BestSemester (CCCU) programs
- American Studies Program, Washington, D.C.
- Australia Studies Centre
- Contemporary Music Center
- Latin American Studies
- Los Angeles Film Study Center
- Middle East Studies Program
- Northern Ireland Semester
- Oxford Summer Programme
- The Scholars鈥� Semester in Oxford
- Uganda Studies
涩里番 is a member of the and the . The purpose of the CCCU and CCC is to promote Christian higher education, and to provide programs for students and professional development opportunities for faculty and administration.
Students must apply with the Study Abroad Office, as well as with Best Semester. Applications and information for all programs are available on . These 10 study programs offer a full semester of study, and students must register for the entire set of carefully selected, interconnected courses offered by each program (generally 24 quarter credits). Students register for classes at 涩里番 and pay SPU tuition. In addition to Federal and State aid, SPU need and merit-based financial aid applies to these programs.
Program descriptions
See current program descriptions at . Only courses in which one or more SPU students participate in a given catalog year will appear in the catalog.
American Studies (Washington, D.C.)
Course descriptions
SBS 4810 ASP: Public Policy Analysis Field Seminar (4.5) Prerequisite: Acceptance to the American Studies Program. In this semester-long Council for Christian Colleges and Universities course in Washington, D.C., students directly engage Washington, D.C.-based leaders and leading institutions鈥攇overnmental and non-governmental, national and international鈥攖hat have a stake in a program-selected public policy debate. Students organize into small (3 or 4 person) research teams. The main team task is to write a Group Policy Report (GPR) analyzing competing economic, humanitarian and rule-of-law/national security priorities in the selected debate. The GPR is supported by field-based research which includes participation in at least 6 one-hour meetings with policy experts and 2-3 team interviews with policy professionals. Students present their GPR research findings and policy recommendations at a policy conference in a congressional committee hearing room on Capitol Hill. A follow-up assignment challenges students to clarify the underlying values they prioritized when making policy recommendations. Specifically, in writing their Public Policy Ethics Plan, each student explains the role biblical ideas and theological traditions play in (a.) how they came to understand the policy issue as a public justice issue, (b.) how they chose among competing policy prescriptions, and, by extension, (c.) what they believe about the proper role of government in society.
SBS 4811 ASP: Advocacy & Diplomacy Field Seminar (4.5) Prerequisite: Acceptance to the American Studies Program. In this semester-long Council for Christian Colleges and Universities course in Washington, D.C., each student writes an Individual Advocacy Case Study (IACS) analyzing a policy advocacy campaign led by a national political actor (鈥渢he protagonist鈥�). The advocacy campaign is focused on a well-defined domestic or foreign policy or program. Students are encouraged to select a case related to their internships. The IACS documents specific advocacy goals and objectives adopted by the protagonist. A situational analysis explains the economic, political, and social context of the advocacy campaign. The IACS concludes with an evaluation of the protagonist鈥檚 decisions about target audiences, messaging, and communication tactics. The study is supported by a lecture series of Washington, D.C.-based policy advocacy, diplomacy, and lobbying professionals. Each student presents their IACS to a Washington, D.C.-based policy professional who works directly on the issue.
SBS 4932 Professional Development Practicum (1.5) Prerequisite: Acceptance to the American Studies Program. In this semester-long Council for Christian Colleges and Universities course in Washington, D.C., students join a leadership community with a shared commitment to understand what it takes to lead institutions against the injustices facing our nation and our world.
SBS 4945 ASP: Internship (12) Registration approval: Travel Studies Form. Prerequisite: Acceptance into the American Studies Program. Taught through a semester-long program of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C. Students may select part-time placements in Washington, D.C., in agencies or programs associated with communication, arts, urban ministries, marketing and corporate enterprise, legal matters, trade associations or federal policy formation. Attribute: Upper-Division. Class not open to freshmen and non-matriculated students.
The Scholar's Semester in Oxford (Oxford, England)
Course descriptions
SBS 4951 Oxford: Tutorial I (9) Prerequisite:
Acceptance into the Oxford Scholar鈥檚 Semester in Oxford. Taught through a
semester-long program of the Council for Christian Colleges and
Universities in Oxford, England. The tutorial is the heart of undergraduate teaching at Oxford. It is an hour long conversation between a tutor who is engaged in research and one student who has spent the week reading and writing an essay in answer to an assigned, searching question. Accompanied by lectures by noted scholars, tutorials give students the chance to read in depth, to formulate their views on a subject, and to consider those views in the light of the detailed, analytical conversation in the tutorial. Students may choose their tutorials from a range of hundreds of topics within classics, English language and literature, history, history of art, modern languages, musicology, philosophy, and theology. Attribute: Upper-Division. Class not open to graduate students. Class not open to freshmen.
SBS 4952 Oxford: Tutorial II (4.5) Prerequisite:
Acceptance into the Oxford Scholar鈥檚 Semester in Oxford. Taught through a
semester-long program of the Council for Christian Colleges and
Universities in Oxford, England. Students have their secondary tutorial every second week during the university term and they choose a different subject from that studied for the primary tutorial: but in all other respects secondary tutorials have the same characteristics as primary tutorials. Attribute: Upper-Division. Class not open to graduate students. Class not open to freshmen.
HUM 4000 Oxford: Selected Topics (6) Prerequisite:
Acceptance into the Oxford Scholar鈥檚 Semester in Oxford. Taught through a
semester-long program of the Council for Christian Colleges and
Universities in Oxford, England, this course examines selective themes from the British past and the traces they have left in present day Britain. Students explore how events, 涩里番, and ideas from the past are remembered, forgotten, and misremembered in literature, politics, philosophy, religion, art and architecture, and the material landscape, and investigate the meaning, use, and abuse of the past. Attribute: Upper-Division. Class not open to graduate students. Class not open to freshmen.
SBS 4953 Oxford: Undergraduate Research Seminar (6) Prerequisite:
Acceptance into the Oxford Scholar鈥檚 Semester in Oxford. Taught through a
semester-long program of the Council for Christian Colleges and
Universities in Oxford, England. Students follow the research seminar most appropriate to their primary tutorial subject (Classics, English, History, History of Art, Philosophy, Psychology, or Theology). Students attend 16 University lectures, discussion classes which address methodological questions in the students鈥� subject area, and consultations to help in planning and writing a substantial term paper. The course is graded by a long essay and a proposal for that essay, and participation. Attribute: Upper-Division. Class not open to graduate students. Class not open to freshmen.