An interdisciplinary liberal arts program can prompt innovative ideas and self-discovery when fired in a kiln of social and economic justice fueled by high-impact practices. Developing learning communities, internships, group projects, local-to-global learning, community-based service learning, and capstone projects can enhance education and…

Four ways in which legal studies can enhance the undergraduate liberal arts curriculum are discussed: the interdisciplinary legal studies course, radical revisions of the liberal arts curriculum, supplementary courses with a practical emphasis, and the legal studies program or department. (MSE)

The study of leadership must be multidisciplinary, and the examination of the link between family and leadership should be a primary concern. (MSE)

Four papers on science instruction are presented: "Science as a Human Activity" (Harmon Dunathan); "Science as a Historical Process" (Robert Proctor); "Science as a Creative Process" (Robert Pollack); and "Making Science Assessible" (Walter E. Massey). (MSE)

For liberal education to be successfully integrated into engineering education, engineers must first be convinced that the humanities and arts are important and worthy of respect. In the brief exposure they provide, liberal arts teachers can inspire engineers through their own passion for what they teach. (MSE)

Six undergraduate humanities courses and programs with a variety of structures and focuses are described, and sources of further information are given. (MSE)

Rather than return to a core curriculum that reflects the structures of knowledge and education developed for other contexts and needs, the humanities should create new structures appropriate to the students', culture's, and faculty's needs today, particularly through interdisciplinary collaboration. (MSE)

Although science and technology are often characterized as contrasting and have some dissimilarities, they are ultimately reciprocal endeavors. Liberal education and vocational training have shortsightedly guided curricula away from the development of leaders, toward mechanistic training. Science and technology need both traditional liberal and…

Instead of the random scattershot of the core curriculum, a program of overlapping curricular circles could provide students with a more effective educational experience. Each circle would center on the student's major, and would draw together the underlying strands of a liberal education. (MSE)

A curriculum design that focuses on the human sciences, the disciplines that concern themselves with the social and individual activities that are distinctively human, would be a better approach than the current separation of the humanities and social sciences. (MSE)

Educators must reinforce the distinction between the first 2 years of college education, to be reserved for general education, and the second two, in which specialization is appropriate. This might mean only loosening some requirements. In addition, more broad-based introductory courses should be provided for students to choose from. (MSE)

General education programs need not be circuitous or formless. They should: stress development of the intellect; focus on problem-solving skills; integrate general objectives and professional competencies; and foster interdisciplinary studies. (MSE)

The interdisciplinary study of science may help reintegrate science into the liberal arts curriculum. Students learning science in courses including historical, philosophical, and social issues are being taught a view of science omitting the myth of value-free investigation and balancing the elements that separate science from other disciplines.…

Religion and science have become polarized in modern society, a conflict characteristic of the humanities generally. Comparative religion has a place among the other humanities disciplines, since religion and science have a relationship whose roots go to the basis of our cultural tradition. (MSE)

Interdisciplinary studies are not only desirable but possible in the fiscal, ideological, and organizational context of the 1980s. Interdisciplinary studies are defined as inquiries that draw critically upon two or more disciplines and that lead to an integration of disciplinary insights. (MLW)