Liberal Studies
Overview
Program of Study
Curriculum
Course Descriptions
The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies is centered in a philosophical tradition that acknowledges the dignity of thought and the passion for knowledge and for life. When studied deeply, the liberal arts are essentially one and reveal the hidden, coherent patterns of meaning in our shared experience. The liberal arts order the intellect, engage the heart, quicken the creative impulse and awaken the spirit anew to the fullness of the possible in this place and time. Liberal learning transcends the limitations of our complex and fragmented-world, yet roots us in our humanity. Education in the liberal arts is a way to embrace the wholeness of life.
The Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies at Notre Dame is a contemporary expression of our timeless commitment to the principle that education in the liberal arts is the most necessary and perfect education. We know that the persons we become, the way we think and live are matters of extraordinary, even eternal consequence. The liberal arts invite us to a life of decisive and creative commitment.
There is a difference, said Augustine, between living and living wisely. The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at Notre Dame is about that difference.
Program of Study
The program of study leading to the Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies requires the completion of a minimum of 33 credits of graduate course work. A core course, IDS-500: The Human Spirit and the Liberal Arts, introduces the spirit and philosophy of the program. From many perspectives in the liberal arts, students confront and explore the enduring questions and dilemmas of the human condition: What does it mean to be human? What should we live for? What is our relation to the physical and spiritual universe? What are our responsibilities to self, others and God? How can we know what is true, what is good, what is beautiful? How do we explain the enduring vitality of human civilization in the presence of countervailing forces? These core questions provide the theme for the Liberal Studies program: the creative quest for meaning.
Following the core course, students select courses from the disciplines of literature, classical studies, philosophy, religion, history, natural and social sciences, and the fine arts. Classics and Latin courses are also accepted as electives in the program. Specially designated seminars and elective courses enliven and enrich the intellectual inquiry with speculative and imaginative authority. Students conclude their programs by completing either the Master's Project or the Master's Thesis. Careful academic advising insures that the plan of study is coherent and responsive to the needs of each learner.
Normally, a maximum of six graduate credits in the liberal arts may be transferred from other ac-credited institutions, with approval from the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. Through a cooperative program with Loyola University, however, students in the Liberal Studies program at Notre Dame may elect to transfer up to 9 credits (three courses) from the Master of Liberal Studies degree program at Loyola. Courses taken in the Loyola program qualify as electives in Notre Dame's Liberal Studies program. The use of this cooperative program is at the discretion of each student. In all cases, a minimum of 21 credits must be completed at Notre Dame.
All of the requirements for the Liberal Studies degree must be fulfilled within seven years from the date of matriculation. Most students, however, will need less time to earn the master of arts degree through part-time study. Most courses are scheduled on Saturdays for the convenience of students with work and family responsibilities during the week. Some courses are offered in the evening.
Curriculum (33 Credits)
Central Core (12 Credits)
IDS-500 The Human Spirit and the Liberal Arts (3)
Seminars
Students choose three seminars, each one from a different liberal arts discipline. (9)
Seminars are offered in the following areas: art, classical studies, history, literature, philosophy, religious studies, science and social science. Seminar topics in each area will rotate according to the interests of students and faculty. However, the format and requirements of all seminars will remain relatively uniform: each seminar will introduce students to the research methods and sources of the specified discipline, and students will produce and present a research paper appropriate to the discipline.
Electives (15-18 Credits)
Students take five or six courses to fulfill their electives. The number of electives depends upon whether the student chooses a culminating experience of 3 or 6 credits. Courses designated as seminars may be applied as elective credits once the student has completed the three required seminars. Students who are certified teachers and students seeking teacher certification may, with the written permission of the Liberal Studies program chair, take two education courses (6 credits) as elective courses in the program.
Concluding Experience (3 or 6 Credits)
The following courses are options for completing the concluding experience requirement of the Liberal Studies program; only one of these courses may be taken as part of the program.
IDS-598 Master's Project (3)
IDS-599 Master's Thesis (6)
Concentrations
Students have the option of concentrating in one of the following areas: 1) literary studies; 2) historical and cultural studies; 3) philosophical and religious studies. A concentration consists of 12 credits (four courses). One of the four courses must be a formal seminar in the area of concentration (which may also be counted as one of the three seminars required for completion of the program). The student's concluding experience must also be related to the concentration. In addition, students take at least two electives in the concentration. (Note: If a student chooses to do a 6-credit thesis for the concluding experience, then the total credits for the concentration will be 15.)
