ABOUT SIUC: College of Liberal Arts
Our College . Our Schools & Departments . Strong on Outreach . Strong on Technology . Strong on Innovation . Southern@150 . Giving Opportunities
Our College
Specializing in the fine
arts, humanities and social
sciences, Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s
College of
Liberal Arts builds effective communication skills, critical
thinking
and career success as part of its disciplinary and interdisciplinary
studies. Our graduate programs are nationally ranked and
provide students with rigorous
but individualized learning programs that value creativity, research and scholarship.
Our faculty practice the ancient art of blacksmithing, travel to foreign countries to study different cultures, break new ground in psychology, write and publish novels and poetry and assemble thoughtful museum displays, all while teaching students the skills needed to excel in their own careers.
Both undergraduate and graduate students can expect a wide variety of enriching activities that will train their minds to experience and interpret the world and its people in a thoughtful, scholarly way.
Those attending the College of Liberal Arts today are tomorrow’s designers, economists, historians and psychologists. You’ll find our graduates working in courtrooms, classrooms, archeological digs, theaters and governmental agencies. The flexibility of the college helps meet the objectives of instilling both knowledge and character in our graduates.
Our Schools & Departments
The College of Liberal Arts is the largest on the SIUC campus, offering students a myriad of opportunities to pursue bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. Our graduates become historians, archaeologists, economists, police officers, writers, artists, educators, paralegals and social scientists.
The School of Art & Design offers an all encompassing launching point for future fine, commercial, educational and industrial artists. The school offers BA, BFA and MFA degrees in a variety of areas, including art education and history, ceramics, communication design, drawing, glass, industrial design, metalsmithing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. The University Museum regularly showcases student art and design works.
The School of Music is based in Altgeld Hall, one of the University’s earliest buildings and one that recently underwent a handsome refurbishing. Along with the excellent musicians and technicians who comprise the school’s staff and faculty, you’ll find state-of-the-art rehearsal and recording studios, classrooms and equipment.
Our programs accommodate everyone from the accomplished, professional-bound musician to the novice guitar player. Our students play jazz, orchestral or chamber music. They study voice and opera. Some focus on one instrument, others learn several. Students train to be music teachers or partake in our acclaimed music business emphasis, which capitalizes on our proximity to the Music City, Nashville, Tenn., just a few hours south.
We offer programs in
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Our programs are enriched by other affiliated organizations, including
- Center for Dewey Studies
- Center for Archeological Investigations
- Center for the Study of Crime, Delinquency and Corrections
- University Museum
- University Council on Water Research
- Marion Kleinau Theatre
- McLeod Theater
- Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra
among others.
Strong on Outreach
The Center for Archaeological
Investigations invites residents to study and work at digs in Southern Illinois.
It also carries out a wide variety of archaeological work
for the
Illinois Department of Transportation and curates a huge
collection
of Native American artifacts and remains in conformity with
federal
regulations.
Faculty from the history department and School of Architecture collaborate on Preservation Summer, which affords residents practical experience in carrying out historical research related to Southern Illinois.
The political science department holds the Morton-Kenney lectures on topics of current political interest, and the economics department opens its Vandeveer Chair lectures to the public. Speech communication students serve the region through the Pyramid PR Agency.
The
School of Music makes more than 90 visits per year to
Illinois
schools and hosts the annual Music in
Motion marching band
competition. Other programs provide musical education to
elementary
school children.
School of Art & Design students and faculty take the Glass Mobile studio to public venues to demonstrate glass blowing and provide Saturday art workshops for elementary children.
The theater department helps with the annual production of a play featuring talented high school and college students and takes its Theater-to-Go to high schools in need of technical help with their play productions.
Strong on Technology
Computers enhance every facet of daily life, and students at SIUC’s College of Liberal Arts will achieve a great level of comfort using this tool.
Instructors post course materials on Web sites and students will complete some assignments totally within cyberspace. Each department has its own computer lab and the Computer-Assisted Instruction and Research Laboratory and the New Media Center provide the equipment and instruction students need to complete multimedia projects. Moreover, the facilities lift students to a higher level of proficiency and confidence in computer operations.
Our music, art and design studios feature the latest technology and McLeod Theater, a main venue for our theater department, is constantly experimenting with set design, sound and lighting. Our renowned metalsmithing and ceramics programs take age-old technology to new limits. Students will leave SIUC confident they are ready for any professional technology environment.
Strong on Innovation
Curriculum 21 offers voluntary enrichment for ambitious undergraduate majors in good standing. Students tailor their academic experience to meet four of six intellectual objectives. The individual plan of study may include
- pursuing independent research
- completing reading lists
- experiencing different cultures
- performing or participating in artistic events
This voluntary program challenges students academically and artistically while they pursue their degrees.
It is important for students to grapple with studies that stretch their capacities. Students are urged to take courses and seek experiences that address their academic needs and to explore studies and activities that may be initially unfamiliar, difficult or intimidating, and they will be encouraged to measure success by the academic and personal gains they make, rather than by the grade point averages they achieve.
Southern@150
Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment,
the blueprint for the long-range growth of SIUC specifies
aspirations on which our college continues to build. These
include:
- Support and foster Faculty Excellence
- The college has filled the fully endowed Vandeveer Chair and secured endowments to establish the Frank L. Klingberg Professorship in International Relations. New endowments support the Brent Kington Chair of Blacksmithing and faculty and student development in Art History.
- Recruit and Retain High Quality Faculty
- Between the fall of 2004 and fall 2006, the college welcomed 13 African-American and Hispanic faculty and 13 international faculty.
- Be responsive to students
- New endowments support student research, including the Howard Webb Graduate Student Scholarship Award in English, the David and Carol Christensen Undergraduate Research Award in Geography or Political Science, and the Carl Lutes Student Excellence Awards in Music and English.
Giving Opportunities
There are many ways to support the College of Liberal Arts and a variety of levels of commitment. Donors may contribute to:
- Endowed chairs, professorships, and faculty fellowships
- Endowed and general scholarships
- Centers and facilities
- Gifts in kind of equipment and services
Contact our College Development Office at
618/453-2466.
Opportunity
through Excellence - College of Liberal Arts
For general information about the
College
of Liberal Arts: 618/453-2466
Visit us on the web: http://www.siu.edu/~cola