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…

"Honors Colleges in the 21st Century" contains the work of 56 authors representing 45 different institutions, which makes this the largest and most comprehensive group of honors leaders ever to appear in print together discussing honors colleges. Particularly notable is the fact that eleven of the chapters are co-authored by individuals…

Sequestered far from rough-and-tumble, real-world considerations, often viewed as too theoretical to be useful, a liberal arts education is associated with thinking and contemplation rather than praxis. Entrepreneurship, on the other hand, is almost always situated within the domain of business and involves some type of market exchange, giving it…

Mark Van Doren, the noted literary scholar, once remarked, "The college is meaningless without a curriculum, but it is more so when it has one that is meaningless." Many current critics of undergraduate curricula in America assent to the crucial need for programmatic renewal in our colleges and universities. They bemoan the cookie-cutter…

Liberal knowledge is indispensable, and expert knowledge alone can be, and often is, dangerously impractical. To make it practical, expertise should always be explicitly related to the real-world political and cultural context that only liberal knowledge can provide. (MSE)

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

For perspective on the interdisciplinary challenge in higher education, it is important to understand the concept and origins of the "discipline." Disciplines are convenient but artificial constructs, and while academia may be divided into them, the world is not. A sense of the balance and connection between them is vital. (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)

Discusses whether Sangamon State University, a new university committed to involvement in Public Affairs issues of today, should provide facilities and instruments for basic science research. Conclusions recommend such research and maintain that science be authentic, critical, interdisciplinary and effectively related to the needs of students and…

Strategies for integrating engineering courses for nonmajors into the liberal arts curriculum are examined, and the potential problems are discussed. (MSE)

The process by which an interdisciplinary faculty team from California State University-Northridge developed an interdisciplinary program of upperdivision linked courses is described. Short- and long-term changes in the curriculum and practical considerations in making those changes are highlighted. (MSE)

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)

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)

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)