In this ethnographic study of summer undergraduate research (UR) experiences at four liberal arts colleges, where faculty and students work collaboratively on a project of mutual interest in an apprenticeship of authentic science research work, analysis of the accounts of faculty and student participants yields comparative insights into the…

The decline of the liberal arts, as signaled by declining enrollments, fewer majors, and the ascendency of preprofessional education, is discussed. Business is seen to be retraining students in logical thinking, the principles of cause and effect, human communication, reading, and writing--all traditional liberal arts objectives. (MLW)

This paper contends that liberal education is a critical foundation for development of clinical judgment skills required for professional nursing practice, that nursing students need to see human experience from more than one point of view, and that incorporation of professional education in a liberal arts university enriches all students. (MSE)