Overview
Biola University
B.A. , Interdisciplinary Mass Communication , 2006 – 2010 , La Mirada, CA. Torrey Honors Institute, Deans List
University of Oxford
S.S.O. , Politics & Aesthetics , 2008 – 2008 , Oxford, England.
- Report from Oxford is attached at the bottom of this page.
Korean International Language Institute,
Sudanese Colloquial and Modern Standard Arabic , 2004 – 2005 , Khartoum, Sudan.
Gulf Arabic Program
Gulf Colloquial and Modern Standard Arabic , 2001 – 2002 , Al Ain, U.A.E.
Overview
Josh Penman studied the philosophy of Western Civilization through the Torrey Honors Insititute at Biola, a great books program patterned after the Oxford tutorial system. The main features of the program are small class sizes, in-depth discussion of primary texts, and high academic standards. Grading was somewhat different between Oxford and the Torrey program (1), but an 'A' in Torrey would generally be equivalent to an 'A-' at Oxford (2).
Josh has been interested in Psychometric profiling since he was in high-school, and discovered the Myers Briggs Type Indicator while he was in Sudan. During his undergraduate degree he used psychometric tools in the organizations he led and consulted for, and his final class at Biola, Industrial/Organizational Psychology futhered his expectation that I/O Psych has big role to play in making international organizations more effective.
Because Josh produced Sudan's first national HIV/AIDS prevention media campaign before attending university, the natural major to enroll in was Biola's Film/Television/Radio program ('FTR', later changed to "Cinema & Media Arts").
Torrey and FTR required separate applications and were more selective than Biola University as a whole. Literature at the time of application hinted that acceptance rates were at or near 10% for each program, though Josh's later subjective experience would estimate acceptance rates for the programs at 40-50%, and he may have confused Biola's policy that no more than 10% of the student body could be in the honors program with a 10% acceptance rate.
When ability and preference tests at Biola's career counseling center indicated that Josh would make a good management consultant, he decided to change his major from Film Production to something that would be applicable in a wide range of contexts. In the end, he designed his own interdisciplinary major in the CMA program, called 'Media Management for Non-Profits.' Through this major he was able to take the capstone courses for both Cinema & Media Arts and Biola's Communications department, and study abroad at the University of Oxford, while still completing his B.A. in 3 1/2 years.