How F&M Does the Liberal Arts
What Does Liberal Arts Mean?
A liberal arts education focuses on exploring a wide range of fields while building
critical skills in reading, writing, thinking, analyzing, debating, and active listening.
While this concept dates back centuries, the liberal arts have evolved alongside humanity,
inspiring investigation into the eternal human condition and our collective future.
That future is here, and F&M is made for this moment. Industries, sectors, and cultures are shifting faster than ever, and cutting-edge technological innovations like generative AI are poised to handle many entry-level duties. Top-tier employers are increasingly seeking college graduates with the skills and perspectives that only a liberal arts degree can offer. That’s why human-centered thinking has become indispensable now more than ever. This is the enduring hallmark of an F&M education.
Your First Steps
You'll be set up for success from the start, whether you know exactly what you want to study or are eager to explore your options.
- It all begins with a constructive dialogue course that explores key concepts from psychology scholars to explain where our differing beliefs, worldviews, and values originate, and helps you learn how to communicate and collaborate with people who hold opposing points of view.
- On Day 1, your first-year Connections Course gives you immediate access to F&M’s world-renowned faculty as you learn how to connect ideas across disciplines.
Your Unique Journey
You’ll have your choice of opportunities at F&M — in and out of the classroom. You will:
- Learn from multiple fields of study and experts.
- Develop your abilities to communicate effectively, resolve conflict, and achieve mutual understanding.
- Engage in hands-on research and experiences to solve real-world problems.
Your World-Ready Skills
Coming to F&M means you'll hone the skills in high demand among top employers and graduate programs:
- situational awareness
- strategic thinking
- constructive discourse
- consensus-building
- interdisciplinary collaboration
- problem-solving
- conflict management
- ethics
- leadership
Take It From the Experts
According to the World Economic Forum, a cooperative that brings together leaders from politics, business, and education to address emerging global issues, the top five skills most desired by employers are those F&M emphasizes:
- Analytical thinking
- Resilience, flexibility and agility
- Leadership and social influence
- Creative thinking
- Motivation and self-awareness
At F&M, you have access to some of the best and most innovative minds in their fields.
Our small class sizes ensure you have direct access to professors who know your name
and will help you amplify your voice. This culture of engagement fuels creative collisions
across campus, making faculty-student collaboration a vital component of an F&M liberal
arts education. #7 Best Small College in the Northeast (Wall Street Journal) #35 National Liberal Arts Colleges (U.S. News & World Report) #24 Most Accessible Professors (Princeton Review) #33 Best Undergraduate Teaching (U.S. News & World Report)“I was immediately drawn to the encouragement to explore a multitude of disciplines
and create my own college experience at F&M.”
The F&M Advantage
The Core Elements of the Liberal Arts
At F&M, you’ll study the humanities, arts, social sciences, and sciences; engage in academic exploration and constructive discourse; grow in local and global community; and ultimately gain the confidence to own your influence and shape the world — starting now.
The Sciences
The sciences at F&M cross boundaries and weave subjects in unexpected ways. Step into the laboratory and find a place of discovery, a culture of collaboration, and world-class faculty eager to welcome you into their cutting-edge research.
Humanities
When you study humanities at F&M, you'll explore the ways people make sense of their lives through artistic, cultural and intellectual expression. You'll examine the range of human experience by studying languages, literature, philosophy, religions, and more.
The Arts
At F&M, studying and making art go hand-in-hand. You’ll learn the technique and composition, theory and practice, critique and analysis you need to push the boundaries of your own creativity and imagination and uncover how artistic expression shapes our world.
The Social Sciences
By studying social sciences at F&M, you’ll develop a specialized understanding of societies and the human impact on the planet. You can work side-by-side with faculty on innovative research projects to uncover how people interact, how we build social institutions, and how our lives are affected by larger patterns of inequality and opportunity.
Connections Curriculum
The curriculum at F&M is called “Connections.” A true representation of a liberal arts education, our Connections curriculum provides a framework for your intellectual development over your four years at F&M.
Interdisciplinary Programs
An interdisciplinary subject surpasses traditional academic boundaries by blending several fields of study into one. These fields allow you to embrace the ampersand at the heart of F&M’s liberal arts model and create a highly personalized academic experience.
Real-World Learning
Your ideas may start in the classroom, but they won’t be contained there. Learning by doing is part of our DNA as Diplomats. At F&M, you can connect the things you care about to meaningful experiences, including research, internships, volunteering, and more.
Experience Lancaster
To shape the world, start right where you are. Our home city of Lancaster is not only an active urban hub, but also an integral educational partner teeming with opportunities to learn, serve, and engage with the local community. Experience Lancaster, a program distinct to F&M, curates and connects you with opportunities to engage in internships, service, research, and more so you can make an impact in your own backyard.
Off-Campus Study
Travel the globe to become a well-rounded scholar and person. Studying off campus gives you extraordinary opportunities to encounter, engage with, and understand perspectives around the world, strengthening your ability to live and work in our global society.
The Power of the Liberal Arts
November 24, 2025
A Diplomat in Every Sense: Vassilis Coutifaris '09
“I believe the liberal arts value of F&M is that it trains all of us, in a way, to be a bit more adaptive,” said Vassilis Coutifaris '09, who made the fitting jump from F&M Diplomat to a career in international affairs. See what advice Coutifaris has for current students.
November 21, 2025
What is Extended Reality–and Why are F&M Students Researching It?
Learning by doing is in our DNA as Diplomats. For Sujal Shah ’27 and Kha Nguyen ’28, this meant collaborating with their computer science professor to research how extended reality can be used for safer, more effective employee training.
November 18, 2025
Diplomats’ Women’s Golf Team Partners With Lancaster Country Club
Franklin & Marshall College and the Lancaster Country Club have entered into an agreement that will allow the Diplomats’ Women’s Golf Team to practice and host multiple Centennial Conference tournaments throughout the season.