“Wabash College educates men to think critically,
act responsibly, lead effectively,
and live humanely.”
Founded in 1832, Wabash College is an independent, liberal arts college for men with an enrollment of 850 students. Its mission is excellence in teaching and learning within a community built on close and caring relationships among students, faculty, and staff.
Wabash offers qualified young men a superior education, fostering, in particular, independent intellectual inquiry, critical thought, and clear written and oral expression. The College educates its students broadly in the traditional curriculum of the liberal arts, while also requiring them to pursue concentrated study in one or more disciplines. Wabash emphasizes our manifold, but shared cultural heritage. Our students come from diverse economic, social, and cultural backgrounds; the College helps these students engage these differences and live humanely with them. Wabash also challenges its students to appreciate the changing nature of the global society and prepares them for the responsibilities of leadership and service in it.
The College carries out its mission in a residential setting in which students take personal and group responsibility for their actions. Wabash provides for its students an unusually informal, egalitarian, and participatory environment which encourages young men to adopt a life of intellectual and creative growth, self-awareness, and physical activity. The College seeks to cultivate qualities of character and leadership in students by developing not only their analytic skills, but also sensitivity to values, and judgment and compassion required of citizens living in a difficult and uncertain world. We expect a Wabash education to bring joy in the life of the mind, to reveal the pleasures in the details of common experience, and to affirm the necessity for and rewards in helping others.
A rigorous liberal arts education that fosters
• An appreciation for the intellectual and physical aspects of a good life
• An understanding of and appreciation for other cultures
A personal context to teaching and learning that encourages
• Candid, respectful, face-to-face conversations
• Freedom of thought
• A local scholarly community that creates lifelong relationships
Individual responsibility and trust that are
• Based on moral and ethical awareness
• Expressed in the Gentleman's Rule
• Required for leadership and teamwork
A socially, economically, and ethnically diverse student body characterized by
• A dedication to the serious pursuit of learning
• A culture of competition without malice
• A few years of residence, a lifetime of loyalty
A tradition and philosophy of independence that
• Keeps the College from external control
• Allows the Wabash community to shape significantly its own destiny
• Promotes independence and self-reliance in its students and graduates.
Preamble to the Curriculum
We, the Faculty of Wabash College, believe in a liberal arts education. We believe that it leads people to freedom, helps them choose worthy goals and shows them the way to an enduring life of the mind. With its ideals in view, we have designed our curriculum according to the following principles:
The graduate in the liberal arts has pondered ideas as they come to him out of the ages of human thought. He has watched their myriad forms in the great works of philosophy, history, theology, mathematics, arts and literature. He has seen how the natural sciences try to answer the crucial questions of man, and he has himself taken part in their meticulous labor.
He has shared the endeavor of social science to probe the nature of man and the world he builds, and he has practiced its methods of coping with human conflicts and social needs.
In the study of foreign civilizations and people, he has found himself not only the creature of his time and place but also a citizen of the worldwide human community.
He has learned to read, to write, and to speak clearly and creatively, and he has begun to acquire the skills that will qualify him for increasing leadership in his vocation.
We, the faculty, believe that these principles are indispensable to the teaching to which we devote our careers. And we believe that to follow them will enable the graduates of Wabash College to judge thoughtfully, act effectively, and live humanely in a difficult world.
Course Numbering
Wabash courses are numbered according to the following scheme:
000 – courses not counting towards the major, minor, or distribution
100 – introductory courses
200 – introductory and intermediate courses
300 – advanced courses
400 – departmental capstone courses
Curriculum Requirements
The following requirements must be met for graduation:
1. Freshman Requirement: Freshman Tutorial.
One course credit. In the Fall or Spring semester, every freshman must complete a tutorial. Freshman Tutorials cannot be taken after the freshman year. Tutorials are designed to insure the first-year student's participation in small group discussions that will challenge him intellectually and suggest the kind and quality of experience characteristic of the liberal arts. Instructors select topics of critical importance to them, judged to be pertinent to student concerns. The student need not have had previous experience in the particular field in order to participate—and his participation is important. Each tutorial encourages students to practice both written and oral self expression. Reading, speaking, and writing assignments will, of course, vary with individual topics and instructors, but the goals of every tutorial remain the same: to read texts with sensitivity, to think with clarity, and to express one's thoughts with conviction and persuasion—all in terms of each tutorial's particular object. Freshman Tutorials count as a college requirement, but do not count for distribution credit. The tutorials offered in 2004-2005 are listed under NON DIVISIONAL COURSES.
