Christendom College Bulletin

Table of Contents Page

Academic Services

• Library
• Computer Services
• Writing Center
• Career Planning and Advising
• Career Opportunities
  

Library

“My library
Was kingdom large enough.”
–Shakespeare
The Tempest, I.ii.109-110

Completed in 2004, the beautiful St. John the Evangelist Library, named in honor of Our Lord's "beloved disciple," is the hub of the educational resources for Christendom College. The Library has a high quality collection of over 65,000 volumes which is specifically designed to support the Catholic liberal arts curriculum of the undergraduate College, as well as the theological, philosophical, and catechetical studies of the Notre Dame Graduate School and faculty research. The library serves and supports the intellectual and spiritual formation of the students, faculty, administration, and staff of both the primarily residential undergraduate community and the primarily commuter graduate student body. With this in mind, the library aims to provide an uplifting atmosphere and excellent instructional, reference, and collection services to the constituencies of Christendom College.

The Reference Collection is located on the Main Level of St. John the Evangelist Library, and it contains general and specialized dictionaries, handbooks, maps, and other resources which aid students in their studies and research, including, for example, such important sources as the Leonine Edition of the Opera Omnia of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the complete Acta Synodalia of the Second Vatican Council, the 130 volumes of the War of Rebellion: The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, and 241 volumes of the United States Supreme Court Reports, as well as the bound collection of Senior Theses from the first Christendom Class of 1981 to the present.

Internet Public Access terminals are available in the Information Commons in the central area of the Library's main floor, along with networked access to CD-ROM titles, access to some excellent electronic resources, and the library's computer catalog. The library's computer catalog is also available in various terminals sprinkled throughout the general collections in both the main and gallery levels. Photocopying services are available in both the main and gallery levels. The Library also has a growing multi-media collection providing both educational and popular titles.

The main and gallery levels house numerous individual study carrels and the monograph collections supporting the academic disciplines taught at Christendom College. These levels also offer four small group study areas, and one larger, enclosed quiet study area. The Rare Book and Special Collections Room in the gallery level includes rare collections of saints' lives, histories of religious orders, and other ecclesiastical, spiritual, literary works in several European languages from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, and one of this nation's most complete collections of works by and about G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, including a rare complete run of the G.K's Weekly.

The Periodicals Collection is also housed in the main level, surrounding a comfortable reading area containing the current issues of the collection. Microform reader-printers are available in this general area. The Library receives some 250 periodicals and has a developing collection that includes some 800 reels of microfilm and microfiche. In addition to these print titles, the library also offers access to more than 50 full-text electronic books and periodicals through VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia; these are available at any of the terminals located in the Information Commons, adjacent to the periodicals reading area.

Interlibrary loan services are readily available through the College's on-line access to commercially available databases and to the catalogs of major universities throughout the nation and the world. The College's reference librarians provide instruction on research techniques for students at all collegiate levels. This instruction includes structured sessions for groups of students and walk-in or private sessions for specific help on projects.

The St. Paul Library is a branch of the Christendom College Library at the Notre Dame Graduate School facility in Alexandria, Virginia, containing an additional nine thousand volumes in the fields of Systematic and Moral Theology, Sacred Scripture, Spirituality, Pastoral Catechetics, and Philosophy. For more information about this library branch, see the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College Catalog, available from the Admissions Office.

The St. John the Evangelist Library has been designed to grow to a collection size of 130,000 monographic volumes, 5,000 audio and video cassettes or alternate media, 30,000 bound periodical volumes, and a total of some 500 current subscription titles. In combination with the classrooms, Computer Center, and Audio Visual lab located in its lower level, The St. John the Evangelist Library is the center of the academic life of the Christendom College campus. The Library is open 90-100 hours every week.

St. John the Evangelist Library & Computer Center Hours

M-Th: 8:00 a.m.-12:00 Midnight
Fri.: 8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Sat.: 1:00-8:00 p.m.
Sun.: 1:00-12:00 Midnight

Summer and Semester Breaks:
M-F: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Sat. & Sun.: Closed

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Achieving Balance – Technology at Christendom College

As with all aspects of culture, the technological ingenuity of man shines brightest when it magnifies the grandeur of God, is placed at the service of the common good, and is ordered toward the perfection of the person. Christendom College clearly recognizes the positive advantages that computers and related devices can bring to daily life. Yet the College grants pride of place to a Catholic moral and intellectual formation offered through a personal community of students and mentors. In order that a strong sense of this community be encouraged, the College seeks to instill a balanced and healthy detachment from an inordinate use of the opportunities provided by technology. We believe that in so doing the virtues will better flourish in a context of friendship and communion—both human and divine. For this reason the College is supportive of professors who prefer not to allow laptops, Blackberries and cell phones within the environs of the classroom.

For creating fuller opportunities to participate in our community, the campus computer network does not extend to any of the student halls of residence, but is duly provided in public spaces with defined hours of availability. Similarly, the code of student life represents an articulation of time-tested principles that foster Christian fellowship and discourage inordinate attachment to contemporary media such as movies and video games. Again, a proper balance and reserve in this area should be characteristic of "the free man."

The College provides generous technological support for the academic life of each student. Personal computers on the first floor of the Saint John the Evangelist Library may be used in preparation of essays and advanced research, as well as to gain access to the Internet and email accounts. Numerous network connections are available throughout the Library by which laptop users can connect to the campus network for the Internet and printing needs. Use of these resources is governed by published policies and procedures. Computer use is a privilege extended freely to all Christendom students, faculty, and staff. Students are also welcome to bring their own personal computers or laptops with them while at the College.

