Welcome!

Liberal Studies begins with the idea that people can best gain knowledge of society through integrating traditional disciplines. The LBS approach to knowledge allows students to apply insights from the arts and humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences to specific topics and fields of study. Stressing rational analysis, information retrieval skills, problem-solving, communication skills, and uses of the imagination, LBS prepares students for a broad range of careers and opportunities. Not only are the career options vast for the Liberal Studies graduate, but the ability to analyze how the world works – from the local situation to its global implications – is both practical and personally satisfying. The Liberal Studies major requires 5 core courses in correlation with a thematically focused depth track, all designed to guide the student from introductory overviews to an individually-chosen capstone project. There are three options to choose from: The General Option, the Multiple Subject Teacher Preparation Option, and the Blended Multiple Subject Teacher Preparation Option.

The General Option is for those who desire to understand the basic concepts and skills offered by the traditional disciplines and then to go beyond the limitations of single disciplines to approach the world through different intellectual perspectives. The General Option prepares students to be independent thinkers capable of the highest order of problem-solving. More and more employers seek liberally educated persons who have broad social, scientific, and humanistic frames of reference, who can integrate knowledge logically yet with imagination, and who can present information accurately in a range of professional formats.

The Multiple Subject Teaching Option prepares students to become elementary school teachers. This option offers an efficient and intellectually stimulating path into the teaching profession and is excellent preparation leading to the Multiple Subject credential. Students who elect this option generally enter a teaching credential program upon completion of the Bachelor of Arts degree.

The Blended Subject Teacher Preparation Option combines undergraduate study with the teaching credential program. Students who elect this option graduate with both the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies and the Level I credential. Graduates of the Blended Option can be immediately employed as elementary school teachers.

The Women’s Studies minor is an interdisciplinary course of study that takes as its central object of study the role of gender in culture and society. In consultation with an advisor, students choose among a wide variety of courses that examine gender roles, the biology and psychology of gender and sex, and the concept of gender in a variety of cultural settings. Students from any major may elect to minor in Women’s Studies.