Gutenberg College is a private, four-year

Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

college in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

. Founded in 1994, the school currently has 20 students as of 2018. The college "does not participate in any government-funded financial aid programs."

History

The college occupies a Jacobean building designed in 1927 by Lawrence, Holford, Allyn and Bean. Originally the University of Oregon's Delta Tau Delta fraternity house, the building became

Delta Zeta Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college Fraternities and sororities in North America, sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Delta Zeta has 163 collegiate chapters in the United States and C ...

sorority in 1946 when Delta Tau Delta moved across the street. Then in 1985 McKenzie Study Center occupied the building. Gutenberg College grew out of McKenzie Study Center (MSC), a Christian ministry that has existed in Eugene for 40 years. MSC was founded in 1979 as a ministry to present a biblical worldview to

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

(UO) students; it now serves not only UO students, but the surrounding community. In 1991, after examining prospective curricula and programs, the board of McKenzie Study Center decided a Great Books curriculum would best accomplish their goals of providing a unique and well-rounded education. Gutenberg started in 1994 with four students and graduated its first class in 1998. Gutenberg remains small, with an enrollment of fewer than fifty students.

Great Books program

The Gutenberg college great books approach is based on the program developed in the mid-1900s at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Mortimer Adler Mortimer is an English surname. Norman origins The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; one 11th century figure associ ...

that later became the

Great Books of the Western World ''Great Books of the Western World'' is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952, by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., to present the great books in 54 volumes. The original editors had three criteria for including a b ...

of Brittannica, at Rutgers and St John's by Stringfellow Barr, et al. This alternative approach to education emphasizes less the vocational skills and specialization of most undergraduate degrees, seeking instead to produce individuals who are well-read, well-reasoned, articulate, and mature. Personal growth rather than vocational training is emphasized and accomplished through studying the most influential works of Western Civilization in every discipline: philosophy, math, science, theology, literature, and art.

Academics

The curriculum centers on the most influential primary texts of Western Civilization, which students study with "tutors" in round-table discussions. In addition, the curriculum includes the following: a weekly lecture, classes and practicums in science, art, math, foreign language and the reading of difficult texts ("microexegesis"). The curriculum is viewed through a biblical Christian perspective, though the staff and faculty is not associated with any one denomination. Gutenberg offers one degree: a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts. Coursework includes the following: two years of

classical Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archa ...

; two years of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

; two years of math (ancient and modern); two years of

Western Civilization Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompasses the social no ...

(

readings); two years of Great Conversation (more in-depth Great Books readings), four years of Microexegesis (practicums in reading difficult texts), and several classes and practicums in physics, biology, chemistry, and art. All students read the same works over the four-year program. Readings progress through the Great Books chronologically and cycle through the history of Western Civilization twice in the four years of study. To promote lively discussion, classes are kept small, usually five to twelve students. A small number of lectures and secondary sources supplement the classic curriculum. At the end of the first two years, students must pass a series of comprehensive exams in order to progress to the last two years. During the senior year, each student writes an extensive thesis dealing with an issue discussed by two classic authors.

Authorization and accreditation

Gutenberg is a non-profit corporation authorized by the State of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

to offer and confer a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts. On November 3, 2009, Gutenberg College was first awarded full accreditation status by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) Accreditation Commission. TRACS is an accrediting organization recognized by the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

and the

Council for Higher Education Accreditation The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is an American organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order to ...

. The college is exempt from various federal guidelines concerning discrimination (e.g.,

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

), the investigation of accusations of sexual abuse, and the reporting of on-campus crimes that govern most other accredited colleges due to its refusal to accept federal funding. On October 21, 2014, the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) Accreditation Commission awarded Gutenberg College "Reaffirmation I" of its Accredited status as a Category II institution. This status is effective for a period of ten years.

References

External links

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Why Gutenberg College?
{{authority control 1994 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Eugene, Oregon Education in Eugene, Oregon Universities and colleges established in 1994 Liberal arts colleges in Oregon Nondenominational Christian universities and colleges Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools Private universities and colleges in Oregon