Offered by the Department of Academic and Human Development
Assistant Professors: Iseri, Rotella (chairperson)
Instructor: Cummings, Phillips, Roscoe, Sax
The Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies is a degree program designed to accommodate the students with prior learning credits and those students who wish to have flexibility in designing a program to meet individual personal career interests. Because Mansfield University offers over 50 unique academic minors, our Liberal Arts majors may select from a broad range of degree concentrations. Thus Business, Communication, Art, and Journalism could be combined to construct a concentration in Advertising, or Anthropology, History, and Art History for museum studies.
Students in Liberal Studies fulfill the University’s general education program requirements(see General Education) and either declare an academic minor or achieve second-year proficiency in a foreign language. Second year language proficiency is defined as successful completion of the 2202 level of a foreign language. Although there are no specific course requirements for Liberal Studies, the structural foundation of the program is the 24-hour rule. This rule holds that, for a Liberal Studies student, no more than 24 credit hours in any individual prefix area can be counted towards the number of hours needed for graduation (120). (Note that BUS, MU ART, ED and ELE are each separate course prefix areas.
Mission
The mission of the Liberal Studies discipline, offered by the Department of Academic and Human Development, is to assist students in the purposeful planning of an undergraduate liberal education that contributes to an environment which promotes academic and personal growth, as well as intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic values. Liberal Studies is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide an individualized education based in the tradition of the liberal arts (tumanities, arts, languages, mathematics, and natural and social science). The program is committed to the development of the independent lifelong learner.
Program Goals
- To impart general knowledge and enhance critical thinking skills and intellectual capabilities
- To enable the student to pursue broad interests or to develop specialized program in a discipline unavailable as an undergraduate degree at the University
- To provide the student the opportunity to engage fully in shaping an education best suited to individual needs and interests
- To empower the student with the necessary skills and knowledge to be an effective and productive citizen and leader in a challenging and rapidly changing global society
Program Outcomes
· The acquisition of knowledge of:
- Western culture and its relationship to non-western cultures
- The foundations and characteristics of educated discourse
- The unity and diversity of humanity
- Fine arts and aesthetics
- The intricate complexities of life on the planet
- Scientific information as it is applied to personal and social decisions
- The approaches of the liberal arts disciplines
· The demonstration of skills in:
- Critical and analytical thinking
- Effective written and oral communication
- The use of more than one language
- Inquiry and research
- Quantitative reasoning
- Problem solving
· The development of dispositions to:
- Form a coherent, independent philosophy of life
- Make socially responsible and personally fulfilling life choices
- Live sustainably
- Value knowledge and continuing growth
- Form opinions and modify positions based on evidence
- Reason ethically and act with integrity
- Promote social justice and peace
Interested students should contact the chairperson, Professor Deborah Rotella (570-662-4824) for information.