Introduction to Liberal Arts is the central course of your academic experience at Monmouth College.  As the title indicates, it's designed to introduce you to the liberal arts, the content and skills you need to have liberal arts education, and integrate you into the academic life of our community of learners.

Over the last few years the ILA faculty has developed a theme to facilitate this introduction, Exemplary Lives.  Throughout the course, we will examine how individuals and groups have discovered and defined meaning in their lives and the lives of others through the choices that they have made.  This broad topic will allow us to explore a wide variety of topics—including how human beings form identities, how we come to know and understand the world, notions of what has value, what consequences our actions and choices have and how we might think about our life’s journey in the context of other’s life’s journeys. 

The theme will not be the only strand structuring the course.  We will also use five different genre from different liberal arts divisions to provide a broad view of the types of books you will read over the next four years and to help you begin to make connections across those academic divisions.  We will begin with an autobiography of Illinois Senator Barack Obama, then read a biography of Jazz icon Billie Holiday, next explore Robert Kennedy's memoir of the Cuban missile crisis, , then examine several case studies of people examined by psychiatrist Oliver Sacks, and finally study a coming-of-age novel by Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Dangarembga.  As you can tell by this diverse list, we will explore a wide variety of issues and texts, but we will also continually strive to make connections among these texts and to relate them to your own lives, values, and choices.

The faculty have agreed on six primary goals of the course:

• Engage in the practice of reading, in order to see books as sources of pleasure as well as knowledge.

• Engage in an effective critical thinking process;

• Utilize an effective writing process;
• Demonstrate proficient oral engagement and active listening skills;
• Explain the distinctiveness and value of a liberal arts education;
• Argue for qualities of an “exemplary life.” 

I have six other goals which I believe are equally important (and sometimes cross over with the official goals:

• understand how different values/criteria lead you to draw different conclusions

• compare and contrast how different disciplines/divisions organize, think about, and conceptualize knowledge

• connect this course with the rest of the curriculum, especially other integrated studies courses

• integrate into the academic community of Monmouth College

• connect the material we explore to your own lives

• value learning for the sake of learning

Attendance Policy

Your participation in this course is essential, and as a result, so is attendance.  You are expected to attend every class meeting and each required conference.  After the third unexcused absence, you will automatically fail the class.  Excused absences include illnesses, official college events, and funerals. You must provide documentation in order for an absence to be excused--a personal  e-mail is not sufficient.  If you plan to be absent, tell me beforehand, so you can submit work ahead of time.  I do not accept late work.  Peer review absences result in severe penalties for essay grades (see assignments). When I cancel class to hold student conferences, a missed conference equals one absence. If you are late for a quiz, you may not make it up.