Undergraduate Academics

The Australia Studies Centre is located in the diverse city of Brisbane at Christian Heritage College (CHC). With its near-perfect climate and population of 1.8 million, Brisbane is a flourishing river city with modern districts, hip cafés and a thriving arts scene. Together, ASC and CHC offer a range of challenging and engaging programs. Course curriculum is centered on a foundation of faith while exploring the connections of local, as well as national, tradition and culture. At ASC, students will come face-to-face with some of God’s most impressive creations. But perhaps the most inspiring of the encounters will also be the most subtle: unexpected friendships, newfound passions and unbelievable sights will all make a student’s experience in Australia a world away from ordinary.

Located in sub-tropical Southeastern China, Xiamen University is surrounded by a modern progressive city and the South China Sea. Here elegant buildings, ancient Chinese temples, and lush landscapes provide the setting, as you study. Generosity and obligation, sweet and sour, activity and passivity are all opposites that complement each other and exemplify a Chinese life lived in dynamic balance. Experience Chinese culture firsthand and learn about its historical, religious, geographic and economic positions. In addition to studying the local language, students might teach English to Chinese students or students might put one-on-one talents to work in an orphanage. CSP immerses students in an increasingly important part of the world in an informed, Christ-centered way. Within CSP, there is a strong focus on community between students. Here students will connect with CSP peers through Bible study, worship and valuable dialogue. Travel the country of China together, eat unheard-of foods together, and learn a very foreign language together. Discover how to live as a believer in the amazingly diverse land of China.
 

Arriving in Costa Rica, students will be immersed in the diversity of Latin America’s history. Students will step into a contemporary society rooted in tradition with people who are sincere and accepting. Live in San José, journey to Nicaragua, walk the vibrant roads of Limón and Puerto Viejo. Travel not as a tourist, but as an ambassador to this complex culture. The LASP courses allow students to think critically about their Latin American experience by connecting surroundings with classroom discussions. It’s a place where students sip coffee and develop relationships through a common language. It’s a local restaurant owner who welcomes students and teaches them about international business. And it’s the homestays, expanding one’s view of cultural differences as well as similarities. During LASP, students will encounter new voices of praise, different approaches to international affairs and steadfast social virtue. As students live with different host families, they allow day-to-day realities of Latin American life to permeate their perspectives. Interact in Spanish with politicians, forward-thinking business owners, rural farmers and church leaders. 

The India Studies Program (ISP), in partnership with the Bishop Appasamy College of Arts and Sciences (BACAS), brings students to one of India’s most fascinating cities: Coimbatore. Home to over 2 million people, it’s a bustling metropolis of business, culture and Indian tradition. ISP takes students through two core courses that provide a breadth of knowledge about India’s culture, society and challenges, as well as its vast religious landscape. Meanwhile, students build upon this knowledge as they participate in three elective courses, each one taught by a BACAS faculty.

The Los Angeles Film Studies Center (LAFSC) exists to provide a space for people who are passionately driven to create stories. Students are trained in the craft of expressing their authentic voice while walking out their faith journey. They don’t just talk about the film industry at The Los Angeles Film Studies Center, they immerse students in it. Students are introduced to like-minded people living and working in the entertainment industry, including many who have come through the program. Equipment is provided. Wherever students are in their journey of faith and film, LAFSC wants to help students arrive at that next step.

As a student in the Middle East Studies Program (MESP) one will be immersed in 6,000 years of history in Amman, Jordan. Journey by camel across legendary ground to ancient sites like Petra and Jerash. Dive into the Dead Sea, swim in the Sea of Galilee, and fall asleep in the moonlight of the valley Wadi Rum. Barter in Arabic with vendors in the market and share stories with school children in the Old City of Jerusalem. Then watch this Holy Land take human shape as students serve like Christ in the regions he walked. MESP immerses students in the daily life, language, food, culture, religion and politics of one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world. The heart of the Middle East Studies Program is the authentic community you’ll forge with these neighbors, families, and peers. Although grounded in Christian liberal arts, MESP engages the religious culture and politics of the Middle East without bias. Students will examine the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from every perspective, live with a local family during a week-long homestay, and worship with roommates in the morning. Students will sit at the feet of native experts to learn about topics most precious to the region and then serve that region through a long-term service project matched to student’s gifts, hopes, and calling.

The Nashville Contemporary Music Center (CMC) offers students a front-row ticket to the music industry. Learn all of Nashville’s ins and outs as students visit a publishing house, a modern recording studio and sound stage. Meet with a working songwriter, producer, engineer and music arranger to get a taste of the working life in this musical metropolis. Put it all together at the Hardscuffle Building, where world-class equipment awaits students' God-given talents. CMC has been adapting to the ever-changing world of music since its inception in 2001. Students' entry into the Nashville music scene begins with morning classes, then they’re off composing, performing, mixing and promoting. After weeks of solid creativity, students are out on tour, savoring every note.

The Northern Ireland Semester, beginning in spring 2018, is available only during the spring semester and includes a peace and reconciliation component befitting its location. Northern Ireland is a land that is rich in natural beauty, culture and Christian heritage. But it also has a tragic history of religious and political conflict. As such, it affords an opportunity for students to experience in deep ways, both the beauty of God’s creation and its cultural achievements as well as the brokenness of the world. Students living in Northern Ireland will experience how those who live out an authentic Christian faith can bring about personal and social reconciliation. 

