M.A. Liberal Studies Electives

Students design and/or select their electives through a combination of individualized electives, scheduled electives, transfer credit or cross registration.

Individualized electives are those in which students work one-to-one with a faculty member in their field. These electives are designed during the process of planning the degree program in Perspective on Interdisciplinary Study and tend to focus on a specific area of inquiry. Students interact regularly with a course instructor through face-to-face meetings, the phone and/or email. These electives are an opportunity to delve deeply into a specific topic, to work closely with a faculty member and scholar, and to develop habits of close reading and in-depth analysis.

Scheduled electives are offered each semester through a combination of face-to-face workshops and online interaction. Typically, scheduled electives are structured around a broad theme: creativity, concepts of time and space, the role of culture, gender and sexuality, multiculturalism, social change. Scheduled electives begin with shared readings and assignments. Each student then designs an individual project in a focused area relevant both to the general theme and the student’s degree program.

Up to 9 transfer credits from previous graduate work can be included in the degree program. These credits must be directly relevant to the student’s degree program. (Please see the Transfer Credit Policy located elsewhere in this catalog.)

Students are permitted to cross-register for courses at another graduate program. This allows students to draw on local academic networks, engage with a local scholarly community, and access local facilities. These opportunities are often particularly important for the technical aspects of a student’s degree program such as video production, photographic technique or lab science.