The Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Cohort for the Provost Teaching and Learning Fellows (PTLF) invites you to an informal conversation with colleagues from across IAC about how they present the value of the liberal arts – or the value of particular disciplines in the humanities and social sciences – to students pursuing degrees in technical fields.

Questions for faculty to consider:

• Have you ever encountered overt or tacit skepticism about the point of making students in STEM fields take classes in the humanities and social sciences?
• Have students ever characterized work in the liberal arts as “soft” or “subjective,” as contrasted with the supposition that STEM disciplines are “hard” or “objective,” with the implication that the former is necessarily less important?
• How have you responded to such attitudes in the past?
• In what ways do you use concepts of integration in your classroom?
• How can we use course design to demonstrate to students the central importance of liberal arts in their professional development?
• How can we shape our classroom practices to these ends?