ARCHIVED 2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Liberal Studies
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Program Coordinator: Dr. Richard R. Guzman
Mission Statement
The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies provides students with a broad, integrative and interdisciplinary vision of the most important issues of modern culture. Students will be able to communicate with more precision, grace and power, and to think and lead more creatively and critically at work and in their communities.
The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) brings North Central College’s deep commitment to interdisciplinary learning up to the intensity and maturity of graduate studies. The program has been one of the most respected in the nation, twice hosting the international conference of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs.
Within the MALS degree are two interrelated programs:
- The Writing, Editing, and Publishing Program
A unique combination of professional and creative writing, plus editorial and management skills, preparing individuals to write, edit and publish in today’s wide-open writing environment.
- The Culture and Society Program
A flexible master’s program allowing students to combine MALS courses to create a coherent curriculum specifically tailored to their needs and interests
Core Values: All three programs are committed to writing and communicating with grace, power, and precision; thinking critically, creatively and ethically; combining knowledge from many disciplines to gain a more holistic view of crucial issues; and bringing social change that betters family, work and community.
Students and Professors: The three programs in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies offer extraordinary personal attention and feature the college’s best teachers and scholars. They attract an extraordinarily diverse student body-teachers, artists, scientists, managers, administrators, marketers, community volunteers, health care professionals and leaders, or those who aspire to lead-from many walks of life and life circumstances. Students have also come to the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies to prepare for further graduate work in such areas as law, history, English and anthropology, or to advance careers in many areas such as business or education.
Requirements: Each program requires 33 credit hours, roughly ten courses and a concluding thesis or project. The programs share three common core courses ( MLS 506 - Ethics in Contexts , MLS 590 - Public Discourse and MLD 683 - Leadership for Social Change and Renewal ) which reflect values of central importance to the College: ethics, public engagement and social change.
Five-Year Option: Advanced undergraduates may apply for admission to the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies and, if accepted, begin taking graduate courses in their junior year. Up to 12 hours of graduate work may be taken as an undergraduate student. Six of these hours may count for both their undergraduate and graduate degrees. The other six hours are beyond the 120 required for the bachelor’s degree. After receiving their bachelor’s degree, students take an additional 21 hours of graduate work in their fifth year to complete the requirements for the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies.
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
MLS 506 - Ethics in Contexts 3.00 credit hours
A survey of normative theories of ethics (consequential, deontological, virtue and justice based), and their application to personal moral decision making and contemporary issues in public and professional contexts. Topics include: ethical pluralism, identifying ethical aspects of public policy and organizational issues and analysis of potential conflicts between civic, professional, religious and personal morality.
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MLS 510 - Changing Models of the Universe: Plato to Kepler 3.00 credit hours
An examination of the interdependence of religion, philosophy and scientific theories. Focus is on the cosmologies and physical theories of Plato, Ptolemy, Copernicus and Kepler, and how these led to radical changes in our concept of the structure, size and meaning of the universe. First of a three-course sequence on the nature and history of science (see MLS 610 and MLS 612 ).
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MLS 512 - Religion, Ritual and Symbol 3.00 credit hours
A cross-cultural examination of how religious beliefs and institutions, concepts of the magical and myths and rituals shape our view of reality. The course will survey some of the major ways our understanding of these things has evolved, focusing particularly on structural analysis of symbol systems.
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MLS 518 - Gender and Art 3.00 credit hours
The study and critique of feminist strategies for analyzing art and culture. The course explores how women have portrayed their experience in literature and the visual arts in comparison to how men have traditionally depicted their experience.
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MLS 530 - The City 3.00 credit hours
A comparative study of urban development and the nature and growth of urban populations in various parts of the world. The course also explores various images, theories and attitudes toward the city, and how these are related to ways we perceive the social problems arising with urban growth and propose solutions to them.
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MLS 534 - Gender in Public Life and the Professions: Literature, Theory and Practice 3.00 credit hours
Through a consideration of literature, theory and practice, this course will examine constructions of gender as they impact such issues as community, problem solving, leadership and organizational structure within a national and global setting. Literary texts will be read in conjunction with interdisciplinary readings drawn from such fields as the arts, business, education, law, medicine, communication, technology and social sciences.
