Special Features: Resources to Support Student Learning
Last Updated: July 2007
Programs Supporting Reasonable Application of Knowledge
The College supports several programs that provide students the opportunity to acquire, create, and apply knowledge responsibly. Foremost is the Investigative Studies Program, designed to provide students with an opportunity to pursue their research and creative interests, promote intellectual curiosity and stimulate creativity in students, and foster a sense of learning, sharing, and commitment within a community of scholars.
The Marietta College Honors Programs offer students with high scholastic ability and keen intellectual curiosity a stimulating and challenging academic environment in which to pursue their education. The program consists of two parts, the Scholars Program and the Senior Honors Program.
- The Scholars Program: Open to freshmen, transfer students, and current Marietta College students with exceptional GPAs (minimum 3.50) and high SAT (1350) or ACT (30) scores. The program consists of 15 hours of honors courses taken over a two-year period, with honors courses counting toward general education requirements. To complete the program honors students must maintain a 3.30 GPA.
- The Senior Honors Program: Regardless of whether a student is a College Scholar, seniors with GPAs of 3.30 in the discipline and 3.00 overall may choose to do advanced work under the close guidance of a member of the faculty, typically in the student’s major or minor. Such students present a senior thesis demonstrating application of knowledge gained to a thesis committee. With the thesis committee’s final approval, the student is awarded Honors in the Discipline.
All majors offered at Marietta College are required to have a designated capstone course. Although these courses take different forms depending on the major, capstone courses provide students with the opportunity to responsibly apply the educational skills and knowledge they have acquired as well as prepare students for life-long learning after graduation.
Several course offerings contain components dealing with issues and policies concerning the ethical and responsible acquisition of knowledge. For example:
- Education 110, Principles of Education and MUED 110, Introduction to Music Education, cover values and ethics involved in purpose, content, methods, and appraisal of a teacher’s role in public school.
- Leadership 305, Business Ethics, is an examination of the moral aspects of management and leadership.
- Mass Media 420, Media Ethics and Law, explores the many legal and ethical questions that surround media operations.
- Philosophy 321, Environmental Ethics, examines the moral issues of environmental preservation.
- Philosophy 323, Philosophy of Social and Natural Sciences, is an introduction to the methods, concepts, and presuppositions of scientific inquiry.
- Psychology 286, Research Methods, covers the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines for the ethical treatment of human subjects in research and discusses ethical conflicts in research designs.
- Religion 105, Introduction to Contemporary American Religion, covers methods of the study of the ethical codes of various religions.
Marietta College also encourages curricular and co-curricular activities that relate responsible use of knowledge to practicing social responsibility. Several examples are offered:
- The Honors House provides a residence to foster a positive learning and living environment among students. Students living in this residence must have a 3.0 GPA and participate in the free tutoring program that the Honors House offers to other students in the College community. Tutoring is an excellent vehicle for relating the responsible use of knowledge to practicing social responsibility.
- The Psychology Club and Psi Chi Chapter (National Honor Society in Psychology) both have the explicit goal of "enhancing student excellence as reflected in scholarly and professional growth within psychology and the ability to impact society positively." Every year since 1990, members of the Psychology Club and the chapter of Psi Chi have helped sponsor a student trip to a regional professional psychology meeting. Both organizations also bring speakers to campus to talk with students.
- The Teacher Education Association promotes interest in the profession of teaching and encourages the professional growth of its student members. Guest speakers are invited to campus to discuss issues and relate their experiences as they apply to the teaching profession.
- The Gamma of Ohio chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established at Marietta College in 1860. One of the oldest academic honor societies, a student elected to this society must be of good character and have achieved academic excellence in a program of study.
- Pi Epsilon Tau is an honor society for students majoring in Petroleum Engineering. The society’s purpose is to foster a closer bond among its members and the petroleum industry and to maintain the high ideals and standards of the profession, which includes attention to environmental, ethical, health and safety, political, and social issues.
- The Center for Families and Children was established on campus in a refurbished house in January of 2004 as a joint effort between the College’s Psychology and Education Departments. The Center is designed to provide enrichment and special educational programming to children in the Marietta community. However, at the same time, it provides Marietta College students the opportunity to gain "hands on" experience working with young children. The Center provides a unique opportunity for Marietta College students and faculty to apply their learning, as well as conduct research, in a setting that also provides a valuable service to the residents of the city Marietta.
- The McDonough Center for Leadership and Business provides opportunities for both community service and service-learning projects. The former entails volunteering in the community, while the later involves the actual planning and implementation of a specific project that will benefit the community. Successful service-learning projects require a careful balance of theory and practice, necessitating reflection and intentional application of classroom learning.
- Marietta College maintains several student prizes and commencement awards that reflect the College's commitment to discovering and applying knowledge in a responsible manner. For example, The Michael S. Dorfman Prize is given to the junior psychology major who, in the judgment of the faculty, is most promising as determined by scholarship and ethical standards. The Ira Owen Wade-Mabel Hamilton Scholarship is awarded to superior students in the humanities that have the quality of scholastic attainment, integrity, responsibility, and industry.
