Undergraduate Programs
The School of Liberal Arts offers a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree, a Bachelor of Science in American Sign Language degree, a two-year Associate of Arts degree, and a variety of structured minors and certificate programs for students pursuing Liberal Arts or other degrees. At the heart of the school’s programs are the following:
Statement of Goals
Graduates of the School of Liberal Arts should exemplify the ideals of a liberal arts education and the University’s “Principles of Undergraduate Learning.” (For a full definition of these Principles see http://www.iport.iupui.edu/selfstudy/tl/puls/)
They should be broadly educated across the disciplines and well trained in a particular major. They should have: (1) proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking skills; (2) competence in quantitative, language, and analytic skills; (3) a broad-based experience in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences; and (4) a major area of study. Although faculty and counselors are available to help students acquire these proficiencies and attitudes, learning must be self-motivated. To be taught, one must first be interested in learning. A liberal arts education, therefore, is the responsibility of the individual student.
By graduation, a Liberal Arts education should have provided the opportunity for a student to attain the IUPUI “Principles of Undergraduate Learning,” which are:
- Core Communication and Quantitative Skills: The ability of students to express and interpret information, perform quantitative analysis, and use information resources and technology—the foundational skills necessary for all IUPUI students to succeed.
- Critical Thinking: The ability of students to engage in a process of disciplined thinking that informs beliefs and actions. Students who demonstrate critical thinking apply the process of disciplined thinking by remaining open-minded, reconsidering previous beliefs and actions, and adjusting their thinking, beliefs, and actions based on new information.
- Integration and Application of Knowledge: The ability of students to use information and concepts from studies in multiple disciplines in their intellectual, professional, and community lives.
- Intellectual Depth, Breadth, and Adaptiveness: The ability of students to examine and organize disciplinary ways of knowing and to apply them to specific issues and problems.
- Understanding Society and Culture: The ability of students to recognize their own cultural traditions and to understand and appreciate the diversity of the human experience.
- Values and Ethics: The ability of students to make sound decisions with respect to individual conduct, citizenship, and aesthetics.