The Academic Program: The Centerpiece of the Franklin & Marshall Experience
Liberal arts colleges have much in common, yet each has its own particular academic program crafted by its faculty.
As I explain the basic components of the Franklin & Marshall, try to resist thinking of it as a list to check off as each item is completed. Instead, think of experiencing the curriculum as the making of a mosaic.
The two basic components that help to anchor the entire composition are general education and the more specialized major and minor programs. The finished creation of a student will not replicate that of another, yet there are certain elements in common.
Our general education program is both traditional and innovative, and it begins with our Foundations program.
Our faculty developed the Foundations courses so that students would have the opportunity to see how a liberal arts education can be used to approach some of the big questions like, what is "the good life"? Or what is community and what holds it together?
Each of these Foundations courses is interdisciplinary, so in a single Foundations course students are exposed to many academic disciplines. At the same time they are learning how to sort through complementary and often competing solutions to questions, essential skills for life in a free society.
In addition to the innovative Foundations courses, students experience a broad range of courses in the traditional areas of liberal arts through the Distribution Requirement.
In their junior and senior years, students focus on completing a major. Its purpose is to acquaint students with what is involved in being a qualified expert, and what methodologies experts in a particular field must master. Many upper-level courses involve opportunities for collaborative work with other students and faculty.
The broad academic experience we insist upon at Franklin & Marshall College provides opportunities for students to find their calling. Likewise, students will discover their limits. Each course is an opportunity for exploration. When it works the way it is intended, a liberal arts education can be a transformative process.
It is our hope that experiencing the academic program will be both an education and a journey in self-discovery.
Ann Steiner
Provost and Dean of the Faculty
Shirley Watkins Steinman Professor of Classics
