Liberal Arts Colleges: An Overlooked Opportunity? (original) (raw)

Communicating the value of a Liberal Arts Education. CCAS 2012 Annual Meeting Program

2012

Welcome to the 47th annual meeting of the council of colleges of arts and sciences! representing nearly 500 member institutions and 1,600 deans and associate and assistant deans, ccas is proud to include a diverse range of american public and private four-year colleges and universities. our slogan-Networking Arts and Sciences Dean-guides all of our activities. this annual meeting spans four days filled with workshops, panels, case study sessions, issue forum discussions and numerous opportunities to exchange ideas on topics of concern to arts & science deans. the number of program submissions for the 2012 seattle conference was the largest ever. the Program committee selected topics that span the gamut of opportunities and challenges facing our members: budgets and financing; student, faculty and curricular matters; and deaning.

Distinctively American: The Residential Liberal Arts Colleges

Social Science Journal, 2002

compile 15 articles primarily written by men and women engaged in liberal arts colleges as administrators, trustees, professors, former students, or chaplains. Inspite of their direct connections with and, often, professed allegiances to small, liberal arts colleges (SLACs), the contributors to this volume present a very clear, detailed, and honest portrait of many aspects of the past, present, and anticipated future of these schools. The articles, originally written by the various authors for different occasions, avoid the romanticized, sentimental presentations that they might have been. Instead, they both deconstruct and reconstruct the ideology about and reality of the SLACs.

The Curriculum of Liberal Arts Colleges: Beyond the Major

This study examined the formal curricula of 82 liberal arts institutions as described in college catalogs. These institutions included both Liberal Arts I (LAI) and Liberal Arts II (LAII) schools in the 1994 Carnegie classifications. Two recent studies have contended that many institutions identifying themselves as liberal arts colleges are really not. This contention has been based on the percentage of graduates in professional majors. Attention in this study was placed on relating the course descriptions to six attributes of the liberal arts curriculum, identified in the literature and through the comments of chief executive officers of liberal arts institutions. Findings indicate that professional majors dominate LAII institutions, However, the general education program at both LAI and LAII institutions appears to be the primary means of accomplishing attributes related to the formal curriculum of a liberal arts college. (Contains 35 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

University of Liberal Studies : To Make a Life, Not Lust a living

Life is a multifaceted endeavor. Students' ability to balance their chequebooks is distinct from their ability to choose how, when, what, and with whom to spend their money. Liberal arts education, in general, prepares students to think critically and actively about the difficulties and possibilities they will encounter as employees and employers, as members of friendships, relationships, families, and communities, and as citizens of a nation and the world. Worldwide, higher education has been on a journey. Throughout our tenure, several changes and challenges on numerous fronts have had a significant impact on our lives. However, one thing has remained constant: the value of a college education and its power to transform people's lives. That life-changing influence is sometimes underestimated in the shifting world of higher education. Colleges and universities face economic, demographic, and societal challenges. One of the most critical is the public's developing perception of the purpose and value of a college education. This chapter covers the factors that contributed to the establishment of Liberal Arts Universities and their consequences.

Are We Losing Our Liberal Arts Colleges?

College Board Review, 1990

Educational and economic criteria were developed to define a liberal arts college, and this definition was applied to the list of Liberal Arts I and Liberal Arts II colleges in the Carnegie Foundation classification. Educationally, liberal arts colleges were defined by the following criteria: they award the bachelor of arts degree; are residential; enroll full-time students in the age range of 18 to 24; and limit the number of majors to roughly 20 in the arts, humanities, languages, social sciences, and physical sciences. They rarely enroll more than 2,500 students, and they provide a pre-professional education. Economically, liberal arts colleges have comparable revenue and cost structures, with economic struggles being a function of their offering a curriculum that does not cater to students' concer"s with the job market. Using these criteria, the list of 540 institutions classified as liberal arts was narrowed tc 212. The paper concludes that the liberal arts college is disappearing, and another type of institutionthe professional college-is taking its place. A list of the 212 liberal arts colleges meeting the criteria is provided. (JDD)