Culture and Society, MALS

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The Culture and Society Program is the most flexible of the options in The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, allowing students to most freely combine courses from anywhere in the MALS catalog to create a coherent curriculum specifically tailored to their needs and interests, whether on the job, or in their families and communities. In addition, students have created focused programs to prepare them for further graduate studies in such subjects as law, history, English, and anthropology. Historically, MALS courses have been combined to form strong concentrations not only in these subjects, as well as the two other formal programs described above, but also in areas such as multiculturalism and diversity, gender and women’s studies, history of science, and ethics-four areas represented below under Emphasis Courses. Examples of ways to create concentrations are given in the Elective Courses section below.

Common Core (9 hours)

Emphasis Courses (9 hours)

1. Any course from the “History of Science” sequence

2. Any two of the following:

Project or Thesis (3 hours)

Elective Courses (12 hours)

Any MLS course is allowed, though students are expected to work with the MALS program coordinator, MALS faculty, and graduate programs staff to construct a coherent program focused on an area most suited to their needs and interests. For example, students interested in history might take the entire “History of Science” sequence, as well as such history-based courses as MLS 530 - The City , long a popular, signature course in MALS. Students may choose to focus on issues of diversity and multiculturalism by taking all such courses under the Emphasis Courses section above (MLS 512 , MLS 538 , MLS 632 , MLS 634 ). They may choose to focus on ethics by taking MLS 550 - Ethics and Imagination and choosing from the list of Emphasis and Elective courses in the Ethics and Public Service Program above, including MLS 564 - Ethics, Political Interest Groups & the Political Process , and MLS 660 Natural Resources and Environmental Economics. Students are also strongly urged to look at the emphasis courses in the other programs within MALS either as a way to further focus or to add necessary skills or further breadth to their studies. For example, the importance of writing and media suggests serious consideration of the emphasis courses in the Writing, Editing, and Publishing Program, including MLS 648 - Social Consequences of New Media . Though the program cannot be all things to all people, it has served a very wide set of interests in the past.

Independent Study (MLS 599 or MLS 693 ) is also a strong option for those wishing even more focus to prepare, for example, for applying to a Ph.D. program in a specific subject such as English.

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