Foreword, by Michael Roth1. A Radical Vision for Redesigning Liberal Education, by William Moner, Phillip Motley, and Rebecca Pope-Ruark2. Immersive Learning in the Studio for Social Innovation at Elon University, by Rebecca Pope-Ruark, William Moner, and Phillip Motley3. Attending to Local Context, Culture, and Language at Florida International University, by Isis Artze-Vega, Phillip M. Carter, and Heather Russell4. Problem-Focused Liberal Education in a First-Year Learning Community at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, by Denise S. Bartell, Alison K. Staudinger, and David Voelker5. Exploring the Borderlands: Using Interdisciplinarity to Build Civic Literacy at the College of the Holy Cross, by Laurie Ann Britt-Smith6. The Experiential Liberal Arts: An Integrative Model for 21st Century Education at Northeastern University, by Chris W. Gallagher and Uta Poiger7. Creating Connections: An Intentional, Integrated Liberal Education at Connecticut College, by Michael Reder and Ann Schenk8. Building a Developmental, Interdisciplinary General Education Curriculum for the Future: Rollins Foundations in the Liberal Arts (rFLA), by Emily Russell, Susan Singer, and Toni Strollo Holbrook9. Redesigning Learning Through Multidisciplinary Teaching: Voices from a Sophomore Core Experience at Lasell College, by Michael Daley, Dennis A. Frey Jr., and Catherine Zeek10. Intergenerational Partnerships to Support Liberal Learning Goals at Brown University, by Mary C. Wright, Maud Mandel, Jessica Metzler, and Christina Smith11. The Design Thinking Initiative at Smith College, by Borjana Mikic12. Failing Forward: Writing, Design, and Organic Curricular Change at Georgetown University, by Maggie Debelius, Sherry Lee Linkon, and Matthew Pavesich13. Educating for Global Civic Participation and a Career: German Studies in the 21st Century at Elon University, by Scott Windham, Andrea Sinn, Kristin Lange, Derek Lackaff, Anthony Hatcher, Evan A. Gatti, and Janelle Papay Decato14. Educating Business Leaders for a Better World at George Mason University, by Lisa M. Gring-Pemble, Anne Magro, and Jacquelyn Dively Brown15. Pursuing Major Passions: Innovative Minors That Blend Professional Skills and Liberal Education Values for Civic Pursuits at Susquehanna University, by John Bodinger de Uriarte and Betsy Verhoeven16. Aligning Liberal Education for an Age of Inequality, by William M. Sullivan17. Liberal Education Liberated, by Randy Bass18. The Future Has Gone Soft on Skills: Why Campuses Should Be Working Harder to Cement Personal and Social Development with Learning, by Ashley Finley19. Slow: Liberal Learning for and in a Fast-Paced World, by Nancy Chick and Peter Felten20. Shifting Paradigms: College Admissions as a Lever for Systemic Change in Liberal Education, by Kristína Moss Gudrún Gunnarsdóttir and Meredith Twombly21. Scholartistry: Creativity and the Future of the Liberal Arts, by Michael Shanks and Connie SvaboAfterword: The Age of Connectedness, by Leo M. Lambert
The future of liberal education in the United States, in its current form, is fraught but full of possibility. Today's institutions are struggling to maintain viability, sustain revenue, and assert value in the face of rising costs. But we should not abandon the model of pragmatic liberal learning that has made America's colleges and universities the envy of the world. Instead, Redesigning Liberal Education argues, we owe it to students to reform liberal education in ways that put broad and measurable student learning as the highest priority.
Written by experts in higher education, the book is organized into two sections. The first section focuses on innovations at 13 institutions: Brown University, College of the Holy Cross, Connecticut College, Elon University, Florida International University, George Mason University, Georgetown University, Lasell College, Northeastern University, Rollins College, Smith College, Susquehanna University, and the University of WisconsinGÇôGreen Bay. Chapters about these institutions consider the vast spectrum of opportunities and challenges currently faced by students, faculty, staff, and administrators, while also offering "radical visions" of the future of liberal education in the United States. Accompanying vision chapters written by some of the foremost leaders in higher education touch on a wide array of subjects and themes, from artificial intelligence and machines to the role that human dispositions, mindsets, resilience, and time play in how we guide students to ideas for bringing playful concepts of creativity and openness into our work.
Ultimately, Redesigning Liberal Education reveals how humanizing forces, including critical thinking, collaboration, cross-cultural competencies, resilience, and empathy, can help drive our world. This uplifting collection is a celebration of the innovative work being done to achieve the promise of a valuable, engaging, and practical undergraduate liberal education.
Contributors: Isis Artze-Vega, Denise S. Bartell, Randy Bass, John Bodinger de Uriarte, Laurie Ann Britt-Smith, Jacquelyn Dively Brown, Phillip M. Carter, Nancy Chick, Michael Daley, Maggie Debelius, Janelle Papay Decato, Peter Felten, Ashley Finley, Dennis Frey, Chris Gallagher, Evan Gatti, Lisa Gring-Pemble, Kristína Moss Gudr+¦n Gunnarsd+¦ttir, Anthony Hatcher, Toni Holbrook, Derek Lackaff, Leo Lambert, Kristin Lange, Sherry Linkon, Anne Magro, Maud Mandel, Jessica Metzler, Borjana Mikic, William Moner, Phillip Motley, Matthew Pavesich, Uta Poiger, Rebecca Pope-Ruark, Michael Reder, Michael Roth, Emily Russell, Heather Russell, Ann Schenk, Michael Shanks, Susan Singer, Andrea Sinn, Christina Smith, Allison Staudinger, William Sullivan, Connie Svabo, Meredith Twombly, Betsy Verhoeven, David Voelker, Scott Windham, Mary Wright, Cathy Zeek