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MLS 538 - Sport in a Multicultural World 3.00 credit hours
This course explores the function of sport in American society as utilized by various constituencies. It assumes an interdisciplinary format that draws from historical, sociological, anthropological and literary texts, as well as film analysis. Reading and class discussions will analyze the role of sport in the construction of culture, the nature of cultural change over time and the various meanings of sport among sub-cultures. Ethical questions, such as the role of sport in establishing, reinforcing or resisting dominant social values will be considered. This course aims to improve critical thinking and analytical skills by learning and applying theoretical frameworks. Students should develop a historical perspective on the construction of culture, and particularly, on the uses of sport in that process. Students should also gain an appreciation and respect for alternative cultures.
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MLS 540 - Writing Life Stories 3.00 credit hours
An innovative workshop course offering advanced practice in the creation of popular and/or literary autobiography and biography-based manuscripts. Students learn to transform and draft meaningful life stories into traditional and mixed-genre pieces suitable for publication or agenting. Particular emphasis will be given to market-ready creative nonfiction and literary journalism, memoir and travel writing, and may also include long-form poem cycles and personal essays.
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MLS 542 - Writing Fictions 3.00 credit hours
An innovative workshop course offering advanced practice in the creation of saleable literary fictions and meta-fictions. Via a variety of eclectic workshops students learn to transform and draft core story ideas into writer-selected, market-ready subgenres such as genre fiction, autobiographical novels, novellas, parables, fables, allegories and other experimental and/or cross-genre fictions.
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MLS 544 - Writing Performances 3.00 credit hours
An innovative workshop course offering advanced practice in writing for performance. Students learn to transform and adapt compelling nonfiction, fiction and poetic situations and scenarios into market-ready performance pieces such as plays, dramatic sketches, monologues, audio commentaries, lyrics, oral storytelling and spoken word poetry.
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MLS 550 - Ethics and Imagination 3.00 credit hours
A thematic introduction to roles played by the imagination in developing, sustaining and transforming morality. The course will approach critical thinking about the moral life from the dual perspectives of ethics and of arts such as literature, painting and film.
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MLS 555 - Professional and Grant Writing 3.00 credit hours
An advanced study of and practice of professional writing for various audiences, addressing style, structure and ethical considerations pertaining to a variety of document forms and publishing platforms. Special attention will be given to writing effective grant applications. Students may only receive credit for one of ENG 455, MLS 555 or MNM 551 .
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MLS 560 - Introduction to Public Policy and the Legal Process 3.00 credit hours
An introduction to the general history of public policy and the field of public policy studies, combined with an introduction to the legal history and legal processes required to create public policy. Sample cases may include public policy formation regarding justice, race, healthcare, housing and other important issues.
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MLS 562 - The U.S. Healthcare System and Patient Advocacy 3.00 credit hours
An examination of the various components of the U.S. healthcare system, both public and private, emphasizing the ways that healthcare in the United States is organized, delivered and financed. Special attention will be paid to moral issues as they relate to the healthcare system and to the practical implications of this discussion in advocating for patients and their families.
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MLS 564 - Ethics, Political Interest Groups and the Political Process 3.00 credit hours
A study of the rise of interest groups and their enormous effects on the American political system. The course explores the workings of various groups related to how they target potential members, lobby Congress and other governmental bodies and conduct campaigns to advance their interests. The ethical dilemmas of such activities, including the often corrosive effect of money and the often uneasy relationship of interest group activity and federal regulations, will also be a major concern.
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MLS 566 - Community Development: Planning, Housing and Social Justice 3.00 credit hours
An exploration of the role of place and social justice in community development, primarily in cities, and particularly as it relates to issues of housing and city planning.
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MLS 570 - Critical Thinking 3.00 credit hours
A study of various perspectives concerning critical thinking. In particular, the course will explore various relationships between creative and critical thinking with specific attention to what such relationships mean for the pursuit of truth, the development of writers and the methods teachers and others who lead can use to enhance critical and creative thinking in others.
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MLS 590 - Public Discourse 3.00 credit hours
A study of the many levels of public discourse, as well as a broad range of examples of public discussion past and present. The course seeks to foster a sense of public responsibility, and to enable students to understand ways their own interests and academic concerns may be brought effectively into the arena of public awareness, debate and action.
