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Mission and Overview

The Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies is a center for innovative teaching and scholarship that draws upon the diversity of Emerson's faculty and students, and the different disciplinary, intellectual, and creative interests they represent. 

Mission

The Institute’s mission is to promote the interdisciplinary study of the liberal arts, to support faculty development and collaboration leading to curricular innovation, and to advance students' theoretical and ethical understanding of communications and the arts. In all of its endeavors, the Institute seeks to foster global and multicultural perspectives.

Programs

The Institute is also home to Emerson’s First Year Seminar Program. During their first year of study, all Emerson students select a first year seminar from one of 20 seminar topics offered each year. These courses examine the traditional liberal arts in a dynamic, interdisciplinary approach that emphasize critical thinking, writing, and speaking - all essential skills needed to succeed in the 21st century global economy that emphasizes adaptability and innovative thinking.

The Institute is the home of the Emerson College Honors Program, a four year interdisciplinary program that brings together top students from across the College in a series of intensive seminars and independent learning experiences that culminate in a senior capstone project in each student’s major field of study.

For students who wish to develop their own major, the Institute offers the Individually Designed Interdisciplinary Program (IDIP). Through this program, students can design their own majors using courses, minors, and concentrations from across the College and the ProArts Consortium.

Through the Institute, students can also take upper level courses or complete interdisciplinary minors in emerging fields such as Women's and Gender Studies, Post-Colonial and Global Studies, Performance Studies, Digital Media and Culture, American Studies, and Urban Studies/Community Involvement.

Goals of the Liberal Arts Curriculum at Emerson College

One of the important goals of the Institute is to integrate the study of the liberal arts with the educational experience students select in their major programs in the School of the Arts and the School of Communication. Interdisciplinary studies are designed to allow individualized investigations around a theme, significant problem, or topic by studying two or more of these areas in connection to each other.
  • To provide students with a grounding in the core areas of verbal and written expression (Oral Communication, Writing, Computer Mediated Communication)
  • To provide students with a foundation in the major Liberal Arts traditions (Philosophy, History, Literature, Arts, Social and Behavioral Science, and Natural Science and Quantitative Reasoning)
  • To provide students with extensive exposure to a multitude of cultural, ethical, and disciplinary perspectives, and to foster their ability to critically assess the values and assumptions underlying those perspectives
  • To integrate the study of the Liberal Arts with students' educational experience in their major programs
  • To provide choice and flexibility in determining the appropriate match between students' Liberal Arts studies and their major programs

Institute Student Learning Objectives

  1. Students will demonstrate critical thinking, writing and speaking skills.
  2. Students will apply ethics to liberal arts and interdisciplinary topics.
  3. Students will demonstrate an understanding of global and multicultural perspectives.
  4. Students will apply appropriate theories to the issues of the course.

The Institute Advisory Committee

The permanent advisory body of the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies is the Institute Advisory Committee (IAC).  The IAC advises the Executive Director on matters pertaining to policy, curriculum and staffing.  The membership of the membership of the IAC includes faculty representatives from each of the College's Academic Departments and faculty and administrators representing the programs and offices associated with the development of programming at the Institute.

IAC Members, 2009/2010

Mary Ellen Adams IDIP Committee Chair
Sam Binkley Communication Studies Representative
Nicole Brown Library Representative
Deirdre Conlon Scholar-in-Residence, Institute
Nigel Gibson Director, Honors Program
Sarah Hickler Performing Arts Representative
Silvia Hodges Marketing and Communications Representative
Roy Kamada Writing, Literature and Publishing Representative
Mark Leccese Journalism Representative
Tamara Marko First Year Writing Program Representative
Wyatt Oswald Communication Science and Disorders Representative
Jane Shattuc Visual and Media Arts Representative
Diana Sherry Scholar-in-Residence, Institute
Mirta Tocci Artist-in-Residence, Institute
Erika Williams Scholar-in-Residence, Institute
Richard Zauft Interim Executive Director, Institute
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