Curriculum

Course Curriculum

The Military Science curriculum stresses the techniques and practical application of organizational theory, leadership, and decision making for both women and men.

The basic course, normally taken during the freshman and sophomore years, is designed to explore the mainstreams of thought about the structuring of cooperative effort in organizations, from the origins of formal theory to the recent contributions of the behavioral sciences. Course objectives are to gain familiarity with the concepts of leadership and develop practical skills in leadership, management and decision making functions. Building on the theoretical groundwork, the course emphasizes application and practical experience for a more complete understanding of the concepts.

To achieve the above objectives, the course will include both experiential and didactic learning methods. The experiential learning component includes both laboratory situations and selected outside activities.  Approximately one-third of each semester is devoted to the didactic learning method. The remaining two-thirds of each semester of the first year are devoted to the experiential learning component.

The second class of the basic course is an extension of the first class. Students continue their study of organizational theory, leadership, and management.

The basic course, described above, has a weekly requirement of two class hours and a leadership lab.  Enrollment imposes no military obligation nor enforces military standards of dress, physical fitness, discipline, and appearance on the part of the enrolled students. However, students desiring a uniform and wanting to wear the uniform to class or lab must conform to basic military appearance standards.

The advanced course, normally taken during the junior and senior years, is limited to those graduates of the basic course who have demonstrated both potential for and a desire to become commissioned officers in the U.S. Army. The curriculum of the advanced course builds upon and reinforces the knowledge gained in the basic course. In the advanced course, experiential and didactic learning methods are oriented toward a single organization—the U.S. Army. Course objectives are to increase the student's understanding of processes and issues in Army organizational life and to develop the analytical skills necessary for leadership, organization, management and administration of military organizations.

Advanced course students receive up to a $400 stipend per month for each month they are in school, for up to 20 months, and also incur a service obligation to the Army upon completion of the two-year advanced course.

A student must maintain a minimum average of C (2.00) in military science courses in order to be considered for commission.