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MLS 599 - Independent Study 3.00 credit hours
Designed for students who want to do an introductory study of a topic not covered in a regular course.
Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent.
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MLS 610 - From Certainty to Chaos 3.00 credit hours
This course begins with Isaac Newton, whose brilliant ideas led scientists and philosophers to envision a time when all facts about the universe would be known and precisely based on mathematical knowledge. It then investigates how continuing work in theoretical mathematics, logic, computability and the new theory of chaos has seriously questioned this vision and placed severe limits on how broad and precise human knowledge can get.
Prerequisite(s): MLS 510 recommended.
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MLS 612 - Changing Concepts of the Earth and Its Life 3.00 credit hours
An investigation of the history of geology and evolutionary biology. The course begins with Darwin’s theory of adaptive evolution under uniform and regular geological conditions and ends with Gould’s theory of punctuated equilibrium acting under cyclically catastrophic geological conditions. The effects of an increasingly contingent view of our origin as a species will also be investigated.
Prerequisite(s): MLS 510 ; MLS 610 recommended.
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MLS 632 - Race, Ethnicity and the American Experience 3.00 credit hours
An analysis of how race, ethnicity and concepts about these have shaped the American experience. Focusing on selected groups from both minority populations and the “white” majority population, students will study how these groups have sought to define themselves against the larger backdrop of American culture and society. Social, historical and economic perspectives will be considered and supplemented by literature and analytical methods drawn from contemporary critical theory.
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MLS 634 - The “Third World” 3.00 credit hours
A study of literature, culture, politics and psychology aimed at understanding both the so-called “Third World’s” struggle for identity, as well as ways the West has imposed its political and cultural constructs upon this world.
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MLS 640 - Finding Markets 1.50 credit hours
A highly individualized and small-group course in which students not only gain an understanding of the wide spectrum of markets for a writer’s work, but also find specific markets for each student’s particular works.
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MLS 642 - Finalizing Manuscripts 1.50 credit hours
A highly individualized and small-group course in which students finish manuscripts by fine-tuning them in relationship not only to the norms of a genre and carious standards of submission, but also to the demands of the specific markets and outlets to which they will be submitting.
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MLS 648 - Social Consequences of New Media 3.00 credit hours
A study of the confluence of “new media” technology and its implications for profound social change, impacting everything from the way we raise our children to the way we conduct war. This course explores both the beneficial and detrimental aspects of new media, focusing especially on solutions to probable detrimental effects before long term trends set in.
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MLS 660 - Natural Resources and Environmental Economics 3.00 credit hours
An examination of the shortcomings of the market system and the impact of economic activity on the environment, focusing on the application and use of economic instruments in improving environmental quality. Other topics covered include the valuation of environmental resources and prospects for sustainable development, plus traditional regulation of the U.S. economy, including command and control policies.
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MLS 680 - Justice, Care and Community 3.00 credit hours
A critical investigation of contemporary debates over the moral basis of justice between advocates of liberalism, communitarianism and feminist ethics. The course focuses on ways in which these different perspectives produce alternative responses to topics in distributive and retributive justice, as well as the notion of justice-based community itself.
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MLS 692 - Special Topics 3.00 credit hours
Topics will vary depending on faculty and student interests. Topics and prerequisites will be announced in advance. May be taken more than once with different content.
Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent.
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MLS 693 - Independent Study 3.00 credit hours
Designed for students who want to do advance study of a topic previously covered in a regular course but not offered in another course.
Prerequisite(s): Instructor consent.
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MLS 695 - Master’s Project 3.00 credit hours
Prerequisite(s): Students typically must have completed at least one course in each theme area, one elective and one capstone course. Before registering, students must also complete a proposal essay and obtain signatures from their faculty director and second reader attesting approval of the proposal.
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MLS 696 - Master’s Thesis 3.00 credit hours
Prerequisite(s): Students must have completed at least one course in each theme area, one elective and one capstone course. Before registering, students must also complete a proposal essay and obtain signatures form their faculty director and second reader attesting approval of the proposal.
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MLS 697 - Internship 1.00-3.00 credit hours
The course provides students with practical experience by applying liberal studies concepts and technical skills learned in the classroom. This course may be repeated for credit for up to three credit hours.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of a minimum of nine credit hours of graduate coursework in the subject, approval of the MLS Program Coordinator and Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies.
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