Search results

Using literature and related documents, the study reviews and analyzes the global trend of liberal arts education (LAE) resurgence and experimentation in different societies across three continents, East Asia, North America, and Western Europe. The study explores how LAE has been incorporated into different societies, how the variations in each model reflect local traditions and values, and what these adaptations contribute to the new LAE model. Through the angle of new institutional theory, the study focuses specifically on how these local models are impacted by institutional factors, the constraint of market, policy, state, as well as historical figures or organizations. This research with document analysis of global LAE summarizes the innovation and insights to date and calls for further research on LAE through new institutional theory and ideal types. This study builds the foundation for further research exploring the implementation and educational outcomes of LAE in different societies.

While academia continuously probes and advocates for a definition of a comprehensive, inclusive ideal, diversity, multiculturalism, and equity are bridging ties elements that must be considered. Currently, liberal arts colleges have the unique opportunity to shape equitable environments for all their members and become role models for other higher educational institutions. If there is an institutional commitment, and people are willing to work for a common goal, small colleges can undoubtedly offer the appropriate academic conditions where all faculty, staff, and students can achieve their highest personal and professional potentials.

This chapter discusses the role of chief diversity officer (CDO) on liberal arts campuses and how the CDO should take the lead as equity advocator and conveyor and help set the desired dialogue conditions. Among the topics examined is the institutional inclusion process which includes innovative and supportive new ideas and programs for equity among all members of the academic community. Also the hiring of underrepresented faculty members is crucial and can support the growth of enrollment and retention of diverse groups of students. Diversity and inclusion create common goals, and liberal arts colleges should rapidly move to allow the best hiring practices during the recruitment of new faculty members. Equitable learning conditions for all are as crucial as the creation of faculty evaluation systems that promote equitable opportunities. Liberal arts colleges have a historic opportunity to lead the way and become exemplary role models in practicing diversity and inclusion on campus.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness and outcomes of liberal arts in preparing people for adult roles.

Review of research and opinions about the liberal arts.

Liberal-arts outcomes results have fallen short of expectations though this may be a short coming of higher education generally. A new era of the knowledge society will shrink liberal-arts departments in humanities, literature and philosophy.

Liberal arts need definition and clarity of expected outcomes.

Jobs in liberal arts colleges will decrease given its weak effectiveness. Online education for liberal-arts areas will grow explosively.

Liberal-arts critics have been active for decades. What is different today is world wide access to all information 24/7 and massive open online courses (MOOCs).

Liberal arts colleges (LACs) have played a crucial role in the foundation and development of the US higher education system. Today, these schools face numerous organizational and environmental challenges that threaten their performance and even survival. This paper aims to examine whether Senge’s (1990) vision of the learning organization can serve a useful function in responding to these challenges.

A conceptual analysis was conducted based on research relating to learning organizations, LACs and the liberal arts tradition.

The paper identifies significant congruence between learning organization and liberal arts/liberal learning principles. LACs may benefit from applying and modifying Senge’s (1990) framework to their own unique situations.

While The Fifth Discipline has certainly contributed to the lexicon of higher education, the role that Senge’s (1990) framework plays in LACs has received scant research attention. This paper investigates the applicability of Senge’s approach to an underexplored context.

This research explores whether gender affects faculty satisfaction with opportunity for advancement in rank at two elite liberal arts colleges in the United States.

We analyze survey data from associate and full professors to identify predictors of satisfaction with advancement. Focus group and interview data supplement our interpretations of regression results.

The two colleges differ in the impact of gender, rank, perceptions of the full professor promotion process, and quality of department relationships on satisfaction with advancement. At one college, there is no gender difference, while at the other, women are less satisfied than men. The effect of gender at this college is fully mediated by department relationship quality.

This cross-sectional study was conducted at only two colleges. Interpretations of the quantitative results are inductively generated and not tested in the analysis.

We make recommendations to improve processes and pathways for promotion that recognize the role of department climates in fostering or hindering career progression. Gender may be less salient in contexts in which associate professors have positive department relationships and in which promotion criteria value their administrative service and other institutional contributions sufficiently.

