New AU Experience Curriculum Creates a Shared Journey for Ravens

Foundations of the AU Experience invites first-semester students to explore purpose, belonging, faith, and calling together.

ANDERSON, Ind. — This week, Anderson University’s Fall 2026 incoming students become the first to learn from the new AU Experience curriculum.

All first-semester undergraduate students at AU will take Foundations of the AU Experience. It is the first course in their 15-credit-hour AU Experience. This course aims to create space for the Holy Spirit to transform lives and to unite students in their experience as Ravens.

The Anderson University Liberal Arts Core Curriculum requires students to complete both the 30-hour “Raven Core” competencies and the 15-hour “AU Experience” competencies.

Students are increasingly entering higher education with more college credits completed. In Indiana, high school students can complete the Indiana College Core (ICC), a 30-credit-hour block of general education courses. The ICC can replace a year’s worth of general education classes at any public university across the state.

Anderson University also accepts the Indiana College Core, allowing students to bypass the 30-hour “Raven Core.” This can put students on track to graduate in three years, saving time and money.

However, AU recognizes the importance of interdisciplinary classes.

A well-rounded liberal arts education is more than just picking a class that meets a subject requirement. It is an opportunity for intentional and multidisciplinary learning that prompts new questions and ideas.

Matthew Preston, director of the AU Experience, said that non-major classes are opportunities for students to ask new questions, gain exposure to new topics, and experience spiritual transformation.

“Students choose to come here for a reason, whether that’s athletics, proximity to home, having a family member who is an alum, or AU having their major. Whatever their reason is, they chose to come here, and we don’t think that that choice exists in a vacuum,” Preston said.

Foundations of the AU Experience (AUXP1000) will meet twice a week during the semester to discuss transformational questions and topics.

The topics chosen address the feelings and needs of applicants and students.

“We really kind of wanted to get a sense of what our student population is like,” Preston said.

Faculty asked students about their initial hopes, fears, expectations, and anxieties when entering college. 

Students’ experiences helped shape the AUXP1000 class, including their concerns about the age-old imposter syndrome: “I don’t belong here. Everybody else in the room gets it. I don’t,” or “I chose the wrong place, but everyone else seems to be in the perfect place for them.”

With this insight as a guide, the first weekly meeting will introduce a topic and provide context. This approach avoids isolating students or assuming they already know about a topic. The second meeting of the week allows students to share their thoughts as they approach questions from different angles.

Topics will include personal stories, the purpose of college, identity, uncertainty, intentions and motivations, goodness, pathways, skills, excellence, discipline, generosity, service, and calling.

The 11 sections of the class, two of which are honors sections, will be taught by different faculty and staff with assistance from peer mentors. Each section will use the same videos to introduce the discussion topics. This will allow the entire incoming class to move at the same pace and have a shared experience.

Since the AUXP curriculum focuses on spiritual transformation, students will compile a narrative journey portfolio over the course of their time at AU. By the end of AUXP1000, they will complete a cumulative reflection that will become part of the portfolio. Hopefully, this will give students a snapshot of their college life to revisit at graduation and beyond.

Preston hopes this reflection will help students recognize how their thinking, feelings, and perspectives have changed.

“My goal for AUXP1000 is for students to have a strong sense of purpose and a deep sort of sense of belonging and integration to campus life,” he said.

“Those things always happen naturally,” Preston said. “People meet others in their majors, sports teams, or others with similar interests. But this course is designed to introduce students to the idea that Anderson is a big family of people.”

About Anderson University

Anderson University educates students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 50 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 18 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult, graduate, and online programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized for excellence in business, computer science, cybersecurity, engineering, music, nursing, psychology, social work, and teacher education programs. Established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God, the university remains committed to its Christ-centered mission.