*Please note that Notre Dame will attempt to offer a sufficient number of courses over a three-year period to enable students to complete a concentration. However, the University cannot guarantee that all such courses will be sufficiently enrolled to run.
Course Descriptions
ART-511 EXPLORATIONS IN WESTERN ART
Investigates and analyzes selected topics in Western art from
diverse periods in a seminar format that emphasizes class
presentations and discussions. Students may examine propaganda in
art, innovations in modern painting, criticism and art, art
patronage, modern arts and iconography, and communicating the
revolutionary fervor of the 19th century. May be taken for credit
more than once as the topics vary. [3 credits]
ART-512 EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICAN ART
Investigates and analyzes selected topics in American art and
architecture from Colonial America and the United States in a
seminar format that emphasizes class presentations and discussions.
Particular attention is given to nearby monuments that reflect
American interpretations of earlier styles and to local collections
of American art, including the Baltimore Museum of American Art and
the Maryland Historical Society. Students may examine the American
spirit in art and American political messages in art and
architecture. May be taken for credit more than once as topics vary.
[3 credits]
ART-515 EXPLORATIONS OF WOMEN IN ART
Focuses upon the significant contributions of women artists to the
history of art and the traditional duality of gender. Emphasis will
vary in different sessions; some may focus primarily on topics
applicable to art made by women of the 19th or 20th
centuries, while others may address topics related to feminism in
European and Asian traditions, women as subjects in art, and/or
women as artists. The seminar format will emphasize class
presentations and discussions. Students will also examine artwork in
local collections, particularly the National Museum of Women in the
Arts, in Washington, D.C. May be taken for credit more than once as
topics vary. [3 credits]
BIO-520 BEYOND THE HEADLINES: HOW WE UNDERSTAND THE HUMAN BODY
Over the past hundred years, biologists have employed an increasing
number of research strategies to understand the functioning of the
human body. This course will develop an understanding of approaches
to biological research in the context of several health-related
issues, will explore why few biological questions produce definitive
answers, and will examine some of the ensuing consequences when
policy decisions are based on scientific research. The methods of
biological research will include epidemiology, biochemistry,
molecular biology, nutritional analysis, microbiology, genetics
(including the Human Genome Project), animal modeling, and
ecological modeling. No prior scientific experience necessary.
[3 credits]
ENG-511 TOPICS IN LITERATURE
Explores in depth a significant author, literary period, literary
movement or literary genre. This course may be taken more than once
on different subjects. [3 credits]
ENG-532 COMEDY IN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
Examines the varieties, uses, and implications of comedy, viewing it
simultaneously as a social skill, an art of communication, and a
form of literature. Illustrates and analyzes the role of humor in
social rituals, in persuasion, in interpersonal behavior, in
community building, in ethics and decision making , and in the
pursuit of happiness, exploring the dynamic relationship in art and
life between rejection and acceptance, judgment and celebration, and
repression and liberation. [3 credits]
ENG-535 POSTMODERN FICTION
Introduces the student to the literature of our contemporary world
and explores through language the nature of language, of
self-consciously drawing attention to itself as an artifice to pose
questions about the nature of existence in a world constructed in
words. In examining whether language can reflect a coherent,
meaningful, objective world, the novelists explored in the course
allow us to travel with them in searching for meaning in the
imaginative life. Writers may include A.S. Byatt, Kate Atkinson,
Patricia Duncker, John Fowles and Thomas Pynchon. [3 credits]
ENG-541 DRAMA AND ITS WISDOM
Explores the philosophic nature of the art of drama. Through
Nietzsche's thinking in Birth of Tragedy and Good and Evil, drama is
examined in Greek tragedy with Euripides, Shakespeare's tragedies in
the Renaissance, O'Neill's dark plays in the modern world and
contemporary works of playwrights like Ed Bond. Horace's Ars Poetica tells us drama must "instruct and delight." In this course both the
joy and the illumination of the plays take center stage. [3 credits]
ENG-547 "NEW WOMAN" LITERATURE
Explores selections from the fiction, periodical journalism, and
drama of the Victorian period, including George Gissing's novel The
Odd Women, essays by Sarah Grand and others, and plays such as
Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession. Examines the "Woman Question" of
late 19th-century England and identifies its main issues,
e.g., the "nature" of women, women's roles and responsibilities,
independence and its social effects, education, sexual relations,
and gender differences. [3 credits]
ENG-551 LITERARY UTOPIAS
Analyzes pervasive themes and common concerns in utopian and
dystopian visions of different times, starting with the
genre-creating Renaissance classic, Thomas More's Utopia, and moving
through the "nowheres" of 19th and 20th century writers like Butler,
Bellamy, Zamiatin, LeGuin, and Piercy. Students trace political,
philosophical, and scientific concepts underlying these imagined
worlds, linking the concepts to theories of human nature on which
they are based. Individual reports enhance seminar-style discussion.
