MVNU will be altering its traditional course requirements for undergraduate students beginning in the fall of 2023. The changes will officially come to fruition on June 1, 2023, and have risen out of a desire to change the university’s educatory focus. The university explains that “In 2023, the faculty has decided that it is time for a new focus in our general education curriculum. New courses focused on vocation . . . and service will become a defining feature of the MVNU experience.” The document, authored by Dr. Brett Wiley, can be referenced in an email sent to students from the office of Academic Affairs on Feb. 7.

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Regarding the changes, the university intends for students to be granted a greater opportunity to explore courses and materials outside of their majors. This will be made possible as, according to the document, there “will be the reduction of required hours in the general education curriculum.” For incoming freshmen in the 2023-2024 academic year, courses such as “Love, Justice, and the Good Life,” “The Arts and the Human Identity” and “Science and the Modern Mind” will not be required and will be unavailable. Instead, “Exploring Vocation I: Living a Called Life” and “Exploring Vocation II: Called to Serve” will be necessary along with “Contemporary Concerns,” a course that has been previously required.

For anyone who has 30 or fewer completed credit hours and has already finished two of the courses which are being disregarded, they will only need to additionally complete “Contemporary Concerns.” Students with 30 or fewer completed credit hours who’ve already finished one of the previously required courses will need to also complete both ‘Exploring Vocation I” and “Contemporary Concerns.” Finally, those who’ve completed none of the formerly required courses will need to take both of the “Exploring Vocation” classes along with “Contemporary Concerns.”