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Cornerstone University Launches Groundbreaking General Education Core Curriculum

News February 18, 2026

Focused on the Beauty of Christianity, the Wisdom of the American Experience, and Marketplace Intelligence

Cornerstone University campus with academic buildings overlooking campus pond in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Cornerstone University today announced the launch of The Cornerstone Core™ – a bold new General Education curriculum designed for students to learn and embody greatness of character and superb industry preparation.

“At a moment when the value of higher education is widely questioned,” said President Gerson Moreno-Riaño, “The Cornerstone Core™ educates students to live, work and serve from a sophisticated moral, truth, and knowledge framework grounded in the Christian worldview. Learning in this framework, Cornerstone’s students are positioned to influence their communities and industries with the moral goodness and creative industry solutions that employers and society are calling for.”

The Cornerstone Core™, a 33-credit hour set of courses, offers a distinctively different general education than that offered at any other college or university in America. It is a core education grounded on three learning domains: the beauty of Christianity, the wisdom of the American experience, and market intelligence.

The Beauty of Christianity

Students learn of the beauty of Christianity through studying the grandeur of the Triune God, the greatness of the Gospel, the great doctrines of the Christian faith, and the coherence of the Christian faith rooted in the truth and reality of God’s revelation and creation. Students explore not only the beauty of Christianity but its profound significance and relevance for today’s most pressing questions.

The Wisdom of the American Experience

Students learn of the wisdom of the American experience through Cornerstone’s Great Works Canon of the American Experience™. These original speeches, sermons, letters, debates, and foundational texts of America engage students with the enduring questions of liberty, order, duty, and self-government. This intentional moral and civic formation prepares graduates who understand not only their freedoms, but their obligations to community and country.

Leading this curricular focus on the American Experience is Cornerstone’s Distinguished Scholar of American Government and Civic Engagement, Dr. John G. West. “Unlike any other general education model in America,” said West, “The Cornerstone Core™ restores the moral and intellectual foundations that make freedom possible. The depth of the Christian faith has shaped constitutional government throughout history. When students grasp that connection, they are prepared not only to succeed, but to sustain a free society.”

Marketplace Intelligence

Students learn the knowledge domains that sustain advanced industry markets through studying analytical reasoning, scientific thinking, artificial intelligence, free market economics, and communication intelligence. Beyond learning these knowledge domains and their related skills, students are prepared to think deeply, deliberate wisely, and communicate truthfully — bringing Christian marketplace intelligence into industries, institutions, and emerging technologies.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary and Cornerstone marks 85 years of Christ-centered education, The Cornerstone Core™ reflects a clear conviction: the Christian worldview — the ideals it inspired for the founding of the American Republic and the innovative advances it has propelled throughout the world — remains more relevant today than ever.

The Cornerstone Core™ reflects what Cornerstone believes education should be: bold in purpose, deeply influential, and grounded in Christ.

Are you ready to lead as a bold Christian influencer? Call 616.949.5300 or request information today to discover which of Cornerstone’s more than 65 degree programs is right for you.

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