A New Approach to Liberal Arts Learning

Siena Heights University is taking an un-common approach to a common focus for small, private college and universities: liberal arts education.

For many years, Siena Heights has taken a “cafeteria-style” approach to the liberal arts, which is a common path for many institutions. However, according to Dr. Joseph Raab, the new director of the Liberal Arts program, SHU is venturing in a new direction that will tap into its Catholic and Dominican heritage.

“We had an approach to liberal arts learning that was very common in higher education,” Raab said. “We call it a distribution model approach, which means students have to take a cafeteria-style assemblage of various courses and disciplines. And if they complete those, they are done. And that works pretty well in terms of exposing students to different questions and a number of different disciplines. But it’s a little bit lacking when it comes to helping the students put it all together in a meaningful way.”

Raab said SHU’s Committee On Liberal Arts (COLA) developed the new model that attempts to enhance critical thinking but also the ethical integration of that thinking. Students currently complete a liberal arts seminar course during their senior year that serves as a “capstone” course. However, under the new plan, students would take four liberal arts “core” seminars beginning as freshmen.

“It was based on several different observations and something that came from the whole Committee On Liberal Arts Education,” Raab said. “We’re hopeful it is going to be a positive change and give students a more engaging experience of liberal arts education.”

Each core seminar will have formalized content that will allow for greater consistency, regardless of who is teaching the material.

“We want to build those kinds of conversations, not just across the student body but also with faculty,” Raab said, “so that we’re really becoming a community of scholars who are able to speak together on a common set of questions.”

COLA is finalizing syllabi and texts, uploaded readings and organizing a digital warehouse. The first seminar course will start in the winter semester 2013, and Raab is charged with finding instructors for these seminars. Once all four are being taught, Raab said he will probably need 30 faculty members to teach those seminars.

An added boost is the news that Siena Heights recently received a $14,000 grant from the Wabash Center that will fund a three-day workshop for faculty this summer. Raab said the workshop will allow for brainstorming about how the liberal arts seminars will be taught as well as integrate materials into the new format.

“We hope these changes reflect the will of the whole university,” Raab said. “The fact that some of these proposals were passed by the faculty unanimously show that it is embraced.”

With many colleges and universities becoming more career-focused, Raab said the liberal arts still play a vital role in higher education, especially with the changing economic landscape.

“Why some experts are saying (liberal arts) are more relevant today than ever is because fields change so rapidly today,” Raab said. “If you have an education that is too focused on providing a certain skillset to perform a certain task, by the time they graduate that task may no longer be needed. … Liberal arts education teaches you to think critically and think creatively. It hones the types of skills that are going to serve you no matter what discipline or what field you find yourself employed.

“We want our students to come out of this program with a sense and a real appreciation for the Catholic and Dominican character of the institution.”