This article explores the philosophy and position of the discipline of computer science within the liberal arts, based upon a discussion of the nature of computer science and a review of the characteristics of the liberal arts. A liberal arts environment provides important opportunities for undergraduate programs, but also presents important…

This dissertation is a qualitative case study of how three liberal arts colleges rationalized and provided physical education courses despite a trend in higher education to reduce or eliminate physical education from the curriculum. Kalamazoo College, Bennett College for Women, and Barnard College for Women continue to provide physical education…

The debate over the best delivery of general education, whether through a canon of Great Books, a core curriculum of specific courses and course sequences, or a distribution requirement of course types providing for greater student choice, has existed for generations. Today, the debate plays out in practice across the top-rated colleges and…

With the support of a grant from the Sloan Foundation, nine computer scientists from liberal arts colleges came together in October, 1984 to form the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium (LACS) and to create a model curriculum appropriate for liberal arts colleges. Over the years the membership has grown and changed, but the focus has remained…

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have received inadequate funding since their inception. This has challenged the development of programs and infrastructure, the adoption of technology, and the recruitment of faculty and students. Yet among HBCUs there are standouts that, despite unequal funding patterns in comparison to…

This issue is devoted to the curriculum guidelines from the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium. These guidelines provide a coherent and important model for computing education within a liberal arts context, giving primacy to critical reason, rigorous methods, and student engagement in the research process. In this regard, they are at the…

By highlighting the affinities between the good society and the general education curriculum, liberal arts faculty can better prepare students to meet the needs of the world. Optional common curricula can help socialize students into a domain crucial to flourishing communities, the voluntary pursuit of collective aspirations within civil society.

Many undergraduate liberal arts institutions offer computer science majors. This article illustrates how quality computer science programs can be realized in a wide variety of liberal arts settings by describing and contrasting the actual programs at five liberal arts colleges: Williams College, Kalamazoo College, the State University of New York…

This dissertation is an examination of the state of the liberal arts curriculum in community colleges in three geographic regions of the United States. From a constructivist paradigm and using globalization theory as a theoretical framework, this multiple case study examined faculty work life and administrative processes related to curriculum…

For more than fifty years, an enduring criticism of American higher education has been that it offers students a smorgasbord of courses and choices without coherence, interconnection, or relevance to the deeper purposes of life. How this fragmentation came about is the topic of this essay. American higher education went through a major…

Alverno College is a private, liberal arts college located in a residential neighborhood on the southwest side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In fall 2008, the student body numbered 2,783, and there were 231 resident students. The student body is highly diverse (34% minority), and most students commute to campus for their classes. The culture at Alverno…

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)

This article explores the response to cultural diversity and international mindedness at international schools in Malaysia and Brunei. It shows that the curriculum at these schools is set within a liberal-humanist framework, which some might suggest facilitates the project of "Westernization". It argues, however, that under the (local)…

As a result of rapid growth and changes in the student body, the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) has been engaged in a complete review and revision of its educational system since 1978. As part of this process, the Arts and Sciences Task Force (ASTF) was formed in 1980 to revitalize the liberal arts and science. The ASTF has…