Paideia

Jackie Wilkie (program director)

The Luther College Paideia Program consists of many activities and opportunities, including a three-course interdisciplinary core curriculum; performances and events, including an annual lecture series; library acquisitions; student writing services; networked computer classrooms; a faculty development program that includes sabbatical grants and summer workshops; and a faculty journal Agora: Luther College in Conversation. All these activities receive financial support from the Paideia Endowment, originally established through National Endowment for the Humanities grants matched by friends of Luther College.

Paideia is the ancient Greek word for education. The word implies both formal and informal learning, as well as the culture that is generated when such learning is held in common. The use of the name Paideia for Luther College's core academic program is a recognition that life in community depends on centuries of shared wisdom.

The latest in a series of core academic programs established in 1964, the Paideia curriculum consists of two required interdisciplinary components: a common two-semester sequence for first-year students (PAID 111, 112), and a Paideia II course taken during the junior or senior year (PAID II 450).