The Liberal Arts Major leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree. The program combines the structure of a coordinated nucleus of courses as defined by one of the minors in the School of Arts and Sciences, with the breadth and flexibility of a set of elective courses which will allow the student to develop the interests emerging from this foundation of minor and Core courses in the liberal arts, providing an opportunity for the Liberal Arts major to achieve depth in selected areas. After the first semester of their Junior year, students may petition the Dean of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies to pursue “Liberal Arts” as their major. The student petitioning will be required to articulate how the proposed set of Major courses are integrated and meet the learning outcomes of the Liberal Arts major:
Learning Outcomes:
- Students will discuss the theories and principles within the disciplines of the liberal arts;
- Students will make connections between the different disciplines within the liberal arts;
- Students will learn to communicate clearly, critically, logically and persuasively in oral and written discourse;
- Students will extend their intellectual inquiry (and their capacity for intellectual work), in consultation with their academic advisors, by careful selection of major elective coursework
To earn a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts, students must complete:
- the Core Curriculum;
- all the required courses of one of the minors offered in the School of Arts and Sciences;*
- an additional 15 credits of courses from the School of Arts and Sciences, at least 9 credits of which are to be at the 300- or 400-level. Students are required to show how their choice of courses is related to their major focus;
- a 3-credit Liberal Arts Major capstone course approved by their faculty advisor which highlights self-directed learning.**
Courses to be considered Liberal Arts Major courses will include all those within 2, 3, and 4, above, and will need to include at least 24 credits of intermediate or upper-level courses.
*The Minors whose requirements may form the nucleus of the Liberal Arts Major include: Art History, Studio Art, Asian Studies, English, Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, Black Studies, Classics, Computer Science: Business Programming, Computer Science: Technical, Dance, Economics, Film/Video, French, German, Italian, Spanish, History, Latin American Studies, Music, Mathematics, Philosophy, Applied Physics, Systems Science, Political Science, Public Community Service Studies, Public Community Service Studies/Community Health, Sociology, Theatre Arts, Theology, Women’s Studies, Writing
**This requirement is ideally satisfied by an Independent Study, an Internship, or a major Research project.
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