Previous research about promotion to full professor has focused on research universities while we examine the issue at liberal arts colleges, institutions that emphasize undergraduate study.

The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate how a liberal arts college library has reimagined its spaces in response to the changes in higher education, particularly integration of educational technology into research, teaching, and learning; changes in students’ information-seeking behaviors; and an increasingly important role of local special collections as a means to preserve and reinforce unique institutional identity.

This case study is built on the first-hand experience, as all contributors directly participated in each phase of the process, from formulating ideas to completion of the current stage.

Meaningful and high-impact space adjustments do not necessarily entail extensive budgetary investments. They do entail, however, developing comprehensive goals and directions and a level of collaboration among library departments and relevant academic units in order to deliver cohesive services, programming, and a creative, nimble response to the constantly changing needs of the patron.

We believe that these high-impact, cost-conscious improvements provide a useful model for other small academic libraries preparing to reconfigure or renovate their spaces. We offer a model for creating a dynamic, service-centered space on a limited budget.

The overwhelming majority of the literature related to library spaces focuses on large universities, and the treatment of space topics in small undergraduate colleges, and liberal arts colleges in particular, is strikingly negligent. This case study of a small liberal arts college will help fill the void by adding to the rare voices commenting on library spaces in liberal arts colleges.

This research evaluates the support for eight liberal arts goals: thinking clearly; knowing the physical universe; cultural awareness; moral awareness; valuing thought; thought/feeling relationships; independent action; and tolerance and concern for others. (1) The survey of 1,014 consists of 541 graduates and 473 undergraduates of a small southern liberal arts university. A low response rate for graduates led to comparisons of returns to the original sample frame in terms of: year graduated, sex composition, and ratings by survey return date. (2) the GER scale consists of 8 subscales and 33 items. Each item is rated by importance and gains in college. Cronbach's Alpha for subscales ranged from .67 to .82 with an overall ∝ =.928. (3) Results. All goals were rated as Very Important to Extremely Important. GER goals were rated more important by undergraduates who were: women, leaders, community volunteers, and those with out‐of‐class experience. Tolerance and Concern for Others was the most important goal. Greatest gains were in thinking clearly. Support of the liberal arts program, defined as a combination of gains and importance, increased from freshman to senior class. Support was unexpectedly strong for more affective components of the program. Limitations of this research are used to suggest future areas of study.

Purpose – This research examined the effects of gender, home demands, and work demands on work–family conflict (WFC) for faculty at two liberal arts colleges.

Methodology – A work climate survey was sent to the entire population of 341 tenured and tenure-track faculty at two small highly selective private liberal arts colleges, one formerly all male and the other formerly all female. The response rate was 70%, yielding 237 respondents. Faculty were compared by gender using t-tests and by gender and discipline using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Multiple regression was used to examine factors contributing to faculty WFC.

Findings – Gender, rank, and department climate were significantly associated with WFC. In contrast, caregiving responsibilities, college of employment, and discipline did not have significant relationships with WFC. Controlling for caregiving, employment at a formerly all-male college, working in a STEM discipline, and department climate did not reduce the effect of gender on WFC. Women faculty reported more WFC than their male counterparts, while full professors reported less than their junior colleagues. Good department climate overall as well as high scores on all three subscales individually (affective, instrumental, and cognitive) reduced WFC.

Research limitations – This research project is a cross-sectional, observational study, which limits the interpretation of direction of effect in most cases.

Practical implications – Results suggest that more supportive department climates could reduce WFC for faculty struggling to balance their personal and professional lives.

Develops a model which links organizational growth and decline to competitive strategy, the strategy‐making process and the personal characteristics of the chief executive officer. The model was empirically tested for private liberal art colleges where the size of the student enrolment is a dominant factor for the vitality of the institution. The major findings of the study are: enrolment growth is associated with focused strategy, the CEO innovative style, differentiation and assertive strategy‐making process; and the major discriminating factors between institutions experiencing enrolment growth and institutions experiencing enrolment decline are focused strategy and the CEO innovator cognitive style. Discusses and examines the policy implications of the study.

Ruth Brandon looks at the Liberal Arts courses in the United States and reveals where our own James Commission found some of its ideas.