Linda Rogers:
LBST Talk
I teach Liberal Studies 300 and its counterpart, English 309. As you know, Liberal Studies focuses on interdisciplinary work in universities, so this will be a focus of our attention in both courses.
In the English course, we’ll look at educational experiences and disciplinary interests. You’ll discuss and write about your learning experiences in a series of narratives, first on a somewhat personal level and then on a more academic level, writing about the degree program you’ve designed. You’ll explain your academic interests and goals as you extend the scope of your interdisciplinary research. This research work will help you to prepare a major presentation for the Liberal Studies class.
In Liberal Studies 300, you’ll make several presentations, one to outline the program you’ve designed and one to show how it works, or will work, as you move into your future vocation. As a class, we’ll look at how the disciplines function in college departments, and how departments work with administrators and professors, as well as taking a brief look at how they operated in the past. We’ll read a collection of writings about higher education to give us an overview of where it’s been and where it’s going. Along the way, we’ll see how our system has evolved into one that tries to give everyone access to higher learning without sacrificing reasonably high standards.
Through our work in both courses, we’ll gain a better understanding of interdisciplinarity in college and beyond. In addition to our regular class activities, we’ll sometimes hear from guest speakers who will tell us about their interdisciplinary work. And all of your work in these classes—reading, writing, and interacting with others—is designed to foster a sense of your emerging identity as a scholar in the Liberal Studies community.