Liberal Studies
SFU GLS cohort 2007
Graduate Liberal Studies is a program of intellectual exploration of the cross-currents of civilization, through themed semesters incorporating history, literature, philosophy, science, art and other disciplines.
Thinking, reading and engaging others in focused seminars re-arranges and rebuilds your synaptic connections; by looking at things from many sides, you break open stale “idea channels” as you rediscover the joy of learning. It could be said to be a return to a classical education:
The underlying premise of the Master of Liberal Arts is that interdisciplinary study leads to intellectual independence and satisfaction not always found in discipline-based programs of study. As a result, we encourage our students to explore a broad range of subjects throughout the curriculum, rather than to focus narrowly on a single topic. The culmination of study for each student is the Master’s Thesis; the interdisciplinary background in coursework provides the broad perspective from which each student conceives of and writes a tightly focused, in-depth study of a single subject. [Stanford MLA website]
Many people today think of university education as a stepping stone to a career or better position within an established career; many might question why you would choose an “unfocused” program which has no defined career track. My answer was that I chose Graduate Liberal Studies as a life-affirming re-engagement with the intellect; that I chose to read across rather than down; and that I chose to work toward a graduate degree within a supportive community of engaged and thoughtful adults.
GLS retreat, Bowen Island 2009
The conclusion of Carol Tulpar’s essay The Empowering Journey perhaps best sums up the experience:
When examining nature and the universe, instead of looking for and finding objective qualities, the physicist Werner Heisenberg is credited with saying that, “man encounters himself.” In the same way, after the siren call to GLS, and the years of combing through the ideas that humans have developed about our mental, physical and spiritual world, I have come home to myself, finding as much passionate strength, confidence and optimism, I think, as it is reasonable for one person to have, in a soulful universe that is ultimately mysterious.
Stanford’s MLA program lists some of their graduate’s theses, which gives an idea of the breadth of research.
The Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs lists member and associate member LS programs across North America.
Confluence: the journal of Graduate Liberal Studies (also see their blog) is the biannual journal of Liberal Studies. For more information, or to subscribe, contact Managing Editor Jerry Jerman, University of Oklahoma, 1700 Asp Avenue, Norman, OK 73072; telephone 405-325-1254; email jjerman@ou.edu.
Wesleyan University produced this video, which gives a feel for the Graduate Liberal Studies experience.
And, if you are an undergrad, or in high school and considering a liberal arts type of education, a couple of colleges are worth investigating, REED in Portland, Oregon, the other in Squamish, a small town an hour’s drive north of Vancouver, BC, called QUEST. Both offer unique, challenging, interdisciplinary programs which may then lead you to a MALS/MLS down the road.