2. Sophomore Requirement: Cultures and Traditions
All students must enroll in and earn two course credits in Cultures and Traditions 201 and 202.
The course is designed to give all students an experience of engaging the products, practices, and ideas of a variety of cultures and periods. There is a strong focus on discussion although skills in both writing and reading are given significant attention. The material discussed is mostly but not solely textual and usually takes the form of short works or selections from larger ones.
The course is taken by all students during the same period in sections of about 15 or less with occasional lectures to the whole class. Discussion is weighted equally with writing in the evaluation of students' work, and there is also a final exam.
Failure in this course in either semester will warrant repeat of the class until successfully completed. Students are not permitted to withdraw from this course. Two course credits.
3. Language Studies:
a. Proficiency in English: During Orientation each freshman takes a proficiency examination to aid the English Department in assessing the quality of his writing. On the basis of this examination, SAT scores and other data, the English Department requires that some students take a half or full course in Composition (English 101). This course is designed to improve basic writing skills, but does not insure continued proficiency throughout a student's career at the College, nor does it count toward requirement 3c.
At any time during his Wabash career, a student may be officially referred by an instructor to the English Department as one whose proficiency has lapsed. In this case, the English Department will examine the student's writing, make recommendations, and work with the student to correct his deficiencies. The student will be declared proficient only when he has completed such remedial work to the satisfaction of the English Department. An instructor may also choose to refer a student whose proficiency has lapsed to the Writing Center before referral to the English Department need be made. In these cases, it is assumed that the student will attain proficiency through regular work at the Center. If the student does not make satisfactory progress, the Writing Center Director will notify the referring instructor(s) and the student's advisor, who will then officially refer the student to the English Department. Students who are concerned about writing problems are urged to discuss them with English Department members or the Writing Center staff and seek informal criticism and counseling.
b. Proficiency in a Foreign Language: Each student must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language at a level which is the equivalent of two courses in one of three ways: 1) He may take the proficiency examination at any time, but it is advisable to do so during freshmen orientation. In the case of Modern Languages, that examination includes an oral component. (2) He may continue with a language he studied in high school. The faculty in Modern Languages reviews high school records and places the student in the appropriate Wabash courses. A student who has taken at least two years of a foreign language in high school and who wishes to continue in that language will normally begin with the third semester at Wabash (e.g., French 201, German 201, Greek 201, Latin 201, or Spanish 201). In the case of modern languages, upon the completion of the third semester of a language with a grade of B- or better, a student receives credit for the second-semester language course also. A student with strong language preparation may be placed (either on the basis of his record or on the basis of a placement examination) in higher level courses. (3) He may successfully complete two semesters of a language not taken previously. With permission of the Foreign Language Department Chair, international students may waive this requirement.
4. Distribution Courses
No more than 1 transfer course credit may be used per distribution area to meet the requirement. With respect to this requirement, credit earned in approved off-campus study or by Wabash examination will be counted as Wabash course credit.
a. One course in Language Studies—Each student must complete one course credit from the following list: Rhetoric 101, 120, 220, 130, 143, 144, 145, 201, 387; English 201, 212, 213, 413, 150, 121, 122, 123, 221, 390, 410, 411, 387, 412; Classics 111.
b. Three courses in Literature and Fine Arts—This group includes courses in Art, Music, and Theater, as well as courses in literature offered by the Classics, Modern Languages, English, and Rhetoric departments. The work must be done in at least two departments (see the course descriptions of these departments for lists of courses that satisfy this requirement).
c. Three courses in Behavioral Science—Economics, Political Science, Psychology. The courses must be taken in at least two departments. Division III 252 does NOT count toward this requirement.
d. Three courses in Natural Science and Mathematics—Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics. These courses must be taken in at least two departments. At least two of these courses must be in a laboratory science, normally any two of the following: Biology 101 or 111, Physics 101, 102, 111, 112, 113; Chemistry 101 or 111, 221. The two lab courses need not be taken in the same department. Mathematics 003 does not count toward distribution. Computer Science 111 does not count towards the laboratory science requirement.
Students planning to take advanced work in the biological sciences should take Biology 111, 112 in the freshman year. Students planning to take advanced work in physics should take Physics 111, 113 in the freshman year. Students planning to take advanced work in chemistry should take Chemistry 111, 221 in the freshman year.
e. One course in Quantitative Skills—Each student must complete one course credit from the following list or another course of similar nature approved before enrollment by the Chair of Division I:
From Division I: Computer Science 101, 111; Mathematics 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 119, 217 or a course in the Mathematics Department which has Mathematics 112 as a prerequisite.
