Several recent studies point to strong performance in economics PhD programs of graduates from liberal arts colleges. While every undergraduate program is unique and the likelihood of selection bias combines with small sample sizes to caution against drawing strong conclusions, the authors reflect on their experience at Carleton College to…

The principal importance of small, church-related colleges is in their contribution to the existing diversity in the pluralistic, competitive, public, and private way of doing things in America. As in health, culture, social service, and business, this diversity is traditional and considered desirable. (MSE)

The conversion of liberal arts institutions into comprehensive institutions primarily engaged in vocational and occupational programs is discussed. The liberal arts college is seen as an endangered species that needs to be preserved at all costs. A history of the liberal arts college in America is provided. (MLW)

The liberal arts college's role has always been education for intellectual excellence and technical competence, grounded in a sensitivity for the dimension of depth in human experience. As American culture becomes more urban and more secular, the liberal arts colleges must maintain their essential task of asking ultimate questions. (Author/MLW)

A former U.S. Commissioner of Education traces the personal influences that have made him an ardent champion of the small liberal arts college and offers some enterprising suggestions for keeping these colleges successful. (Editor/LBH)

Douglass Cater, president of Washington College, a small liberal arts college that was Maryland's first chartered institution, is profiled. The president's attitudes on liberal arts and specialization, the stated role of the college, and details of the inaugural ceremony are noted. (MSE)

In excerpts from his inaugural address, Washington College's president reaffirms the value of the small liberal arts college in a highly specialized educational system, denounces the university's scientific approach as inappropriate for providing a value system for students, and notes the need for several distinct approaches to learning. (MSE)

Three distinct eras of higher education are seen as characterizing the 200-year history of Williams College (Massachusetts): first as a Christian college, then as a gentleman's school, and, finally, as a consumer-oriented institution as part of a general trend toward consumerism after World War II resulting from social change and decline in the…

True liberal education requires a specific physical environment designed to promote both planned and spontaneous conversation. These conditions are most likely to exist in the small, residential liberal arts college, particularly those with modest means, where collegiality and inclusiveness are valued. (MSE)

Aspects of the small liberal arts college's environment that contribute to the intellectual and personal development of faculty as well as students include accessibility, visibility, flexibility, the institution's desire for interdisciplinary inquiry, and a reward system for scholarship. (MSE)

The decision on the most appropriate size for liberal arts colleges should not be made on economic grounds. Analysis of literature shows that economic benefits through economies of scale are too debatable to play an important role. Fixed costs may be offset by less institutional complexity in small colleges. (Author/MSE)

A collection of brief addresses made by Richard Daniel Weigle to successive entering classes at St. John's College at matriculation convocations over three decades (1950-1980) are presented. The 25 convocation addresses concern the following topics: Plato's cave and St. John's College; history; liberal education and women; Subiaco and community;…

Whereas higher education in general has not fully met its responsibility for preparing individuals for international citizenship, a group of 50 small, selective, independent liberal arts colleges has made a substantial contribution through their long-standing commitments to international matters in both curriculum and institutional environment.…

Life-changing personal experience as a student at Bowdoin College (Maine) in the 1970s convinced the author that small liberal arts colleges will play an important role in the coming global debate about the success or failures of American-style democracy. Such institutions are where the vision and promise of American democracy have been, and…

Bradford College's experience with curriculum and administrative development in a period of extreme adversity is an example of how a new concept of mission can invigorate an institution while a survival mentality can weaken it. (MSE)