11/02/2026
For today's Mueller Monday, we're stepping a bit further into the past, before Christ College was even the subject of a university committee.
In 1961, as part of his Ten-Year Plan, President O.P. Kretzmann established the Directed Studies Program. He appointed Dr. Ernest Koenker of the religion department to lead the new program, which built on an earlier pilot model of independent honors projects. Rather than petition a committee for permission to conduct their own research, students could now take one of a few specialized courses in Directed Studies.
These courses included Freshman Composition (later Writing Tutorial), Western Civilization, Masterpieces of Literature, and Perspectives in Philosophy. These courses emphasized creative thinking, conceptual mastery, and an interdisciplinary approach that recognized how knowledge and truth lived in the gray areas between specific majors. Approximately fifty students joined Directed Studies each year, undertaking a curriculum that Dr. Koenker described as the intersection of "challenge and flexibility."
Dr. Koenker left Valpo for the University of Southern California in 1965, but Kretzmann's vision was validated by the honors programs that Dr. Koenker helmed.
Did you know this part of CC's history? Were you one of the Directed Studies students? Drop us a line, and tell us more!
