Academics

At Wisconsin Lutheran College, you’ll not only have small class sizes and a variety of academic options, you’ll also have the opportunity to work side-by-side with professors doing groundbreaking heart disease research, teach in local schools as early as freshman year, travel to Zambia for a nursing clinical, take a British literature course in England, or conduct marine biology research in Grenada.

Receive a well-rounded liberal arts education and take advantage of robust internship opportunities that make you adaptable and marketable in ever-changing job markets, and equip you for successful career or graduate school endeavors. Those are just a few reasons why WLC may be the perfect college for you.

The world is changing fast. You need to be adaptable. You need broad, interdisciplinary preparation. This is why WLC was founded on and remains rooted in the liberal arts. If you limit your education to one focus, your degree could be obsolete in less time than it took you to obtain that education. To compete today, you need liberal training in diverse disciplines.

Dr. Robert Balza, Biology

At Wisconsin Lutheran College, we prepare you for success and challenge you to be a leader in your chosen academic field. Taught from a Christian perspective, each course helps you develop skills you’ll need in your career: critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and decision-making. During freshman year, WLC students take Strengths-based evaluations, receive personalized academic coaching and individual attention, and participate in seminar classes designed to assist them with academic and career planning.

Academic Highlights

Majors are regularly updated to keep up with the changing world.
Faculty members are experts in their field, bringing real-world experience into the classroom.
Class sizes are small, allowing for one-on-one mentoring by nationally ranked faculty.
Students are also solidly prepared for graduate school. Our alumni say that their graduate classes are often extensions of courses taken at WLC. It’s not uncommon for faculty and students to work collaboratively - some students even publish their work in academic journals or present their findings at professional conferences.

Unsure of Your Major?

Don’t worry! You're not alone. Your advisor will help you explore your interests and select classes. Since you won’t declare a major until your sophomore year, there’s plenty of time to take a variety of courses to help you narrow your focus.

GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM

General Education (GE) at Wisconsin Lutheran College is a central component of the liberal arts programs that encourages multidisciplinary intersections, provides exposure to multiple ways of knowing, and shapes a person's ability to engage in civil and professional relationships in ethical, informed, and creative ways.

The GE curriculum is a complement, not an addendum, to students' majors. Majors immerse students in a single body of core knowledge and prepare students for particular sectors of the job market. The GE curriculum lays the groundwork for collegiate scholarship, prepares students for personal opportunities and experiences outside their desired professional sectors, and aims to develop informed and active citizen engagement.

The Christian Vocation and Service GE curriculum is designed to fully incorporate WLC's mission and its academic goals, which assert that, “a Christian undergraduate education [is] based on scholarly activity, engagement with the liberal arts, and practical application of knowledge [that] enlarges students' perspectives and prepares them for the various vocations in which God places them.” It seeks to clarify the practical and vocational value of a Lutheran liberal arts GE curriculum through distinctive categories that emphasize service to the community and preparation for a career.

Students at WLC will be required to complete the GE curriculum as part of the degree requirements for graduation. Students should expect to take courses in the GE curriculum for the duration of their academic careers at WLC, beginning with COL 101 and LAS 101, courses which introduce students to college and the liberal arts, and ending with LAC 401/402, the Liberal Arts Capstone course.

ESSENTIAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

Wisconsin Lutheran College has adopted six Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) that we believe represent the essential skills that all students who graduate from WLC should exhibit. These ELOs, which are listed below, interact closely with WLC's mission and Academic Goals.
Creative Thinking
Critical Thinking
Ethical Reasoning
Effective Communication (spoken, written, visual, and digital)
Inquiry and Analysis
Intercultural Knowledge and Competence

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATION

The General Education (GE) curriculum at Wisconsin Lutheran College is intended to prepare “students for lives of Christian leadership,” a central tenet of WLC's mission. To meet this mission goal, the curriculum emphasizes Christian vocation - the work one is called to do in all areas of his/her life. It also aims to clearly explain how General Education at an institution such as WLC, which defines itself as a “Lutheran liberal arts college for Christian men and women,” functions. The curriculum deliberately outlines three major professional and vocational categories that we believe are central to developing Christian leaders. These three categories are described below.
Lutheran Theology: As an institution that builds its identity from the theological roots of Confessional Lutheranism, WLC also characterizes its GE curriculum by a commitment to these theological roots and an emphasis on teaching biblical truths through the hermeneutical lens of Lutheran theology. Consequently, all students are expected to take a minimum of 12 academic credits in theology, three of which are introductory and nine of which develop students' engagement with three major theological fields: biblical theology, applied theology, and systematic theology. Students who graduate from WLC should be able to articulate the foundational tenets of Lutheran theology and apply those tenets to all vocational circumstances, regardless of their religious affiliation.

Professional Development: WLC's Academic Goals state that, “a Christian undergraduate education [is] based on scholarly activity, engagement with the liberal arts, and practical application of knowledge [that] enlarges students' perspectives and prepares them for the various vocations in which God places them.” The professional development courses in the GE curriculum teach the foundational skills that employers seek and prepare students for the remainder of their undergraduate careers.

Approaches to Individual and Social Questions: This final category in professional development and vocation provides students multiple avenues for exploring questions central to civic, professional, and personal development. These represent some of the many “ways of knowing” that are possible. Through these courses, students can expect to broaden their exposure to academic disciplines, develop the ability to evaluate problems from a variety of angles, and see themselves as redeemed individuals in the long narrative of human experience.

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