[3 credits]
HIS-511 TOPICS IN HISTORY
Explores in-depth a discrete historical event, period, historical
subfield, or the work of a particular historian or group of
historians. Students may take the course more than once on different
subjects. [3 credits]
HIS-515 DAUGHTERS OF COLUMBIA: AMERICAN WOMEN IN HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Examines historical experiences of women from colonial period to
contemporary society and assesses the ways race, class, gender,
ethnicity, region, and age affected those experiences. Students can
expect also to study the historiography of U. S. women's history and
how that has changed over time. They will also use both primary and
secondary sources in writing a research paper. [3 credits]
HIS-525 TELLING HISTORY: PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Asks the question: How does one tell the historical story? Examines
the so-called "new narrative" through contemporary works of
historical literature and film, probing issues of evidence,
narration, and interpretation. Students write history. [3 credits]
HIS-543 CHINESE CIVILIZATION
Introduces students to Chinese civilization by means of original
sources. Focuses on literary, historical, and philosophical
writings; each is interesting in its own way, representative of a
major stage in the evolution of the culture, and powerful enough to
suggest its own environment. Explores questions that China has
asked of itself rather than those that the West has asked of China.
[3 credits]
HIS-558 LATIN AMERICAN THOUGHT AND CULTURE
Learn about Latin America by understanding its history, literature,
art and architecture from the time of the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas,
through the colonial and independence periods, to the present.
Original historic sources plus novels by contemporary Latin American
authors will shed light on the past and contemporary problems of our
southern neighbors. [3 credits]
IDS-500 THE HUMAN SPIRIT AND THE LIBERAL ARTS
Explores the human quest for meaning and significant aspects of the
human experience through study in the liberal arts disciplines of
literature, philosophy, religion, the social and natural sciences,
and the fine arts. In this multidisciplinary course, students
complete assigned readings and write analytic and reflective essays
for each class session. A research essay and an in-class final
examination are required. [3 credits]
IDS-544 MIND, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
Confronts the relationship between subjective interpretations of
such unique characteristics of the human experience as thinking,
reasoning, and awareness and the hard, analytical, biological
explanations of these processes. Students become more familiar with
the biological mechanisms of higher cognitive processes and evaluate
whether this model can reasonably account for the human experience.
The course also allows students to acquire experience at literature
research in the life-sciences. No previous experience in biology or
psychology is assumed. [3 credits]
IDS-547 THE CREATIVE SPIRIT
Addresses the definition and the demonstration of creativity. The
course considers what creativity is, how it is measured and
evaluated. It also considers the characteristics of the creative
person's personality, how such a person views work, and how he or
she produces it. Areas where creativity will be considered will be:
the workplace, the sciences, the arts, and literature. The course
also allows students to explore their own creativity, but neither
the presence nor absence of creativity is a prerequisite. [3
credits]
IDS-574 PSYCHE AND SPIRIT
Explores both the basic need to understand the mysteries of life and
the role of spiritual and moral values in ego development. Reviews
how personality theorists place spiritual development in the
description of maturity. Students are encouraged to challenge their
own traditional beliefs and faith systems in the light of personal
experience. [3 credits]
IDS-598 MASTER'S PROJECT
Offers the student an opportunity to produce, under the direction of
a faculty mentor, either a scholarly paper related to the liberal
arts or a creative work, such a novel, a play, or a portfolio of
paintings. The Master's Project is meant to integrate and build upon
previous work in the Liberal Studies program. [3 credits]
IDS-599 MASTER'S THESIS
Offers the student an opportunity to investigate, under the
direction of a faculty mentor, a specific question or issue of human
concern in the liberal arts and, thereby, to produce a research
paper using an acceptable research method and design. The Master's
Thesis is meant to integrate and build upon previous work in the
Liberal Studies program. [6 credits] Students register for this course twice. 3 credits each semester.
