Academic administrators are witnessing unprecedented assaults on national humanities funding that would have been unthinkable three decades ago. Many, if not most, academic administrators and policy makers now view the cornerstone of liberal arts education as an educational anachronism, obsolete intellectualism that holds neither import nor…

This chapter explores three key features of integrative learning practice that play a vital role in fostering student success: guidance and support through critical transitions; entire development of the student; and engagement in project-based learning that connects learning to complex, real-world problems, and opportunities that can have…

In this article, Lori Varlotta, president of small liberal arts institution Hiram College, describes how she and her team have launched a systemic change process that includes modifying the entire academic structure: first-year experience, majors, core curriculum, graduation requirements, and student learning outcomes. Hiram's model for academic…

St. Lawrence University received a five-year Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create the multidisciplinary Liberal Arts Science Scholars program (award #1458712), which makes a high quality science and mathematics education accessible to high achieving,…

To satisfy the ongoing demands of external communities, education faculty at liberal arts colleges often make curricular and instructional compromises within their programs which can adversely affect the developmental goals of liberal education. This article highlights several of the complex tensions faculty members face in offering their…

The physical fitness required to perform complex athletic feats has a parallel in the intellectual fitness it takes to perform complex mental tasks. At the heart of liberal education sits the idea that moderate training in several disciplines is better than intensive training in just one. Through exercising students' abilities in interpreting…

Two processes are identified as central to the achievement of liberal arts goals in a field setting. They are reciprocity and decentering, both implying the coordination of multiple perspectives on the experience. (Editor/LBH)

A learning cycle approach to undergraduate instruction implemented in a variety of subjects at Metropolitan State College in Denver is described. An experimental group demonstrated significant gains in critical thinking and cognitive skill development as well as improved retention using a framework based on Piaget's stages of cognitive…

Flexibility, diversity, and efficiency can make small colleges "the educational entrepreneurs" of the nation. By using interdisciplinary programs, independent studies, adjunct professors, and some creativity, they can develop exciting and valuable programs that anticipate the needs of society. (MLW)

The learning community curricular model links coursework to promote coherence and intellectual interaction for a group of students. The four basic models are linked courses; course clusters; freshman interest groups; and coordinated studies. Learning communities can be effective, and offer a feasible solution for different issues and diverse…

Realistic research experience is beneficial to undergraduate students, but it is often difficult for liberal arts colleges to offer this opportunity. We describe two approaches for developing and maintaining an interdisciplinary research program at small colleges. An active and continuing involvement of an individual with extensive research…

Explores curriculum collaboration between professional education and liberal arts faculty. The paper describes curriculum models used by teacher preparation institutions to structure the relationship between professional education and liberal arts coursework (integrated, collaborative, and segmented), presenting case examples. The efficacy of a…

Abstracting (eliminating details from a complex perceptual field to reveal underlying structures) is described as a tool of thought for developing creativity and inventiveness. The paper argues that the skill of abstracting is transferable between arts and sciences, and provides a preliminary model to teaching abstracting in a multidisciplinary…

The Unified Studies Program began at Boston State College in September of 1974. Its model is based on team-teaching, learning contracts, small interdisciplinary seminars, and other open-classroom and unified educational learning/teaching techniques. Boston State College had been compelled to shift its academic assumptions because of financial…

This paper on interdisciplinarity and liberal education is based on the work of a task force of the Project Change in Liberal Education. The focus is those parts of the education process that bridge or integrate disciplinary approaches and create a different kind of learning that would still be liberal education. The following factors that…