From Division II: Philosophy 270
From Division III: Division III 252 (1/2 course credit); Economics 251 (1/2 course credit); Political Science 261; Psychology 201
Effective with the entering class of Fall 2000 the quantitative studies course requirement has replaced the requirement for one additional course in Mathematics, Natural Science, or Behavioral Science. A course used to satisfy the Quantitative Skills Requirements will not count toward other distribution requirements.
f. Two courses in History, Philosophy, or Religion in addition to the two Cultures and Traditions courses.
5. Major
Eleven course credits in the major are the maximum which may be counted toward the 34 required for graduation, but no department may require more than 9 courses for the major (i.e., a student completing 12 credits in the major, will be required to complete a total of 35 course credits for graduation; 13 credits in the major, require completion of 36 course credits, etc). In departments of foreign languages and literatures, courses numbered 101 and 102 shall not be included in the 11-course limit on the major.
A student will normally declare his departmental major during the sophomore year, but he may make changes by advising the Registrar's Office as late as midsemester of the fall semester of his senior year. Changes after that time may be made only by petition to the Curriculum Appeals Committee.
6. Minor or Area Concentration
The usual program consists of a departmental major and a departmental minor. An area concentration may be substituted for the departmental minor.
a. Minor
A departmental minor shall consist of five courses in any department of the College. Departments may choose to specify particular courses or distributions of courses.A student will normally declare his departmental minor during his sophomore year, but he may make changes by advising the Registrar's Office as late as midsemester of the fall semester of his senior year. Changes after that time may be made only by petition to the Curriculum Appeals Committee.
b. Area of Concentration
The area of concentration consists of five to eight courses (in at least two departments), all outside the major (and minor if a student has both a minor and an area of concentration). Courses in the major or minor might relate to the concentration but cannot be counted toward the requirement. Unless otherwise specified, these courses may be used for distribution. Areas of concentration may be overseen by either an individualized or a standing committee. For an area of concentration, a student will discuss his plan with his advisor and work in consultation with a committee whose members have expertise in the proposed area. He will write a rationale for his concentration and develop a course plan. Both must be approved by his committee and reported to the Registrar. Working with the committee, he will also create a proposal for assessing his work in the area of concentration. (The proposed assessment might be based on such elements as a relevant capstone course where available, a portfolio of his work, an independent study project at an advanced level, a reflective essay that brings together the diverse parts of his area of concentration, etc.). The committee will oversee this assessment. A member of his committee may serve as secondary field examiner on his senior oral examination.Committees for Areas of Concentration: Several standing committees of the faculty oversee areas of concentration. These include committees for Areas of Concentration in Gender Studies, International Studies, Multicultural American Studies, and Teacher Education (see Area of Concentration). Where appropriate, these standing committees may seek expertise outside their membership to assist in the evaluation of proposals and to serve as oral examiners. A student seeking to arrange a concentration in an area not represented by a standing committee will assemble an ad hoc committee of at least three faculties from two departments.
A student will normally declare his area of concentration during his sophomore year. The deadline for declaring an area of concentration overseen by a standing committee is set by that committee and may be as early as the fall of the sophomore year (see Area of Concentration). The deadline for declaring an area of concentration overseen by an individualized committee is mid semester of the fall semester of the junior year. With the approval of his committee, changes within a declared area of concentration may be made by filing a change of Area Concentration Form with the Registrars Office as late as mid semester of the fall semester of the senior year. Changes after that time may be made only by petition to the Curriculum Appeals Committee.
7. Minimum of 34 Semester Courses and a 2.00 G.P.A.
For graduation students must pass a minimum of 34 semester courses and earn at least a 2.00 cumulative grade point average in all courses taken for grade at Wabash College, other than physical education. At least 24 of these courses must have been successfully completed at Wabash College. Credit earned in approved off-campus study or by Wabash examination will be counted as Wabash course credits. (See Senior Requirements section).
8. Written Comprehensive Examination
Every student must pass a written comprehensive examination in his major field.
9. Senior Oral Examination
Every student must pass the senior oral examination. The examination committee will consist of one instructor from his major department, one from his minor department or area of concentration, and one from neither. The examination will be no more than one hour in length and must be passed by the mid-semester of the second semester of the senior year. A student who fails his comprehensive examination may retake the failed work once in the spring term. Should he fail in that effort, he may retake the comprehensive exam once in each subsequent academic year at the time of the regularly scheduled comprehensive exam. If a student fails the College-wide oral examination but passes the departmental examination, then he is required to retake only the College-wide oral examination, and vice versa. Departments will make and evaluate all departmental examinations.
