WEBSITES: Liberal Arts Schools
(submitted by Mary Pardovich)
Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges
The Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges believes that there should be access to the liberal arts in public higher education. Their main goal is to communicate the importance of this and work toward having that education available on a greater level in the public sector. COPLAC identifies public colleges that offer liberal arts education and lists them on their website. They work to make these programs nationally known and support the colleges efforts in reaching their goals. Member institutions are recognized because of small classes, innovations in teaching, personal interactions with faculty, opportunities for faculty-supervised research and supportive atmospheres. Colleges that are granted COPLAC membership are listed on the website with a descriptive narrative and links to the college website and COPLAC representative on campus. The four main goals of the Council are to promote the value of moderately sized public liberal arts colleges, to communicate this value to government policymakers, to work with member institutions to achieve the goals of the council and to support other institutions with similar goals. The website includes news posted from member institutions and news and events relating specifically to the Council. This is a good site to check if you are looking for a public university that offers a liberal arts degree.
The Source For Liberal Arts College News
This is a fantastic website by the Annapolis Group, a nonprofit alliance of the nations leading liberal arts colleges. Their shared goal is to strengthen their educational programs and promote the value of a liberal arts education. There is a link to the nationally ranked top liberal arts colleges and a further link to their individual websites. Through the collegenews.org website, the Annapolis Group provides a forum for individuals to discover more about liberal arts colleges and their mission. It provides up-to-date news from campuses across the country on new areas of research, campus events and achievements. The site also provides top news stories with editorials and commentaries which provides for a diversity of voices, topics and opinions. One very unique aspect of this site is the “experts database”. A keyword is typed in a searchable database and several contacts that specialize in the area are revealed for further questioning. This is an invaluable service. The database contains brief biographies and contact information for more than 940 professors, scientists, researchers, analysts, and other specialists at leading liberal arts colleges in the United States. This is a very helpful site and every student, parent, teacher and journalist should have this site marked as a favorite.
Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges
The Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges focuses on the uses of computing and related technologies in realtion to liberal arts education. It is a not-for-profit organization comprised of sixty two members representing many of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. The Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges strives to represent the interests of liberal-arts institutions on information-technology issues at the national level in the areas of academic computing, administrative computing, library automation, web services, telecommunications, and campus-wide networking. The Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges also provides referrals for colleges that seek qualified consultants in the uses of information technology in the liberal arts environments. The website posts the member institutions and provides links to their respective college websites. It also has job postings for IT jobs available at these member institutions. The website includes very helpful survey graphs which show the relationships between students and various information technology criteria as well as the amounts budgeted and spent on staffing and equipment. This information is key for colleges trying to determine the costs of integrating IT into the curriculum. This is a valuable website for those liberal arts colleges wishing to integrate information technology into the traditional liberal arts setting.
America’s best colleges 2006: liberal arts colleges: top schools as
compiled by US News & World Report. Retrieved May 22, 2006 from http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/libartco/tier1/t1libartco_brief.php
The US News and World Report website ranks America’s best liberal arts colleges for 2006.
The website suggests using these rankings as one tool in the college selection process. In the question and answer section, US News and World Report explains that 219 liberal arts colleges are included in their survey, 21 of them public. In order to be included, they must award at least 50% of their degrees in liberal arts studies such as languages, literature, biology, philosophy and psychology. The colleges are listed in order beginning with the highest ranking and going down from there. A variety of criteria are surveyed such as peer assessment, average freshman retention rate, percent of classes under 20 students and student faculty ratio, among others. In addition, there is a link to each college which provides quick facts and some general information about services and facilities, campus life, extracurricular, tuition and the college mission statement. There is a further link to the college website and admissions e-mail. This website can be very helpful to students in their college search. US News and World Report offers that parents and students can use the site to narrow down their choices or to discover a school that they hadn’t already considered.
ARTICLES
New study confirms benefits of liberal arts colleges. Sweet Briar College News, Monday, December 16, 2002. Retrieved May 22, 2006 from
http://www.sbc.edu/cgi-bin/news/cr/viewnews.cgi?id=EpupkuypppurzaagWy
The research firm of Hardwick Day was commissioned by the Annapolis Group (a consortium of the nations leading liberal arts colleges) to do a survey to determine if the type of college that an individual attends makes a difference throughout their lives. The study concluded that students who attend small liberal arts colleges derive greater, more long lasting experiences that those encountered at a public university. The study included 1,571 alumni from the classes of 1970 through 1995 from the Annapolis liberal arts colleges, private universities and various public universities. The article spells out the findings which confirm the benefits of liberal arts colleges. Key among the findings is that in liberal arts colleges, students have a closer interaction with professors, more involvement in the school activities and experience a greater emphasis on values and ethics. This is thought to produce a long lasting effect of community service and strong personal values. In addition, graduates applaud the benefits of a broad based education which has led to an equally broad based skill set such as analytical thinking, problem solving, effective writing, and the ability to relate to people of different backgrounds. This is an interesting article that gives some insight into the benefits of a liberal arts education.
