Course Information
Here we provide information on course requirements, course descriptions and an Academic Rhode Map for each program, a semester-by-semester plan to help you toward graduation in four years.
Liberal Studies BA Program Specifics
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Program Update
Enrollment in this program is currently suspended. While new applications are not being accepted, current students will be fully supported through program completion. If you are exploring related fields of study, our Admissions team can help you identify alternative programs that match your interests and goals.
In the Liberal Studies BA program, you will consult with the program director to develop a plan of study that incorporates courses from multiple disciplines relating to a topic or theme that you choose.
A Multi-Disciplinary Degree Option
In this program you might want to use the social sciences, literature, history and natural sciences to investigate the role of the sea in shaping Rhode Island. Or you might want to use insights from art, the social sciences, history and philosophy to examine the role of art in social and political protest. Sciences, geography, economics and political science might be used to study the infrastructure crisis in the United States. The potential topics are unlimited. In your senior seminar, you will complete a paper or project that ties your coursework together.
As with all liberal arts majors, the precise topic you choose is as important as the skill set you acquire in your course of study. You will develop analytical and critical reasoning skills, effective oral and written communication and, in most cases, quantitative skills. These are transferrable skills that can be applied in a variety of contexts, prized by employers in all areas of business, industry and public service.
Program/Learning Goals
Upon completion of this program, students will:
- demonstrate an appreciation of both the power and limitations of disciplinary perspectives
- be able to identify differences between and connections among different disciplinary domains
- utilize the perspectives, information resources and tools of inquiry of the humanities, arts, mathematics and behavioral, social and natural sciences to understand and evaluate evidence and ideas
- be able to integrate knowledge from disciplinary domains in an interdisciplinary perspective
- communicate effectively orally and in writing
- demonstrate the above skills in a capstone paper or project that integrates information from at least three disciplinary perspectives to produce an interdisciplinary understanding of a complex problem or intellectual question
Program Director
