A liberal education is the education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgment, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, go right to the point, to disentangle a skein of thought, to detect what is sophisticated, and to disregard what is irrelevant. It prepared him to fill any post with credit, and to master any subject with facility. – John Henry Cardinal Newman.

Program Philosophy
The Liberal Arts Program offers the student the opportunity for a general education with enough specialization to provide a focus for individualized interests and development. The key operating principle throughout the program is self-design which means that the student together with a faculty advisor is able to develop a personalized course of studies. While a student chooses one area of specialization through a minor in a traditional department, the concentration is constructed from either an interdisciplinary specialization or from one academic field. The self-designed nature of the major allows the student to have a greater degree of engagement in and sense of responsibility for learning. Ultimately, the student will be able to satisfy personal and intellectual needs and achieve future career goals. The Liberal Arts student is also encouraged to participate in cooperative education, internship, and study abroad experiences which complement the academic program.

The Program fosters the idea that education is environmental rather than compartmental, general before it can be specific. The faculty view the program to be an excellent preparation for further study in professional and graduate schools and for such areas as elementary and secondary education, and for careers in social services, the legal field, professional health and business. The rationale for this: a person who learns how to discover, evaluate and develop a problem, how to secure the information required by these processes and why he or she does so at all is well prepared to live in a humane and valuable way. Finally, the program is just as concerned that the plumber, the carpenter or factory worker be poet, mathematician or philosopher and be able to create with the help of these disciplines a more meaningful life. For the primary question is always: What is man? What does it mean to be?