Powers, Elia. (2006). Career prep vs. liberal arts. Inside Higher Ed, April 11, 2006. Retrieved May 21, 2006 from http://www.insidehighered.com/layout/set/print/news/2006/04/11/career
One concern about a liberal arts education is the “marketability” of the graduates in the job arena. This article focuses on the current state of affairs on the liberal arts campuses relating to the career centers and their effectiveness. Most liberal arts professors aren’t interested in helping the students with career decisions. Most have an education first, career maybe, point of view. Faculty in the career centers are hesitant to bring up any type of vocational training with the professors. Jason Rathod, Grinnell’s newspaper opinion editor states, “There’s a consistent joke that Grinnellians go back and live with their parents because they don’t know what they’re going to do after graduation”. The author notes that it is the job of the career center and not the professors to ensure that students have effective career planning. Some colleges are creating a new position for the sole purpose of working with the alumni to get them jobs but also to give jobs to recent graduates. Some progress is evident and the article mentions a career conference in Baltimore that was attended by 200 participants. Topics included how to market the career center to students, preparing them for working in diverse workplaces, and having them become involved in career planning before they are seniors. This is an eye-opening article that offers the good advice to check out a school’s career center for anyone looking at attending a liberal arts school.
Cronin, Thomas E. (2004). The art of leadership. Seattle Times, Sunday, April 25, 2004.
Retrieved May 23, 2006 from http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com
The author is writing about the benefits of a liberal arts education, not only those experienced by the student, but those experienced by the world in general. He believes that liberal arts graduates are the individuals who have the skills to provide effective leadership, make important discoveries, and contribute to the arts and government. The author notes that the broad based critical thinking taught at liberal arts colleges provides the stepping stone for these future leaders. A liberal arts education encourages the student to ask questions, to be curious, use their imagination and question their own beliefs as well as others. It is a place to discover yourself and discover your obligation to the world in total. These individuals will have been trained to take on new challenges, take risks, provide opportunities and be less afraid of making mistakes. This develops self confidence and optimism and these qualities are what the world needs in their leaders. Liberal arts education includes the study of poetry, painting, photography, astronomy, cultures and digital arts technologies. The idea is that these students go on to graduate school to later focus on law, psychology, engineering or medicine. This is a great article to give a student who is not sure what path they want to take.
Lehner, Jen. (2005). Homeschooled applicants attractive to top liberal arts colleges, admission officers say. University of Richmond, December 19, 2005. Retrieved May 21, 2006 from http://oncampus.richmond.edu/news/press/dec05/homeschooled.html
This article focuses on homeschooled students and their relation to liberal arts colleges. Many home schooled students, by the nature of their learning experiences, have become self- directed leaners. They are more apt to think outside the box and it is this thinking that makes them a good fit for the liberal arts eductaion. Homeschoolers are typically more academically motivated than their peers who may be used to greater academic structure and direction than they will find in college. In college, especially in liberal arts colleges, the focus is really on finding your own path, not just on following directions. Your creativity and upwards thinking is really put to the test. Having to make their own schedules and get the work done might make the transition to college easier for the homeschooler. The author suggests that homeschoolers need to be looked at carefully to make sure they have had the academic training and well balanced experience necessary to find success in college. The author notes that even though homeschoolers are desired by liberal arts colleges, they need to make sure their applications are in order and that strong letters of recommendation are key. This article would be of interest to any homeschooler or their parents.
BOOKS
Breneman, D. (1994). Liberal arts colleges: thriving, surviving, or endangered? Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.
David Brenemen, an economist and former college professor, writes about the survival of liberal arts colleges today. The financial history of the liberal arts schools beginning with the 1950’s is reviewed and the book addresses whether or not families will be able to afford liberal arts colleges given the availability of funding in the public sector. He also ponders the relevance of this type of education in the ever increasing demand for technical training. He points out that the administrators and teachers might be so involved with the theory behind the education that they forget to concentrate on provding for the longevity of the liberal arts colleges. The author is convinced, however, that the liberal arts schools have been and will continue to be resilient and will succeed in remaining as one of America’s national treasures. The book includes a detailed analysis of over 200 liberal arts schools and talks about their financial history as well as their curicullum. He picks a representative set of 12 colleges for which he provides specific and detailed analysis. The author examines which of these colleges are thriving as opposed to surviving and which are endangered. He offers recommendations for improvements to ensue future viability. An upbeat and interesting read for anyone interested in higher education.
Steven Koblik, S. & Graubard , S. R. (2000). Distinctively american: the residential liberal arts colleges. New Brunswick (NJ) and London: Transaction Publishers.
This book contains a collection of sixteen essays which examine the role of the liberal arts colleges in the 21st century. It delves into the challenges and triumphs of liberal arts colleges and celebrates the fact that they are American made. The book examines the history of the liberal arts college from its very beginning when it was looked down upon by the European society, to its triumph as a world class university. The authors write that the methodology of liberal arts teaching is being tested. In this age of new technology and distance learning, and the specific educational credentials required by business, he notes that the liberal arts colleges continue to place emphasis on the value of a broad and creative education. A liberal arts education does not teach to a certain career but rather to a well rounded, informed forward thinking individual. The book delves into the future economic challenges for the liberal arts colleges as well as certain threats such as the worldwide emphasis on information tecnology. It examines how the liberal arts colleges affect the students and how the currents of democracy are served by these institutions. This is a very thought provoking and interesting book than anyone concerned with the future of American education will benefit from.