MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN 
It is no secret that
American higher education is in a period of profound change. Indeed, the School of Liberal Arts is taking
steps to improve educational quality by clarifying our academic priorities and
finding more effective ways of meeting them.
The key to our approach is to shift the focus away from what
our instructors teach and toward what our students learn. First, most
academic programs in the School have developed ambitious, specific and
clearly stated goals for student learning. If you are interested in
seeing the goals for the field in which you majored, go to the School of Liberal Arts website and click on specific programs and
then Learning Outcomes.
Second, faculty members
are gathering evidence about how well their students have achieved these
learning goals. In addition, we will continue to seek feedback from our
alumni about the knowledge, skills and values they acquired at Saint
Mary’s.
Third, faculty are helping their advisees plan a course of
study that will not merely satisfy specific course requirements but also
will allow them to demonstrate their mastery of the required subject
matter and intellectual skills. This kind of advising promotes
self-directed learning. The students' attention shifts from meeting the
expectations of instructors in separate courses to shaping the
trajectory of their entire education.
Taken together, these
steps foster an environment of critical reflection about effective
teaching. Our faculty are exploring creative new learning experiences,
experimenting with new teaching technologies and developing new ways of
bridging disciplinary boundaries, both in and out of the classroom.
Assessment of student learning helps to ascertain their success and to
develop strategies for educational improvement. And the more effective
our teaching practices become, the more likely our students are to
succeed academically.
Assessment also insures accountability; it allows us to back
up our claims about how well we educate our students. We have a
professional duty to find out what works in our classrooms and what does
not. We owe it to prospective students, their parents and our
supporters.
In making these
important changes, our fidelity to the perennial goals of a liberal arts
education has not wavered. The practices of shared inquiry and
collaborative learning for which we have long been admired remain
central features of the classroom. (Ninety-one percent of our seniors
report that they regularly challenge their professors' ideas in class!)
We continue to value multiple ways of knowing, the acquisition of
greater self-awareness and sound judgment, and an education that
stresses the essential unity of knowledge. Our learning objectives are
also informed by the Catholic intellectual tradition, which inspires us
to learn together, use our intellectual gifts to deepen our
understanding of faith and reason, and be open to all truth.
Steve Woolpert
Dean of Liberal Arts
Professor of Politics |