2009-2010 Graduate Academic Catalog

2009–10 Cedarville University Graduate Education 3 Graduate Education The Cedarville Graduate Experience Distinctives The primary intention of all graduate and professional programs at Cedarville University is to provide educational programs characterized by four distinctives: • Biblical integration: Consistent with the University’s primary mission to “provide an education marked by excellence and grounded in biblical truth,” all graduate and professional programs seek to integrate the knowledge base of their disciplines with the principles and precepts of Scripture. Students are encouraged to develop a biblically based faith and life perspective concerning material presented in all graduate courses. • Practical intervention: Graduate and professional programs at Cedarville University are created to meet the needs of Christians as they wrestle with the opportunities and challenges presented in a variety of profit and nonprofit career fields. Students are encouraged to focus on problem-solving approaches to real issues in all graduate courses. • Personal interaction: Graduate and professional programs at Cedarville University are designed to promote interaction among students and teachers as a learning community committed to articulating, assessing, and acting on ideas. Students are encouraged to engage in team-based cooperation in all graduate courses. • Technological innovation: Graduate and professional programs at Cedarville University build upon the capabilities provided by the University’s CedarNet computer network to empower both program participants and instructors to calculate, communicate, collaborate, and contribute more effectively and efficiently. Students are encouraged to aggressively use computer technology in course assignments and educational teaching environments. Campus Setting Cedarville University is located on 400 acres at the north edge of the village of Cedarville, Ohio, a quiet town with a population of approximately 4,000. Founded in 1816 at the junction of two state routes, the village and its surrounding area have long provided a wholesome environment for learning. This pleasant setting continues today. Downtown Cedarville features the historic Cedarville Opera House, Cedarville Hardware, two banks, haircutting establishments, post office, pharmacy, convenience store/gas station, a few restaurants, and two coffee shops. Within a mile of the University, Massie Creek and an adjacent park offer recreation and picnic facilities alongside the Little Miami Bike Trail. Rolling hills and farms border the village and University. This beautiful area, which extends westward to John Bryan State Park, has been recognized as one of the most scenic in the Midwest. Cedarville University is conveniently situated with easy access to shopping areas in the cities of Xenia, Beavercreek, Dayton, and Springfield. The University lies in the center of a triangle formed by three interstate highways, I-70, I-75, and I-71, and thus enjoys quick access to Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati. These metropolitan areas offer fine dining, professional sporting events, concerts, and employment opportunities. The Cedarville Graduate Experience Community Covenant The Cedarville University community, as brothers and sisters in Christ, covenants together to uphold the following core values as an important part of the mutual support and accountability that we extend to one another. We do not view these core values as matters of mere convenience or personal preference. We believe they are essential marks of lives transformed by God’s grace. As a community of born-again believers, we commit ourselves to the pursuit of these marks of spiritual growth and maturity so that God may be glorified on our campus. • We covenant together to express our love for God through our obedience to the authority of His Word, our practice of spiritual disciplines, and regular expressions of worship and Christian service. • We covenant together to express our love for others through acts of kindness, wholesome and uplifting speech, redemptive expressions of confrontation and forgiveness, merciful acts to those in need, and loving proclamation of the Gospel. • We covenant together to be people of integrity and self- control, truthful in our speech, honest in our conduct, and morally pure in both thought and action. • We covenant together to pursue excellence in all that we do as an expression of our gratitude to God and our desire to be good stewards of all God’s gifts, including our talents, time, and resources. Standards of Conduct At Cedarville University, we believe that the principles found in the Bible should govern our daily lives. We recognize that our appearance, words, and actions are a manifestation of our relationship to Christ and a testimony to believers. In addition, we believe that regular attendance and involvement in a local church is evidence of a maturing relationship with Christ. All graduate students are expected to adhere to the guidelines below. You may access these guidelines online at www.cedarville.edu/gradapply/studentlife . • As a community of born-again believers, we believe that pleasing and glorifying God in all that we do and say is an expression of our gratitude to God’s grace and love in our lives (1 Cor. 10:31; 2 Cor. 5:9). We believe it is important to be people of integrity who are truthful in speech and honest in conduct. Therefore, all should seek to serve Christ in an atmosphere free from attitudes of distrust, dishonesty, selfishness, damaging criticism, disrespect, favoritism, unethical conduct, and irreverence (Psalm 15; Matt. 5:33–37; Prov. 15:4; Rom. 13:9–10; Col. 3:8–9; James 2:1–13; Gal. 3:26–29; Rom. 13:1–2; I Tim. 2:8). • The University affirms its belief that our interpersonal relationships are to reflect the biblical principle that all people are made in God’s image and are equal in value. We believe it is important to express our love for others through acts of kindness as well as wholesome and uplifting speech (I Peter 5:5; Eph. 5:21; Phil. 2:3–11; Rom. 14:1–23; I Thess. 4:9; Col. 3:12–13). Therefore, it is the expectation that all forms of harassment (which include racial/ethnic, and sexual- and gender-based harassment) are prohibited. In addition, we believe threatening, intimidating, coercing, using abusive or vulgar language, violence or violent threats, or interfering with the performance of other employees are neither God-honoring nor acceptable behaviors within or outside the work place.