Required Courses

IS 190: WSF INTERNSHIP  —  8 UNITS

Fulfills GE Serving Society

This 8-unit course is centered on participation in an internship related to the professional and vocational interests of each student. Internship opportunities exist for students of all majors. The amount of major credit received is determined by departmental guidelines and the type of internship selected. Components of the course include attendance at all placement orientation workshops during the first week of the semester (for Fall/Spring only); interviewing with at least three agencies/organizations prior to selecting an internship site; development of a detailed learning contract in consultation with one's site supervisor; and engagement with regular reading and writing assignments aimed at the reflective integration of theory and praxis.

The internship is accompanied by a required weekly seminar.The purpose of this required seminar is to enable students to critically engage and reflect on their daily internship experiences in renewed faith-based ways. The course is designed to foster a deeper understanding of personal-vocational identity. Through guest speaker presentations and shared dialogue on common workplace dynamics, this course seeks to help students discover what it means to live faithfully amidst a range of complex and diverse settings while integrating a Christ-centered perspective

IS 188: ENGAGING THE CITY  —  1 UNIT

“Introduction to San Francisco” is a one-unit course providing essential background and context to help students understand the history and diversity of San Francisco, especially the challenges and opportunities facing specific neighborhoods of this  city where they will be living, learning, and working for a semester. Students will engage with the presence and influence of “The City” in our world by becoming more confident navigating this particular city, San Francisco. As students become accustomed to navigating this city, they will deepen their encounter with the urban world. Students will gain knowledge and experience of the city’s diverse social and cultural communities through field trips, interviews, reading, and neighborhood studies.

Elective Courses

IS 189: FAITH, CULTURE, AND DIVERSITY  —  4 UNITS

This course invites students to cultivate a deeper awareness of, and engagement with, cultural difference and diversity - particularly in relation to the urban context of the San Francisco Bay Area which will serve as the living-learning laboratory for an integrative exploration into the themes of empathy & compassion; intercultural intelligence & competency; and social privilege & inequality from a distinctively Christian worldview perspective.

Fulfills GE Understanding Society; taught by Professor Brad Berky

ENG-006: STUDIES IN LIT: THE ENVIRONMENT  —  4 UNITS

An exploration of the ways of knowing provided by narrative, poetry and drama. The course invites us to see how literature reveals things we cannot know except by inference or by metaphor. Further, by encouraging us to practice compassion by imagining the other, the course involves us in ways of knowing that are inherently ethical.

Aims of the course:

1. To explore the relationship between nature, literary imagination, and the history of earth stewardship in the U.S., including reflection on how we have, as culture spoken and written about the natural world, and how our language shapes our understanding of it and behaviors toward it.
2. To understand the roots of some of the assumptions about nature (both useful and dangerous) imbedded in American mythology.
3. To reflect on the current role of writing, storytelling, poetry, and other imaginative and creative work in the cause of sustainability and global survival.
4. To reflect on biblical texts related to care of the created order and how echoes of biblical language and story have shaped American perceptions and policies.

Fulfills GE Reading Imaginative Literature and GE Writing/Speech Intensive and ENV Studies Humanities Elective; taught by Dr. Marilyn McEntyre

PEA-041A: HEALTH AND FITNESS IN THE CITY  —  1 UNIT

This course is designed to help Westmont in San Francisco students stay active and healthy while offering opportunities to explore the landscapes, streetscapes & local opportunities for indoor physical activities throughout the City. Involvement in this course will give students practice in exploring new urban spaces, in minimizing your impact on resources, and in discovering how some forms of exercise can help navigate the stress of urban living.

Fulfills 1 unit of PEA GE credit; taught by Professor Brad Berky

TBA: GE-FULFILLING CLASS

Stay tuned for another class that will fulfill GE requirement(s)