Distinguishing Characteristic

We can describe the economic and cultural value of liberal education as latent value. It is a seed that needs to be planted as soon as possible after students have demonstrated basic competencies, because it leavens all learning and practical experience thereafter. Its value grows with experience and is the catalyst that turns rote knowledge into true understanding.

"The Demographic Window of Opportunity: Liberal Education in the New Century"

Distinguishing characteristic for all students in the College of Arts and Sciences:

An exemplary undergraduate education, preparing all of our students for life, work and leadership, accomplished through the genuine integration of the arts, letters and sciences.

Such an education will provide opportunities for students to engage in undergraduate research or creative endeavor, internships, public service and/or global experiences, and will emphasize multidisciplinary approaches both in and outside of the classroom experience. In order to obtain the goal envisioned here, the college will utilize a series of tactics, some of which build upon existing areas of strength and some of which will need to be developed and expanded over the next several years.

Tactics

The following tactics are neither separate nor distinct, but rather are interwoven and complementary. While each of the college’s students may not be able to pursue each of these avenues, students will select multiple approaches, enabling them to develop educational and personal achievements that transcend the typical classroom experience. In order truly to become distinguished in providing an exemplary undergraduate education, the college must be in a position to provide these opportunities to all of its students, depending on their interests, needs and situation.

• Guaranteed opportunities for undergraduate research and/or creative endeavor

  The ability to provide opportunities for such experiences to our students is a current strength for the college, particularly in the laboratory sciences and the social sciences. While traditional disciplinary work characterizes many of these experiences, the ability to have meaningful inter- and multidisciplinary experiences provides the students with valuable academic experience and promotes team building and communication. Noteworthy milestones forming the foundation for accomplishment in this arena include:

  • Over the past five years, 14 of the college’s 15 departments have had student participation in Meeting of Minds or parallel initiatives.

  • The Howard Hughes Medical Institute acknowledged multidisciplinary strength in undergraduate research through its funding of a program in biological communication, involving faculty from the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and the Eye Research Institute.

  • A similar initiative led to Oakland University being awarded one of 15 Merck/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research Program awards for interdisciplinary projects.

  • Such involvement, regardless of discipline(s) provides enhanced opportunities for writing, analysis and collaboration which transcends the core of general education.

• Guaranteed opportunities for internships and/or public service as an integral component of the undergraduate educational experience

  Given Oakland University’s metropolitan location, we have tremendous opportunities to provide our students with either internships or public service, depending on their interests and educational objectives. This is particularly important for students in the college, as it represents a balance between the liberal arts education and experience in a work environment.

  • Again, there is a foundation of strength upon which to build: internships are routine in communication, modern languages and throughout the social sciences. Collaborative programs with social service agencies throughout Oakland and Wayne counties provide exceptional opportunities in the public service area.

  • With the college’s strong involvement in biomedical research, there is additional potential for placements with area pharmaceutical and biotech companies; of course, undergraduate experience in research provides another form of internship for many of these students.

  • These initiatives, too, provide exceptional possibilities for communication, teamwork and development of interpersonal skills transcending the core of general education and knowledge base of a particular discipline.

• Guaranteed opportunities for a “global” experience, including the language arts and cultural enrichment

  When Oakland University embarked upon the Creating the Future initiative, culminating with the final report in 1998, the Task Force for the College of Arts and Sciences recognized the centrality and importance of this tactic, especially as it related to the institution’s location in the heart of an increasingly international and diverse Oakland County.

  • The Center for English as a Second Language (ESL), as one example, offers opportunities for students to provide language and cultural skills to an ever-growing international community.

  • The college is committed to exploring collaborations and partnerships with the business and industrial community that universally will provide interested students the opportunity to work and study overseas.

  • The college will provide each of its students multidisciplinary opportunities to learn about and appreciate other cultures, including the incorporation of such studies into language courses.

• Guaranteed opportunities to understand and appreciate how culture and the arts enrich and inform all aspects of human endeavor

  While all aspects of the college’s curriculum enrich and inform human endeavor, there is common recognition that learning through the arts, as well as learning about the arts, is a critical way to understand life, appreciate diversity, and improve analytical and cognitive skills. Such a mission underscores the college’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach to enriching its students’ experiences and is a critical component in achieving distinction.

  • Consistent with the thematic approach noted in the next bullet, whenever possible culture and the arts will be highlighted and integrated into ongoing programs and celebrations.

  • Through its curriculum and general requirements, the college will strive to create a culture where students embrace the arts and use these experiences to develop and enrich their personal and professional philosophies.

• Guaranteed opportunities to select courses clustered around meaningful themes

  As a primary component of the emphasis on a multidisciplinary curriculum and the ability truly to integrate across the variety of disciplines in the arts, letters and sciences, students in the college will have the ability to take one or more grouping of courses, based on a common theme. Examples (or potential examples) include an expansion of the ongoing series of lectures on religion and science; courses from a variety of disciplines involving Ethics, Diversity and Society; and a multidisciplinary series dealing with the scientific and societal issues of Global Warming.

• Guaranteed opportunities to complete an integrated capstone experience

  Similar to the thematic clustering of courses, students in the College of Arts and Sciences will demonstrate the integration of their knowledge both as it pertains to their general education and disciplinary background. Whether through a capstone course or seminal experience (e.g., a senior independent project, senior thesis or comprehensive community service activity) students will be required to synthesize and apply knowledge from a spectrum of disciplines and approaches. A collaborative project approach, stressing a common theme and involving students from a variety of curricular areas also would serve the interests of our student extremely well.

  In addition to these primarily curricular approaches and student opportunities, two additional points of emphasis must be attained in order to claim a distinctive undergraduate experience for students in the college.

• Over time, we must position ourselves to claim truthfully that our students experience primarily small classes taught by full-time faculty, actively engaged in research and creative endeavor and holding terminal degrees in their respective disciplines.

  Again from "The Demographic Window of Opportunity":

  One of the greatest strengths of a liberal arts education is that the environment encourages student-to-student and student-to-faculty interactions. This learning process mimics the changing work environment and the increasing value of general cognitive, problem-solving and interpersonal skills over specific and technical skills.

  Such attainments, especially when linked to undergraduate involvement in research and creative endeavor, informative internships and public service, and an active understanding of the “global experience” mandate an informed and actively engaged faculty who can work directly with and mentor our students.

• From across the college’s disciplines, we must celebrate and share our students’ successes. Perhaps based on the “Faculty Recognition Luncheon” series, we can create a forum to acknowledge student successes. Such a forum would allow students to learn from the experiences of their peers. It would also allow us to highlight exemplary accomplishments and to rejoice in a common framework of multidisciplinary experience.

The College of Arts and Sciences contribution to the core experience of all university students: Through its pivotal role in the current and any potential future general education program, the college significantly impacts every student who graduates from OU.

The classic mandates of a liberal education, including the institution’s identified skills in critical thinking, technology, communication and teamwork, as well as individual, community and global values, permeate the curriculum of the departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. While faculty in the college need carefully to rethink and review courses in all of the knowledge areas identified by the General Education Task Force, there is no doubt but that the resulting curriculum will be strongly shaped and influenced by offerings across the range of the college’s disciplines.

Tactics

Especially with an eye toward multi and interdisciplinary approaches, each of the college’s 15 departments needs to review the fundamental knowledge areas identified by the Task Force on General Education (Foundation, Globalization, Self in Society, Inquiry and the Creation Meaning, Exploring the Natural World, Exploring Human Creativity and Integration) to ascertain what new approaches will most effectively position the college to meet these challenges for all of our students.

2010 Profile