Scope of the Program - The College of Liberal Arts offers a broad and comprehensive course of study including most areas of knowledge in the humanities, the fine and performing arts, mathematics, and the biological, physical, and social sciences.

Founded in 1848 with four professors, the College of Liberal Arts is the oldest and largest division of the university. Students seeking a general education may acquire intellectual and civic competence; lay the broad foundation needed for specialized training in law, medicine, theology, and other professional fields; and prepare themselves for advanced study, research, and teaching in the humanities, fine arts, mathematics, and sciences.

All degrees in the College of Liberal Arts include required course work in the natural sciences, social sciences, mathematics, humanities, and fine and performing arts, while permitting some liberty in the selection of courses within these areas. In these courses, the student is introduced to the fundamentals of scholarship in the main branches of knowledge, is provided with an orientation that may help identify a field of knowledge that attracts the student’s interest, and prepares a foundation to support scholarship in his or her chosen field.