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University of Lynchburg

/ Academics / DELL Curriculum

DELL Curriculum

Two students in red chairs on the Dell

Your education is a journey. It starts before you get to Lynchburg, and it never ends. Our job: take you to your next destination and get you set for the rest of the journey. Your job: never stop exploring.

The DELL

Our general education program is modeled after the Dell, the beautiful center of our campus. Just like each of our sidewalks are connected, every class connects to helping you discover your passion and preparing to share it with the world.

Image representing the DELL plan. The phrase "Responsible engagement in a complex world" is located in the center and surrounded by four quadrants, each highlighting core learning goals and their related courses. They are "Breadth of learning," supported by artistic and creative thinking, historical interpretation, literary analysis, scientific literacy, and social science skills; "Global Perspectives" supported by first-year and senior seminars and modern and classical languages courses; "Personal and social responsibility" supported by courses in living well and ethical reasoning; and "Engage the mind" supported by college writing workshop, argumentationa nd reasoning courses, and quantitative reasoning courses. The entire DELL is surrounded by "integrated learning," the fifth goal that connects all courses.

Here, you’ll meet people with different perspectives. You’ll learn how to take responsibility for yourself and the world. You’ll treat learning as the verb it was meant to be. You’ll join the many diverse, engaged, lifelong learners who have made Lynchburg part of their journey.

Man climbing a rope into a tree in front of Hopwood Hall

 

First Year Seminars

In your first year at Lynchburg, one of our best professors will teach you in an integrative seminar. That’s code for a class that combines the best questions and ideas from multiple subjects for an innovative look at the world.

Past first-year seminars have addressed mindfulness and leadership, death and the afterlife, and the human-animal connection.

Here are some past seminars:

  • First Sight and Second Thoughts: How Thinking and Perception Can Change the World
  • Harry Potter and the Good Life
  • What is the Role of Zoos in Society?
  • Who’s Conning Whom? Critical Thinking in a Digital Age

“Most people say that ‘college is the best four years of your life,’ but fail to recognize that until they are out of college. My first-year seminar gave me an opportunity to step back and take everything in while it was actually happening.”

Broad Learning

Woman painting

You’ll cover a lot of ground in our classrooms. The DELL curriculum includes classes on topics like:

  • Living well
  • Artistic and creative thinking
  • Language and intercultural competence
  • Historical interpretation
  • Ethics and civic engagement
  • Quantitative reasoning
  • Scientific literacy

Senior Seminar

Before we hand you your diploma, your senior seminar will help you tackle real-world problems with the help of everything you’ve learned at Lynchburg. Like the first-year seminars, these classes cross the lines between disciplines.

Senior seminars explore problems like these:

  • What is Normal? Society and Disability
  • What Happens when Politics Turns Evil?

Majors and Minors

Your major is your focus, not a limitation.

Lynchburg offers more than 50 majors and 60 minors. The general education program gives you the flexibility to pursue a second major, or a minor or two, or dabble in a variety of classes that stoke your interests. If you’re really creative, and ready to take charge of your education, you can even design your own major.