Harrison Middleton University believes that students should be able to study the subjects that interest them. In applying this philosophy to all degree programs, the university has found that students tend to stay interested and achieve success in their educational pursuits because they are invested in the outcome of their personally designed program of study.

Students are encouraged to be creative in the design of their program, drawing primary source materials from a variety of approved sources including Britannica’s Great Books of the Western World, Oxford University Press, Penguin Modern and Nonfiction Classics, and W.W. Norton and Company.

A core program consists of twenty-eight (28) credit hours in the Master of Arts program, and forty-eight (48) credit hours in the Doctor of Arts and Doctor of Education programs. With the guidance of a Mentor and Instructional Team, students design coursework in the concentrations of imaginative literature, natural science, philosophy and religion, and/or social science.

Designing a program of study is the culminating assignment in The Great Conversation: The Cornerstone Course, a required course for all students entering a degree program. Students at Harrison Middleton University are enrolled in and complete one course at a time. Each course needs to be completed within sixteen weeks. All courses consist of a series of Zoom discussions and an end-of-course essay.

The university understands that learning follows from life experiences as well as academic study, and students are encouraged to be creative in the design of their Capstone, which is the culminating experience at the university. The Capstone allows a student to demonstrate her or his knowledge of the authors, ideas, topics, and subtopics studied in the degree program. Students can design a unique project which may include writing a novel or a series of short stories, creating a form of artwork or a sequence of pedagogical training, or writing a substantial essay based on fieldwork.