A professor works with students in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Programs in the Arts & Sciences

In this section

The Programs in Arts and Sciences prepares students to lead and minister in the marketplace.

The Programs in Arts and Sciences is unified around the central theme of preparing people to be leaders in the marketplace, ministers in the world, and servants in the varied contexts of life.

In our view, the world brings opportunity for everything from biblical studies to education to social work to psychology. It’s where people live, work, form relationships, and interact with others.

With this in mind, we develop graduates who boldly interact with the world, are experts in the fields where they pursue their callings, and are able to address the most pressing challenges of society, politics, history, and the world.

When you graduate from one of our Programs in the Arts and Sciences, you’ll be ready to live out your faith and be salt and light in the world as you interact with, participate with, work with, minister to, and lead in the various areas of the marketplace.

"At North Central, professors are more than just teachers you listen to for two and a half hours in the classroom every week—they’re mentors who make the effort to get to know you for who you are, what you love, and where you’re going in life.”

Dan Erickson ’15 - Media Communications Major

Guiding Principles for the Programs in Arts & Sciences

  • Academics
    • Expecting high standards of behavior for students and ourselves
    • Requiring demanding academic work of students
    • Using current academic texts and assignments that foster learning
    • Working toward program certification/accreditation with national agencies
    • Confronting behaviors and attitudes that interfere with excellence
    • Reinforcing excellence as it occurs
  • Quality

    Continuous quality improvement:

    • Learning about and implementing best practices in higher education in our academic areas
    • Regularly gathering feedback (from students, alumni, external constituencies) to improve programs
    • Participating in formal and informal assessments of programs and courses
    • Participating in faculty development opportunities
    • Providing and receiving feedback to improve processes
    • Approaching tasks with creativity and open-mindedness, paying attention to outcomes and effectiveness of new approaches
  • Leadership

    Prepare students for leadership in the marketplace:

    • Being aware of employment and graduate education trends and needs in our academic areas
    • Modifying programs and practices based on internship supervisors’, employers’ and alumni feedback
    • Deliberately developing the skills and attitudes and knowledge that students will need in the next steps beyond graduation
    • Assisting students out of the major or department or college if it is clear that they are likely to be unsuccessful
  • Development

    Love students and foster their development and growth:

    • Recognizing that a Christian college context is beneficial for some individuals as students and as faculty
    • Fostering and modeling a love of learning
    • Discipling and caring about students as developing persons
    • Celebrating student growth in a variety of areas
    • Intervening with those rare characteristics in students that may disqualify them from being successful in the field to which they are called
  • For God

    Doing our best work in what we have been called to do, for God’s glory, and to advance His kingdom:

    • Acting in accordance with Christian and professional ethics
    • Pursuing truth even at great cost
    • Recognizing that working at NCU is a sacred calling
    • Realizing that this work is time-limited, and that it is easy to be disqualified from this call
    • Shaping lives with eternity in mind
    • Shaping the future of our denomination
    • Working within the institutional mission, college mission, and department mission
    • Cooperating and collaborating with colleagues in Christian love and respect
    • Sacrificing personal time, energy, resources, etc. for the purpose of advancing God’s kingdom