Designed to uncover the relationship between Christianity and the British Isles in just one summer month, OSP fuels intellectual minds at all levels of education. Engage in scholarship guided by Oxford’s primary method of pedagogies: the tutorial. Go one-on-one with professors to defend one’s beliefs, support one’s positions, ready oneself for graduate school or just become a better thinker. 

SSO is not for the faint of heart. Designed specifically for students seeking an academically rigorous and robust experience like no other, even the brightest of minds will be molded, shaped and stretched at SSO. Here, students and an accomplished Oxford scholar go head-to-head on a topic chosen from 230 subjects relating to history, literature, languages, philosophy or science. And when the semester is all said, done, debated and graded, students will return home with a community of alumni that continually reconnect over the bond that SSO so passionately unites.

Uganda Christian University (UCU) is just 15 miles from the capital city of Kampala and offers students the opportunity to participate in Ugandan culture. All students take part in homestay experiences, which are described as unforgettable. Along with trips throughout Uganda, you’ll venture on an eye-opening 10-day excursion to Rwanda. Student’s most important Ugandan lesson will be in relationships. At home, at school and within the university, these relationships encourage deeper thought about one’s own cultural identity. UCU has over 6,000 students and Uganda’s renowned hospitality will help students form deep connections within the local community. Building upon the course, Faith & Action, students will begin to place these diverse connections into context. Applicants may apply to live either on-campus or with a host family for the semester. USP also offers a Social Work Emphasis (SWE) which includes a junior or senior level practicum experience. All options encourage students to participate in Ugandan life and explore the intricacy of cross-cultural relationships. In classes, on practicum sites and in homestay opportunities, students will learn from Ugandans about life lived in East Africa.

The American Studies Program (ASP) in Washington, D.C. connects students and their faith to the institutions and leaders who are impacting issues in public policy and global development. Students are independent, but not alone. Future politician or not, students will nurture the leader within during the experience in ASP.

MidAmerica Nazarene University has entered into an agreement with IBI of Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. IBI is a CCCU-endorsed organization, providing students an opportunity to participate in a summer program of study in international business and economics. The ten-week summer program is normally taken following completion of the junior year, and includes periods of residence in key locations in Asia well as coordinated visits to major political, business, and economic centers of Europe. This program provides the student a minor in International Business. Successful applicants are normally required to have completed at least one full year of economics (macro and micro), and at least one semester each of accounting, marketing, and management. Minimum GPA: 2.75/4.0. Additional information is available through the Business Administration Department.

MidAmerica Nazarene University has entered into an agreement with the Bresee Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, making it possible for interested students from a variety of academic majors to participate as interns in urban studies. This internship provides students with a broad understanding of urban life and the challenges of urban ministry. The program features a multi-disciplinary approach for considering community development, cross-cultural relations, the urban poor, education, politics and power, social service delivery, gangs, immigration, religion, and Christian lifestyle. Students are only eligible for institutional scholarships when they are attending to complete requirements for the Urban Ministries Concentration in the Ministry or Intercultural Studies majors at MNU. Several colleges and universities cooperate with the Institute and grant academic credit up to 15 semester hours to qualified juniors. Students are involved in inner-city assignments and appropriate on-site seminars during the fall semester. Additional information is available through the Department of Christian Ministry and Formation.

Study abroad in Ecuador with total immersion in a Spanish language program. Live with Latin American students in the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Quito, Ecuador. Participate in service events, travel to the Galapagos Islands, an active volcano, and the Amazon jungle. 

Study in Romania for a semester, or for part of the summer in Sighisoara, Transylvania, an historic town from the 13th century. The focus of the RSP is cross-cultural service learning. Students learn to appreciate, adjust to and learn from the new cultural context by living with a Romanian family, studying the language and aspects of the history and culture, and working alongside Romanian Christians who are committed to serving needy people and bringing about positive change in their community. Most of the juniors and seniors who participate in the program carry out their service activities within the context of a practicum or internship related to their major, along with Romanian language classes and one or two other general education courses. Apply through the Registrar’s Office.

Apply to study at Nazarene Theological College for a semester in religion and humanities courses where academic excellence and professional ministry skills training are integrated within a context of broadly Wesleyan-Holiness spirituality. Apply through the Registrar’s Office.
 

Focus on the Family Institute exists to provide a unique Christian educational community that nurtures passionate and persuasive leaders who are committed to Jesus Christ, equipping them to promote healthy families, vibrant churches, and a civil society. The majority of institute students are college juniors, seniors and recent graduates from all disciplines. The program is a semester long with a fall, spring, and summer semester. While the Focus on the Family Institute provides a total of 15 semester hours of academic credit in the fall and spring semesters (eight semester hours in the summer semester), it is not an independently accredited program. Students are allowed to receive academic credit at MNU for course work completed at the Institute. The Focus on the Family Institute is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Students are not eligible for institutional scholarships when attending this off-campus study program.

Study in Cheonan City, South Korea for a semester. MNU students have the opportunity to participate in the study of business and culture through a partnership program with Korea Nazarene University (KNU). Students travel to and attend courses in Korea at KNU during the traditional spring semester. While there, students are exposed to enough international experience to earn an 18 credit minor in International Business from MNU. Students are eligible for institutional scholarships that do not require a presence on the Olathe campus. For information on the KNU-MNU International Business degree, contact Dr. Yorton Clark, Chair of the Department of Business Administration