The Liberal Arts
The College of Arts and Letters provides students with a classic liberal arts education.
The education students receive through the College is liberal, notes John T. McGreevy, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College and a professor of history, precisely because it does not claim to train students for any single career or profession—but instead for a way of life.
“This liberal education is also precious,” he says, “because it provides students the opportunity to reflect upon great moral and intellectual questions; to develop interpretive, writing, and speaking skills; and to relish the humane pleasure that comes from close study of art works, texts, and problem sets.”
Adds former dean Mark Roche, “Such an education helps students to develop formal skills that will allow them to flourish, whatever career paths they might choose or life choices they might make over time; indeed, many of the skills they develop will reveal their significance only later in life.”
As Roche, the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Professor of German Language and Literature and concurrent professor of philosophy, writes in his latest book, Why Choose the Liberal Arts?, “a great liberal arts education brings forward not only smart and knowledgeable persons but also good persons with a sense of mission.”
Watch this video about the value of a liberal arts education:
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Liberal Arts at Notre Dame
Arts and Letters News
History Major Explores Work of Missionaries in Colonial Peru
It is widely known that Spanish missionaries played a significant role in introducing Catholicism to the peoples of the Andes throughout the colonial period. Notre Dame senior history major Joseph VanderZee traveled to archives in Lima and Rome to dig a little deeper and find out what these early missionaries thought of the indigenous population—and how their attitudes affected the development of the Peruvian Church. Read More >
Theologian Gary Anderson Elected to American Academy of Jewish Research
Gary Anderson, Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Notre Dame, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Jewish Research (AAJR). The AAJR is the oldest organization of Judaic scholars in North America, and fellows are nominated and elected by their peers. The group has approximately 100 members in the United States—and Anderson is one of a select few who are not Jewish. Read More >
Solving a Fascinating Puzzle
Robert Goulding, an associate professor in the University of Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies, was recently awarded a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) to support a research project that combines mathematics, philosophy, and Renaissance science. Goulding, who also teaches in the History and Philosophy of Science graduate program, says his work focuses on English scientist and mathematician Thomas Harriot (1560–1621), whom he calls “a really unusual figure” in intellectual history. Read More >
Microfinance Yields Mixed Results in Thailand, Economist Joseph Kaboski Finds
Large-scale microfinance programs are widely used as a tool to fight poverty in developing countries, but a recent study by University of Notre Dame economist Joseph Kaboski and MIT colleague Robert Townsend suggests that microfinancing can have varying results for participants and may not be the most cost-effective use of funds for many situations. The study was published in a recent issue of Econometrica. Kaboski and Townsend used the Thai Million Baht Village Fund, one of the largest government microfinance initiatives of its kind, to evaluate and understand the benefits and disadvantages of microfinance interventions. Read More >