IDS-698 INDEPENDENT STUDY
Offers the student the opportunity to work independently, under
faculty supervision, in an approved area of study. The nature, scope
and design of the project to be completed, as well as a schedule of
prearranged meetings will be individually contracted between the
instructor and the student. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
and dean of Graduate Studies; obtain required form from Graduate
Studies office. This course may not be repeated for credit. [3
credits]
LCL-541 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY AND ITS INFLUENCE
Examines the major Greek and Roman myths and the impact they have
had on the post-classical world. Each student will trace a
particular myth or mythical theme through later literature, art or
music and share the research in a formal paper and an oral
presentation. Students will become acquainted with the ancient
literary sources of the myths and a variety of modern
interpretations. [3 credits]
LCO-511 WOMEN WRITERS OF EARLY MODERN EUROPE
Aims to recover the tradition of early Modern European women writers
and understand why women's writings were underrepresented for so
long in the literary canon. Students will read and discuss a variety
of selections from women writers in Italy, France, Spain and England
from 1450 to 1700. They will also examine the political, economic
and social forces that shaped women's writings during this period.
All readings will be in English. [3 credits]
LLT-511 TOPICS IN LATIN LITERATURE
Provides an in-depth study of a significant author, literary period
or genre in Roman literature. Students will read the texts in the
original Latin and examine related literary criticism. Offers
students the opportunity to acquire an extensive knowledge of
ancient texts and their interpretations in later ages. This course
may be taken more than once (on different subjects). [3
credits]
LLT-580 ASPECTS OF ROMAN CULTURE
Examines various aspects of Roman culture, including history,
private life, women in Roman society, archaeology and the influence
of Greek myth. A number of guest speakers and museum tours will
enhance the course. [3 credits]
LLT-587 THE FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
Examines events of the late Roman Republic and contrasts this period
with the stable reign of Trajan at the height of the Roman Empire.
Eyewitness accounts by Cicero, Caesar, Pompey and their
contemporaries and the correspondence between Trajan and Pliny will
be read in Latin and discussed. [3 credits]
PHL-511 TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY
Examines in-depth a significant philosophical topic. This course may
be taken more than once as long as the topic is not the same. [3
credits]
PHL-524 CRITICAL THEORIES OF RACE
Examines the concept of race and the phenomenon of racism in the
United States. Through an in-depth reading of several historical and
contemporary works, this seminar addresses issues such as: the
concept of race as both constructed and real, the politics of
racialized identity, theorizing multiple oppressions, white
privilege, and epistemologies of ignorance. [3 credits]
PHL-530 PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE
Engenders habits of critical and systematic thinking. Explores the
meaning of human nature through the study of historically
influential answers to the question: What are the essential
elements, characteristics, abilities, or experiences that make us
human? [3 credits]
PHL-543 PHILOSOPHY AND TRAGEDY
Develops a sound philosophical understanding of the concept of
tragedy and discusses the reality of tragedy in our time. Readings
include works by Plato, Aristotle, Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles,
Shakespeare, Hegel, Hume, Schopenhauer, Brecht, Max Scheler and
others. [3 credits]
PHY-550 COSMOS AND QUANTA
Examines the most recent ideas on the birth and ultimate fate of the
Universe from ancient myths to modern scientific theories. Students
will be able to appreciate how knowledge of the very small
dimensions can inform and illuminate knowledge of the very large.
Topics to be investigated include the Big Bang Theory, the
accelerating Universe, black holes, relativity, quantum, and
superstring theory. Students will be able to ascertain whether
science can answer fundamental questions such as whether there is a
purpose to the Universe and what is humanity's role in it. No prior
scientific experience necessary. [3 credits]
RST-511 TOPICS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Explores in-depth a significant author or topic in religious
studies. This course may be taken more than once on different
subjects. [3 credits]
RST-543 RELIGION AND SOCIETY
Presents contemporary approaches to religious social ethics in North
America, for example, Christian realism, Christian pacifism,
liberation theology, Catholic social thought, Jewish social ethics,
and Islamic social ethics. Explores the diverse ways these
approaches understand and evaluate issues related to war and peace
and economic justice. [3 credits]