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 skills in reading, writing, thinking, analyzing, debating, and active listening. While this concept dates back to the 5th century BC, the liberal arts have evolved alongside humanity, inspiring investigation into the eternal human condition and our collective future.
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 form a strong foundation of the skills and tools you need to own your
influence and shape the world — starting now.
“I was immediately drawn to the encouragement to explore a multitude of disciplines
and create my own college experience at F&M.”
— Michael Vasquez ’25
The Core Elements of the Liberal Arts
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 art and making art go hand-in-hand. You’ll learn technique and composition, theory and practice, and critique and analysis, all while pushing the boundaries of your own creativity and imagination to uncover how artistic expression affects you and 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.
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.Uncovering Connections
The curriculum at F&M is called “Connections.” Embodying the true spirit of a liberal
arts education, our Connections curriculum encourages you to strive beyond traditional
boundaries to make connections: between disciplines that at first glance seem unrelated,
between theory and practice, and between your liberal arts education and the world.
Read More »Embracing the Ampersand: Interdisciplinary Programs