As with all branches of the College, the Department of Computer Services believes that a Catholic liberal arts education essentially concerns the pursuit and acquisition of wisdom and not merely the communication of information. Life at Christendom College, as a life to be spent in the common pursuit of wisdom within the Catholic tradition, necessarily involves a communion of souls. Behavior and the abuse of technology that diminish human dignity and isolate the individual from a fuller life are discouraged. Instruction on the proper use of technology is provided by the student computer staff under the direction of the Director of Computer Services and the Computer Services Assistant Manager.

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Writing Center
The Christendom College Writing Center provides students with an important academic support service. The Center, which is staffed by a group of trained students (Peer Tutors) under faculty direction, offers students guidance and encouragement at all stages of the writing process.

Under the guidance of the Center Director, peer tutors advise students on research techniques, outlining, documentation principles and syntactical questions. The Writing Center, located in the St. John the Evangelist Library, is open on designated evenings during each semester and is also open on weekends during peak usage times. Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this important aid to better writing.

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Career Planning and Advising

The Career Development Office at Christendom College provides career counseling and orientation for students about potential career choices; provides information on deadlines for GRE and LSAT examinations, graduate fellowships, etc.; and assists students with résumé writing and graduate and law school applications. The office also maintains a listing of job opportunities for seniors and Christendom College graduates and acts as a clearinghouse for graduate job seekers and employment opportunities, especially in lay apostolates. Located in the Pope John Paul the Great Student Center, the office maintains close contact with alumni and helps current students to network with alumni who are in professions of interest.

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Career Opportunities

Preparation for Graduate School

Some Christendom graduates will continue the quest for wisdom they have begun at Christendom by enrolling in a masters or doctoral program. Christendom's undergraduate program, in which students learn and practice analytical, critical, and communication skills in the illuminating light of reason animated by faith, is an excellent preparation for the rigors of graduate work.

Generally, the student chooses as a major that discipline in which he plans to pursue an advanced degree. The selection of a graduate school and discrete program often will depend upon the quality of professors at a given school and whether the student desires an academic career (which usually requires a Ph.D.) or one in any of several other professions, including teaching and lay apostolates. Past graduates of the College have earned master degrees or doctorates in theology, philosophy, English, government, history, and classics.

To support and encourage those students disposed to advanced study, the College's Career Development Office disseminates information about the GRE, graduate schools, and educational funding, and offers aid in the application process. Christendom's faculty members also advise students regarding graduate school and help them with some application preparations.

Non-Academic Careers

Students naturally seek to know how Christendom College's curriculum can help to prepare them for a career. It should be clear from its emphasis on truth and academic quality that the College is in no sense a vocational school; it provides an education whose primary ends are intellectual and spiritual rather than technical. A student entering into the Christendom spirit will see his or her college years as an opportunity to develop the mind by a thorough study of the liberal arts, a study important to the ordering of his or her own life and to exalted human endeavor of every kind.

It should be recognized that the capability for logical thought and clear, effective, and persuasive expression developed at Christendom College is a great help toward success in any profession. A liberally educated graduate has far greater potential for professional advancement than one who is merely trained. In keeping with our goal of graduating students prepared to help reshape the temporal order, the College provides special orientation to the influential careers of law, politics, and teaching.

Pre-Law

The entire liberal arts program of the College, emphasizing truth, logical thought, and effective expression, is a superb preparation for law school. Regardless of major, a pre-law student is advised to select a minimum of two courses from among those in the Political Science curriculum which deal specifically with the law (e.g., PSAE 311-312 American Government and Politics, 333-334 American Constitutional Law, 499 Jurisprudence and the Catholic Lawyer). Pre-law students will find that any major offered at Christendom will provide excellent preparation for law school.

An authentically Catholic approach to the study and practice of politics is precisely what is needed for the renovation of the social order. Young Catholics interested in pursuing a career in politics must be properly formed and trained to fill this need, and this is precisely what the Politics Program is intended to accomplish. For students not majoring in Political Science and Economics, two special courses for the Program (PSAE 382 Practica and PSAE 521 Internship) are designed to convey a basic familiarity with the opportunities, problems, and techniques of a career in politics. Interested students should see the Political Science and Economics section of this bulletin for details and requirements.

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Teaching

Christendom College recognizes the need for excellent Catholic teachers in diocesan Catholic schools, parish religious education programs, and public and private schools. Christendom College's liberal arts majors, in conjunction with its superior core curriculum, provide an excellent foundation for a career in primary or secondary teaching. With a B.A. from Christendom College, an additional program of usually no more than two years will be necessary for teacher certification and a Master of Education (M.Ed.) or Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree. Furthermore, Christendom College's core curriculum with certain additional courses in political science, American history, mathematics, and science meets or exceeds the "general studies" component for most teacher certification programs, except in health and physical education. Christendom College does not offer teacher certification but does offer a pre-certification program which provides its undergraduate students the opportunity to explore a career in education and to develop teaching skills through the Teaching Apprentice Practicum. See the Teacher Formation Program section of this bulletin for details and requirements. The Career Development Office highly recommends that students interested in the teaching profession enroll in Christendom's Teacher Apprentice Program and take six credits of student teaching. These six credits are very helpful for students seeking certification to teach in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington and elsewhere.

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