Innovative Programs

Wofford offers distinctive learning opportunities that set it apart from other liberal arts colleges. They provide students with meaningful study-abroad experiences, exciting and socially useful service opportunities, career-related and experiential learning possibilities, interaction with great academians from across the world, and exposure to renowned authors, artists, and business and professional leaders. Priority efforts should be made to promote these programs, because they best define the marketing statement and make the Wofford brand distinctive among hundreds of similar institutions. Such “focal point” programs include, but are not limited to:

1) The Interim, a January term that encourages students and faculty to explore new interests both on and off campus.

2) The Bonner Scholar Program, a service-learning scholarship program that places deserving students in volunteer positions throughout the community.

3) The Success Initiative, a leadership and scholarship program that offers practical, project-based experience.

4) The Vocational Discernment and Pre-Ministerial Program, a counseling and mentoring approach to helping students make personal decisions regarding further study and careers in the ministry.

5) Neuroscience, a program in which students examine the nervous system and its regulation of behavior through an experimental approach, offered jointly by the Departments of Psychology and Biology.

6) Computational Science, a fast-growing interdisciplinary field that is at the intersection of the sciences, computer science and mathematics, involves learning to store, retrieve, process and visualize massive amounts of information in web-accessed databases.

7) Learning Communities, an interdisciplinary approach to learning that links courses in two or more departments through a common theme.

8) The Novel Experience, a first-year reading and writing program that offers an introduction to the academic rigors of Wofford while familiarizing students with the Spartanburg community.

9) The Creative Writing Concentration, a program led by outstanding published faculty writers that provides additional opportunities for students to hone their creative writing skills, earn coveted prizes and become published writers themselves.

10) Presidential International Scholar, an opportunity for an outstanding, intellectually gifted student to visit other parts of the world researching specific academic areas of interest.

11) The Community of Scholars. Student fellows in this summer program work under the supervision of faculty mentors engaged in parallel or related research.  The projects encompass all disciplines, including science, the humanities, the social sciences and the fine arts.

12) Presidential Seminar, a weekly seminar hosted by Wofford President Benjamin Dunlap for outstanding seniors, in which seminar members explore interdisciplinary subjects of current significance.

13) Liberty Fellowship, a two-year leadership experience hosted by the college and a partnership of South Carolina businessman Hayne Hipp, of Greenville, the Aspen Institute and Wofford, for young citizens of South Carolina with exemplary promise for societal achievement.