Theology

In addition to the 39 credits for the theology major, students declaring a theology major during or after summer 2011 are required to take a theology capstone course, TH 495.

Students declaring a major prior to summer 2011 have the option to fulfill their outcomes assessment with either TH 495, or an alternative process to be determined in consultation with the department chairperson. Outcomes assessments are required for all majors.

The TH 495 capstone course reviews material from each of the four major assessment areas (Scripture, Moral Theology, Christology, and Church History). In each area, the student will concentrate on material corresponding to their coursework used to meet their requirement. For example, Moral Theology will focus on either TH 201 or TH 209, while Scripture will focus on TH 318 or TH 319, depending upon the student’s coursework. Students who have had two Scripture courses or Moral Theology courses will be able to choose their area of focus for their capstone. Normally, this is to be taken sometime during the student’s final year of classes, or as shortly thereafter as possible. It is the student’s responsibility to notify his or her advisor, as well as the department chairperson, of his or her intention to begin preparing for assessment. This should be done the semester prior to the time this preparation begins.

Within TH 495, students will be assessed on covering all four areas mentioned above. While the course will be taught by a single instructor, the work by each student may be assessed by full-time professors within the department to determine if the work is of passing quality. The decision about whether or not a student’s performance for a given area is sufficient to pass is to be determined by the instructor and other department faculty who may be involved in the assessment, in consultation with one another. Each student must receive an assessment of “passing” for each of the four areas to pass the course. If by the end of the course the student has failed to pass any of the four areas before the conclusion of the course, he or she will receive a grade of “no pass” for the course. Students failing to pass TH 495 may either take the course again when it is next offered, or be reassessed in the particular area(s) which they failed to pass. Depending upon the timeline of the course, students may be able to redo work in areas they fail to pass before the conclusion of the course, though only as time allows. While there is no limit how many times a student may retake an assessment for any of the four areas, students will typically be allowed only one retake per area per semester