Hillsdale College Recognized for its Great Books Program
HILLSDALE, Mich. — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal included Hillsdale College on a list of 48 colleges and universities that feature great books programs. The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal is a non-profit that aims to improve higher education. The recognized programs place an emphasis on seminar-based classes and share a desire for wisdom and understanding.
“The Great Books play an integral role in students’ education at Hillsdale College,” said Hillsdale College Provost Christopher VanOrman. “These books provide timeless lessons concerning human nature, virtue, self-government, and liberty, and we are proud to be recognized by the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal for our commitment to the great books.”
The core curriculum at Hillsdale College features two required Great Books courses: Great Books in the Western Tradition and Great Books in the British and American Traditions. Several other courses required by Hillsdale’s core curriculum, including Classical Logic and Rhetoric, Western Philosophical Tradition, and Western Theological Tradition, place a strong emphasis on the study of great books and primary texts. Some examples of books that students at Hillsdale read include “The Odyssey,” “The Divine Comedy,” and “The Nicomachean Ethics.”
The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to improve higher education. The center studies governance, curriculum, financing, access, accountability, faculty research, and administrative policies. In those endeavors, the center is “motivated by the principles that have traditionally guided public policy in the United States: limits on government; freedom to pursue goals through voluntary means, both for-profit and nonprofit; accountability through private property rights; and the belief that competition is an excellent regulating force.”
For the full list of colleges and universities featuring great books programs, click here.