The author believes there are three conceptual and somatic (from the Greek, meaning "of the body") changes that could be made in order to better educate the student body and, thereby, help sustain the intellectual and social relevance of the liberal arts as a program of study. First, the commitment to what Sir Ken Robinson has called "the…

Think of the United States Military Academy and the typical images are of duty, character, leadership, and possibly even regimented conformity. Intellectual liberation, integrative innovation, and holistic development--hallmarks of a liberal education--are not always associated with the public's perception of the West Point experience. Yet,…

As the research interests and the focus of traditional earth scientists are transformed, so too must education in earth system science at colleges and universities across the country change. The required change involves not only the methods used to teach this new science, but also the essential place of the earth sciences in the panoply of…

In this article, the authors state that the presidents and deans, with the cooperation of the professors, are responsible for the faculty and for the curriculum as a whole. The faculty work within organizations, and every organizational policy and practice, many outside the purview of faculty, has at least potential impact, either positive or…

Describes strategic changes at Richland College including the consolidation and expansion of special programs through the Office of Academic Enrichment, and institutional improvements involving student learning undertaken during the process of re-accreditation. (EV)

Describes the process undertaken at King's College to create an invigorated teaching and learning environment, including a new Core Curriculum designed to ensure that students engage in cumulative and transferable learning in three general areas. (EV)

Discusses curricular tradition in liberal higher education and proposes a schema of curricular principles emphasizing the character of the learner, the world to be known, a common heritage of humanity, and kinds of disciplines. Uses the University of Chicago's past and current curricula to illustrate the ongoing search for curricular coherence.…

Describes changes at Wesleyan University (Connecticut) since 1997 to foster curricular coherence in the liberal arts without imposing a curricular core. Changes include an on-line registration system, a curriculum plan for the first two years which helps students create sequences of interdisciplinary study in addition to the major, Web-based…

Linking courses from three disciplines (biology, philosophy, and psychology) around a common theme, five faculty members at Carleton College (Minnesota) planned, implemented, and evaluated a course for first-year students. Analysis of student responses to the course leads to discussion of the effectiveness of such linkages and the importance of…

Cites ten qualities of individuals embodying the values of a liberal education: the ability to listen and hear; read and understand; talk with anyone; write clearly and persuasively; solve varied problems; respect rigor as a way of seeking truth; practice humility, tolerance, and self-criticism; understand how to get things done; nurture and…

One of the best ways to make student learning come alive on college campuses is to improve collaboration between students and the academic affairs staff. The general-education program, where philosophy and curriculum align most closely with the student-affairs concern for the whole student, is an appropriate place to start. (MSE)

If college faculty and institutional commitments to academic integrity were to achieve a status similar to that of academic freedom, there could be a transformation of the intellectual community. Faculty must see academic integrity as a complement, not a challenge, to academic freedom; a closer affinity of the two may further energize both. (MSE)

The Association of American Colleges and Universities' statement calling for a national dialog about effective higher education is presented. It examines the considerable task institutions face in educating a generation of students in an era of near-universal postsecondary education, fundamental choices to be made, mixed signals in public policy,…

Describes the structure and major accomplishments of the Language Mission Project, a cooperative initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the National Foreign Language Center at Johns Hopkins University (Maryland) to help 14 selected colleges and universities rethink and develop their foreign language programs.…

Examines the 1997 "Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum," a 34-chapter "operating manual and desk reference" to the college curriculum. Assert that, while the dominant trend in higher education in the 20th century has been specialization and proliferation of programs and courses, a historic reversal of this trend is occurring, with…