Students will examine how family and community dynamics affect the development of individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds and life experiences. Through fieldwork, program evaluation, and service learning, students become prepared to work with children, youth, families, and elders in education or social service programs.

The Mission of the Liberal Studies Department is

• to provide instruction and opportunities that prepare students for future careers, for life-long learning, and for becoming well-educated individuals.
• to lead the collaboration with other departments, programs, and institutions, on and off campus.
• to provide a broad-based, interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum to students.
• to develop action-oriented students who successfully advocate for multiculturalism, multicultural education, pluralism, diversity, and social and ecological justice.
• to foster students' skills in ethical reflection and critical thinking and in considering the contexts of histories, families, cultures, and communities in their interactions and practice with children, adults, and institutions and ecological systems.