ACADEMIC POLICIES
Normal Course Loads
The Curriculum is limited to courses and half-courses. The usual student program is four, four and one-half, or five courses a semester. (Freshmen are advised to take no more than four and one-half courses a semester.) Students who wish to take six or more courses in a semester must petition the Curriculum Appeals Committee for approval. Full time student status requires a minimum of three courses. Courses taken for credit/no credit and physical education courses do not count in determining full time status. Freshmen wishing to drop to three courses need the approval of both their advisors and the Dean of Students.
Note: If a student's academic program drops below the minimum full-time load of three course credits, he is classified as a part-time student, is subject to loss of financial aid (e.g., Wabash, State and Federal assistance), and is ineligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics and to enroll in the Wabash Student Health Insurance Plan.
Credit/No Credit Option
A student may take on a Credit/No Credit basis any course at Wabash College for which he is eligible and which is outside the minimum 34 required for graduation.
“Credit” equals C- or better. Citations may be used to recognize any exceptional work. “No Credit” means any grade less than C-, and the course is not recorded on the transcript.
No courses needed to fulfill the distribution, minimum department major or minor or area of concentration requirements may be taken on a Credit/No Credit basis.
Students may not petition for a grade for courses taken on a Credit/No Credit basis. Change in the status of courses to or from Credit/No Credit must be completed during the first four weeks of a full course or the first two weeks of a half-credit course.
Transfer Credit
Wabash College will accept course credits from other colleges and universities under the following conditions:
The institution must be accredited;
Course work should be liberal arts in nature and acceptable to Wabash College;
The term grade must be at least C.
An OFFICIAL academic transcript (not a grade report) is required to establish an official academic record of transfer credit.
Wabash College will accept for transfer college courses taken by a high school student only when the student is enrolled in a section of a college course that include students from the general college population.
Two semester hour credit courses will count as one-half course credit and individual 3, 4, or 5 semester credit hour courses will count as one course credit. Academic departments will have the final decision on transfer credit for courses in their fields.
Transfer credit appears in the student's academic record as credit without letter grade and is not used in the determination of academic grade point average. Transfer credits to be counted toward the fulfillment of a department major or minor or toward the foreign language requirement or in mathematics must be approved by the department concerned and the Registrar. All other transfer credits must be approved by the Registrar. Transfer credit request forms are available from the Registrar's Office.
For Continuing Students: Transfer credit will not be accepted unless prior approval has been granted by the Registrar and/or academic departments as needed.
The College grants credit for courses completed for the International Baccalaureate Degree according to the following system: A course with a grade of 5, 6, or 7, provided the course is liberal arts in nature, will be accepted for transfer credit. Total credits will be determined by college policy and may not exceed five course credits per semester. International Baccalaureate credits may not be used for fulfilling science laboratory requirements but may be used for meeting other college distribution requirements.
The College does not award transfer credit for correspondence courses.
The College does not have an R.O.T.C. program.
Credit By Examination
The College grants credit for College Entrance Examination Board Advanced Placement (AP) results according to the following systems:
One to two course credits will be granted for an Advanced Placement exam score of 4 or 5 upon the completion of a second course in the department with a grade of B- or better. The exception being for English Composition, Mathematics, and Modern and Ancient languages, where the department may grant or deny Advanced Placement credit based on proficiency exam performance and may waive the additional course requirement.
Credit for an Advanced Placement exam will not be granted when the student takes a comparable course that covers the same material. College placement examination results will take precedence over Advanced Placement credit. (For example: Advanced Placement credit will be forfeited, if by College placement examination the student is required to take a beginning course.) In all cases the amount of credit awarded will be determined by the appropriate department.
Advanced Placement credits earned in Biology, Chemistry, or Physics will NOT fulfill the college laboratory science distribution requirement.
This policy also applies to the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) credit.
Credit may also be granted for Wabash designed and administered examinations. Faculty members administering Wabash designed examinations have the option to authorize credit with or without a grade.
Grades
Grades are reported to students each semester. An interim advisory report is made to freshmen midway in the fall semester. The quality of a student's work is designated by the following grades: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F, Incomplete, and Condition. Courses dropped by the student after the official course drop date will receive a W. The deadline for reporting grade changes is four weeks following the issuance of the grade. A grade change beyond this time period will require a request filed with the Dean of College.
