New Master of Liberal Arts program introduced

-- Carin Mangimeli

On Aug. 14, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) Board approved the new Master of Liberal Studies (MLS). This program is the first of its kind to be offered at the graduate level at Metropolitan State University in that it is completely interdisciplinary—students of all disciplines can individualize their studies in virtually any topic.

A master’s in a subject matter "presumes certain particular prerequisites and skill sets, and a focus on the perspective of that discipline," said Professor Lawrence Moe, Ph.D, chair of Metropolitan State University’s Literature and Language Department and director of the MLS program.

"An interdisciplinary program doesn’t do that. We accept students with a four-year degree in any subject. The design of the courses will be at an appropriate graduate level, but they will use the perspectives of more than one discipline and they will assume that people have the skills and knowledge that comes with four-year degrees and intellectual curiosity to undertake original research and write and otherwise publish the results. "But its not about the methodology of any single discipline...it’s a more generalist approach than a compartmentalized discipline-based program."

About the program

The MLS is a 32-credit program offered by the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and administrated by Moe. To be eligible for admittance into the MLS program, students must already possess a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution with significant course work in liberal arts disciplines and have a minimum g.p.a. of 3.0 (though students with a lower g.p.a. may be admitted conditionally).

The program is currently accepting applications for the introductory seminar in Spring 2007; another introductory seminar will be offered Fall 2007.

Prior to implementation and approval of a new program–undergraduate or graduate–MnSCU requires that external reviewer(s) evaluate the program and submit reports to the MnSCU Board regarding the use of Metropolitan State University’s resources and academic design.

According to Moe, all three reviewers, including one anonymous reviewer, found the program to be a "good solid program."

According to its promotional material, the program’s curriculum involves an introductory seminar, three MLS exploration courses, three graduate-level (500G or higher) electives and a capstone course. The exploration and elective courses will focus on students’ individual interests and interdisciplinary inquiries into a subject matter of the students’ choosing. The exploration courses will be team-taught by various members of the CAS faculty.

The capstone course is a culmination of the students’ research and inquiry. It could include research papers, projects, artwork or performances; but it must include a reflective written piece.

While this task may seem daunting to some, Moe explained that during the introductory seminar students will decide on their capstone theme for their MLS degree—instead of deciding on a capstone theme in the last semester of one’s studies, as is traditionally done in the undergraduate program.

As the student continues through the program, they will continue to study the theme in-depth so when they reach their capstone, "they will already have read, researched, thought about it, written about it [and] talked about it...[through] multiple courses and multiple semesters, maybe over years," said Moe.

The sequence of the MLS program will begin with the introductory course and end with the capstone course, but allows for flexibility in the order and/or pace at which a student completes the exploration and elective courses. In addition, up to eight graduate-level credits can be earned at another accredited institution or at Metropolitan State University prior to MLS admission and be applied to the program.

Team-taught classes offer innovation

"The program is not housed in any one department; the program runs through the College of Arts and Sciences as a whole," said Moe. "So every faculty member in the CAS can participate in the program and I expect that many of them will."

"And it’s going to be fun for faculty too, who will get an opportunity to teach at a more advanced level across subjects that will be very stimulating to them and their academic interests as well."

Moe also believes that faculty team-teaching classes will help students see things from many different perspectives—something that he believes the world is not very good at doing.

"For a very long time now, we have been living in a world of specialists and specializations. And all these disciplines are like they are boring mine shafts down into the terra firma of knowledge and understanding, and there aren’t a lot of lateral passages connecting them up."

"Now we can specialize and compartmentalize ourselves right out of seeing the big picture of some things and that’s why our MLS program emphasizes theorized inter-disciplinary generalism. That doesn’t mean any specialty—it’s a load of intellectual inquiry that’s willing to look at problems from more than one point of view."

"You take an issue like computer science technology development and the bill of rights. We’re getting to a point now where we can run a wand over you and see right through you, should we be able to do that because we can? An ethicist and a computer scientist team-teaching a course about the effects on our political rights and freedoms vis-à-vis new technology I would think would be very interesting to a lot of people."

"And you can get a way to look at that and talk about that there that you might not get in quite the same way in a philosophy department on one hand or a computer science department on the other."

Benefits for Metropolitan State University students

In the past, a Master of Liberal Arts/Studies program has only been available at Hamline University, the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State University Moorhead, where tuition costs can be as high as up to three times that of Metropolitan State University.

Moe said that he doesn’t believe that there is anything with the other programs but believes Metropolitan State University is a better choice. "We have been in the business of student-centered education designed for the working adults for a very long time at Metropolitan State University," said Moe. "There is a kind of logical fit in our institutional culture for a program of this sort."

Though Metropolitan State University has traditionally focused on professional degrees that can be implemented before or immediately upon graduation, the MLS program will give students a chance to better themselves intellectually and philosophically; to become logical thinkers, Moe said. It will also advance reasoning and verbal abilities, as well as critical thinking, writing and verbal skills.

"Just because a corporation isn’t hiring in its MLS department doesn’t mean that there isn’t a practical and real economic benefit," said Moe. "Most of the Metropolitan State University students, more than two-thirds of them, are working full-time already and enhanced performance on the job will benefit them. And information analysis, and efficient and improved communications, those are skills worth having that the MLS degree is all over, at every stage, and it’s about articulation...

"We also, however, prepare people for higher-order thinking and skill sets that find ways to apply them in the economy, in the communities and in their personal lives..."

According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Web site, "Occupations that require high levels of reasoning abilities are nearly 20 times more likely to be among the highest paid occupations, rather than the lowest paid occupations."

In addition to the advantages of an expansion of one’s human potential, "there is an obligation in a democracy for students to be informed and engaged," said Moe.

"Information technology is also delivering huge amounts of data more conveniently than ever to us. But the repetitively, convenience and sheer mass of accessible data in no way guarantees its truth or relevance, which is why the MLS program deals in the assessing and evaluation of information in every course...that’s a really practical skill."

But it’s not just about the practical outcomes, Moe said. "There is life beyond work and there is enrichment potential for the life of the mind."

Visit http://www.metrostate.edu/cas/libarts/master_liberal_studies.html for further information about the new MLS program.