Learn Together
At EMU, we learn to lead together. Our expert faculty will be your mentors as you explore your field through coursework, internships, research and intercultural study. You’ll experience teamwork, service, environmental conservation, faith-in-action, and diverse perspectives from faculty and your fellow students. EMU is a place where rigorous academics meet collaboration and community, where you'll prepare for a career in a rapidly changing and challenging world.
Succeed Together
You will be prepared for success through excellent academic work, faculty who care about you and your goals, and hands-on experiences in your field.
More than a diploma
Our world is complex, and the most successful people have a broad understanding of people, relationships, places, processes and systems. In our liberal arts core curriculum, you will learn about the world and how things connect.
Most degrees have an element of hands-on experience integrated into the requirements. Research, internships, practicums and job shadowing are part of the curriculum.
Cross-cultural study prepares you for our diverse and complex world by giving you an opportunity to learn from others with different life experiences.
Liberal arts education prepares you for more than just a job. It prepares you for life. You’ll learn art, history, science, religion, communication skills and critical thinking and apply these to the field of your choice. Unique co-curriculars like convocation and the academic and creative excellence festival will prepare you to listen and communicate complex ideas to others.
The most successful employees and leaders can work with diverse people, understand complex ideas and communicate effectively. Our core curriculum and intercultural requirements will help you develop these important skills.
EMU Core Outline (General Education Requirements)
See the university catalog for full description of the EMU core and all degree programs.
Read Together - EMU's Common Read
Each year, we choose a book to read together as a campus. EMU’s Common Read helps us to enter into discussions about issues and ideas through a grounding text and in classroom discussions, convocations, and intellectual life activities. Books and topics are chosen to help us shape the conversation around EMU's core values.
What is the 2024-2025 Text?
"When the English Fall" by David Williams- learn more here.
How is the Common Read selected?
Eastern Mennonite University selects a common text that builds community by providing our students, staff and faculty a shared experience to inspire conversation and meaningful debate. The Common Read also helps to increase our overall sense of unity, encourages creativity, and improves campus awareness of the biggest challenges that face our world. Such engagement provides us with an opportunity to engage with ideas to explore throughout the academic year. The Intellectual Life Committee endeavors to select texts that reflect our overall mission and values. Furthermore, we are committed to preparing our students to lead and serve in a global context. Each year the Intellectual Life Committee solicits recommendations from the campus community for the next Common Read.
As a faculty or staff member, can I get a copy?
Yes, come to the library and ask for a copy. The library is open Monday - Friday 8 am - 4 pm.
How is When the English Fall connected to the University Theme of Faith and Meaning?
The Intellectual Life Committee chose this book for its connections to one expression of Anabaptism to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement in 2025.
The protagonist (Jacob) grapples with how to stay true to his faith and pacifism in the midst of a catastrophe that brings the "English" into his world as they seek ways to survive the disaster. Jacob and his community willingly help the "English" but at what cost to the community as violence is the answer to this generosity. Will Jacob and the community stay and work with the "English" which could corrupt their faith or leave to stay true to what they believe? This fictional text calls the reader to be mindful of distractions, even good distractions that help others, and how they may lead one down an unexpected path. While the protagonist grapples with “leaving” as a solution to staying true to one’s faith in the midst of all the distractions of the world, us as readers are also grappling with parallel distractions.
What do some of our students have to say?
Airplane crashes, communal shunning, and prophetic child aside, *When the English Fall* is about old-order Mennonites [Amish ] during the apocalypse. If you like preparedness and apocalyptic fiction but don't like guns, or if you're interested in how nonviolence holds up in extreme but eminently possible scenarios, this is the book for you. The only bad thing I can say about it is that there are no zombies. – R. Copeland ‘26 computer science major
I enjoyed reading When the English Fall because it was an apocalyptic story that didn't feel far off from life as we know it. - G. Nyce business ‘25 analytics & economics major
