Introduction

Liberal Studies is for students who have decided to gain a wide-ranging education rather than focus on a narrow area of study. Liberal Studies is the interdisciplinary study of the arts and sciences, and endeavors to link intellectual development and citizenship in a way that cultivates humanity.

It attracts creative, independently-minded students seeking self-directed study, based on personal interest and conviction. With the help of an adviser, the flexible, well-coordinated plan of study is an exciting intellectual and social experience, anchored in required major courses. It is focused through relevant, project-centered coursework in which students work strategically on complex problems, while developing self-reliance and mentoring relationships with professors. See Program Learning Outcomes.

The Liberal Studies Program coordinates the Consortium of Interdisciplinary Scholars at SU, and offers an Undergraduate Publishing Program to its majors. Majors are also encouraged to invest in career preparation through supervised internships in drama, sports, non-profit business, education, and many other areas. Students interested in a career in teaching choose to work with the SU Children’s Literacy Project in local elementary schools. Students are also encouraged to study abroad.

The Liberal Studies major affords the flexibility to structure your own program while providing you with solid preparation for graduate school or for professions such as law, government, education, communication, business, and more.

Exciting Program Changes

New Required Courses. For majors declaring with the 2009/10 SU Bulletin, they will find new required courses, progressively linked. These courses better support both those students who are pursuing interdisciplinary scholarship for its own sake and those who are also pursuing a pre-ed interest. Existing majors are unaffected unless they choose to switch to the new Bulletin, and the total required credits is unchanged (60). The first new offering is LBST-201 in Spring 2010. For more detailed course descriptions follow this courses link. The new sequence is:

• LBST-201 - Introduction to Liberal Studies (new), introductory interdisciplinary and liberal arts content; the course features the portfolio project to focus interdisciplinary study and teaching and learning.
• LBST-300 - Leadership for Community Engagement (existing), an intense service-learning course that encourages active leadership and citizenship, especially in working with the poor.
• LBST-301 - Methods of Interdisciplinary Inquiry (new), a study of diverse methodologies in arts and science and the execution of an original interdisciplinary project with description and analysis of methodology used in that project.
• LBST-302 - Special Topics: Interdisciplinary Project (new), features a significant project in which students defend their own interdisciplinary position on a select critical issue, with an eye toward social justice. Topics vary by term.
• LBST-490 - Senior Synthesis (existing), features the connection between the SU mission, scholarship, and personal and professional development. Students are expected to execute the most significant scholarly or creative work of their career.

Project-Centered Curriculum. The second innovation in solidifying program identity and academic excellence expands the existing project-centered curriculum of the major by including projects in the new courses. Projects are complex tasks involving revision, student self-directedness and professor mentorship. This model of teaching and learning is particularly well-suited for focusing interdisciplinary work.

These are exciting times for the Liberal Studies Program. We have more initiatives currently in development. If you have any questions contact  arvidson@seattleu.edu.