to life beyond Malone University.
Inspired by George Fox’s discovery of his calling on Pendle Hill, the mission of our general education curriculum is to lead students toward discovering their callings to serve the church, community, and world - in both their careers and their lives. All Core courses aim to help students grow in loving God and neighbor, in line with Malone’s motto and Jesus’ instruction to Seek “[Christ’s] Kingdom First” (Matthew 6:33).
Program Goals
The goal of the Pendle Hill Core curriculum is to prepare students for faithful lives of service to God and their neighbors after college, by preparing them to:
- Seek Christ in College
- Build Foundational Skills
- Appreciate Creation
- Live for the Kingdom
- Love Their Neighbor as Themselves
- Serve God and Neighbor after College
Student Learning Outcomes
Students who complete the 6 steps of the Pendle Hill Core will demonstrate the following outcomes:
- Students will demonstrate a basic understanding of their calling to be students and a basic knowledge of the Bible and Christian theology (introduced in Step 1).
- Students will understand and apply skills in writing, listening, speaking, information fluency, digital literacy, quantitative reasoning, recognizing diverse neighbors in social-historical contexts, and collaboration in ways that align with the commands to love God and neighbor (introduced in Step 2, reinforced and assessed for growth in Step 6).
- Students will demonstrate appreciation for the beauty and complexity of the created world (including humans as created in the image of God) and of human artistic creations in visual art, music, and/or literature while engaging in the creative process (introduced in Step 3).
- Students will discern options for both callings and career pathways, articulate how Christian ethics provides guidance for those life callings and careers, grow in virtues that align with Christian vocation (introduced in Step 4, reinforced and assessed for growth in Step 6), and reflect on how cultural, economic, social, or political institutions can both promote and hinder the love of God and neighbor
- Students will demonstrate knowledge and love of self and of their diverse neighbors (introduced and reinforced in Step 5).
- a) Students will grow in writing, speaking, listening, presenting, quantitative reasoning, and historical reasoning skills (growth from Step 2 assessed here in Step 6). b) Students will articulate connections to earlier Steps in the Core, reflect on their vocation journeys, finalize career materials, cultivate adult life skills, and express how they can serve God and their neighbors in careers and faithful lives after college (reinforced and assessed in Step 6). c) Students will demonstrate growth in virtues aligned with Christian vocation (introduced in Step 4 and assessed in Step 6)