The grades of A through D are passing grades and entitle a student to credit in that course. The grade of Satisfactory is used in an interim fashion, when the course continues into the next term, to indicate satisfactory progress. Grades of Incomplete and Condition are not passing but may be made so by procedures described below. No credit is given for F work; the student must repeat the course with a passing grade to receive credit.
The grade of Condition indicates that the student has less than a passing grade; it may be removed by any method prescribed by the instructor. D is the highest grade that may be assigned following the removal of a Condition. The grade of CON is computed as an “F” in the GPA until replaced by a “D.”
The grade of Incomplete indicates that the student has not met all course requirements. It may be removed by completing the work, and the grade then assigned may be any grade. The grade of INC is not computed in the GPA except for calculating the Dean's List. (See Dean's List).
Both the grades of Condition and Incomplete not removed by the end of the semester following that for which they were assigned are converted to F on the College records. There will be no modification of the grade change (F) unless approved by petition through the Curriculum
Appeals Committee and Academic Dean of the College.
Official withdrawal from the College through the Dean of Students results in the grade of W.
Grading System
Grading and quality point averages will be based on the following graduated four-point scale:
A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D F, W,WP,or WF
4.00 3.67 3.33 3.00 2.67 2.33 2.00 1.67 1.00 0.00
Repeated Courses
Any course at Wabash may be repeated at any time (with the exception of the Freshman Tutorial) with the understanding that:
The course must be repeated at Wabash.
The course credits toward graduation are to be counted only once.
The grade and credit of a repeated course will be counted in the grade point average of the semester in which it is repeated.
If a course is being repeated and dropped with a W, WP, or WF, the grade originally earned is restored to the academic record. If, however, the original grade of the repeated course was W, WP, or WF, then both the original and any subsequent W, WP, or WF will be recorded on the academic record.
The previous grade will be replaced by the word “Repeated” when the Registrar records the second final course grade. It is the responsibility of the student to notify the Registrar's Office in writing of registration in a repeated course. Repeated notification forms are available from the academic advisor or from the Registrar's Office.
Course work taken after graduating (such as student teaching in Teacher Education) will appear on a separate, non-degree transcript. This course work will in no way be reflected on the student's graduation transcript.
Honors
The faculty has provided for the award of Final Honors to accompany the Bachelor of Arts degree, according to the following requirements (in the graduated four-point grading system):
A.B. Cum Laude: Awarded to students who have attained a cumulative average of 3.40 to 3.59 or a cumulative average of 3.17 to 3.32 and Distinction rating (for double majors, two ratings of Distinction or one rating of Distinction and one of High Pass; for triple major a minimum rating of two Distinctions and one of Pass or one of Distinction and two of High Pass) in Comprehensive Examinations.
A.B. Magna Cum Laude: Awarded to students who have attained a cumulative average of at least 3.60 or a cumulative average of 3.33 to 3.59 and Distinction rating (for a double major two ratings of Distinction or one rating of Distinction and one of High Pass: for triple major a minimum rating of two Distinctions and one of Pass or one of Distinction and two of High Pass) in Comprehensive Examinations.
A.B. Summa Cum Laude: Awarded to students who have attained a cumulative average of at least 3.60 and a Distinction rating (for a double major two ratings of Distinction or one rating of Distinction and one of High Pass; for triple major a minimum rating of two Distinctions and one of Pass or one of Distinction and two of High Pass) in Comprehensive Examinations.
A student's final grade point average is used as the basis for conferring Final Honors.
Dean's List
To honor students for outstanding academic achievement, the Dean of the College each semester names to the Dean's List those students who attain a semester average of at least 3.5. In addition, the students must have completed a minimum of three course credits which count toward the semester average. Courses declared by the instructor as Incomplete are treated, for the purposes of the Dean's List average only, as if they had the grade of C.
Requirements for Phi Beta Kappa at Wabash College The requirements for election to Phi Beta Kappa at Wabash College are determined by the by-laws of the Wabash Chapter, which consists of Phi Beta Kappa members of the College faculty and staff. Since 1948 they have permitted the election of not more than 1/8 of the graduating class. The Wabash Chapter, one of the oldest, is not bound by the rule of the United Chapters which permits the election of no more than ten percent.
It is the normal practice of the Chapter (but not a requirement) to elect the 1/8 whose grade averages are the highest. In determining grade point average these provisions apply:
Phi Beta Kappa uses a graduated four-point scale.
Comprehensive Examinations are treated as equivalent to one and one-half courses, and rankings are assigned these values: Distinction, A (i.e., one and one-half courses at 4 points); High Pass,