Greenville College Annual Report 2004-05

Message from the President

Greenville College is serious about integration! But what does that mean? This is an age when fast computing makes the study of calculus a lost art. Few remember the genius of Newton and Leibniz who “smoothed” the repetitive summing of tinier and tinier pieces of almost anything measurable into an elegant and useful result by the process of mathematical integration. Instead, today’s computers process so quickly, they can crunch each piece separately and merely stack them together by brute force! How unsurprising this is in a day of rampant individualism, when everyone wants to be seen as separate and “special”−ized.

Sadly, most academic institutions take this approach too. Courses are stacked one on top of another, crunched together with some hope the student will figure out how they are connected. Specialization becomes
the pinnacle of educational achievement.

But in Christian colleges and universities, especially those committed to
the liberating arts, we have always said we are committed to integration…especially the integration of faith and learning. Most of us involved want to say this is perhaps our point of greatest distinction! Unfortunately, like those other words, even when we say“integration,” we often don’t really know what we mean.

I believe “integration” is best accomplished by considering real world problems. Whether it is “terrorism,” “human sexuality,” “fear of death,” or any other of the issues we see and read about in the news, real problems require consideration from more than just a narrow specialized point of view. To address them seriously, requires first, a collaborative perspective from multiple disciplines. Second, real problems can never even be understood
much less resolved merely in theory. Without asking hard practical questions about what should and can be done, the work is “academic.” Third, whenever real problems arise, the answers always assume certain values; and for followers of Christ those values derive from our faith. In each
case, an “integrative” education means an education that preserves the “big picture,” treating the pieces as part of a whole, in order to give our graduates a perspective that is more meaningful and more reliable.

When most institutions settle for just stacking and crunching narrow
individualized points of view, Greenville College believes there is a better way; equipping our graduates to work together to see the whole picture and address the real problem integratively. This approach permeates what we do, especially in the seamlessness of our curriculum and co-curriculum and in the intentionally integrative design of our problem focused COR general education. Consider the stained glass from our prayer chapel on the facing page. Enjoy the beauty of each colorful piece, then recognize and affirm the meaning of the “big picture” as an illustration of our integrative task.

Last updated: November 29 , 2005