Mission statement

The B.A.L.S. program’s mission is to provide a high-quality undergraduate education, rooted in the liberal studies approach and the Jesuit tradition of forming “men and women for others,” to nontraditional students in the metropolitan Washington DC area. The curricular and co-curricular offerings are of quality commensurate to that of Georgetown’s traditional programs but are tailored to meet the intellectual and practical needs of nontraditional students.

Learning Objectives

A graduate of the B.A.L.S. program will be able to:

• formulate and defend a coherent intellectual argument in oral and written form
• collect, assess, and synthesize evidence relevant to an issue or question
• act with intellectual integrity
• identify and evaluate the ethical dimensions of an issue
• describe principal elements of the Western intellectual tradition
• apply the Western intellectual tradition in analyzing current issues
• identify the key intellectual contributions of non-Western societies
• relate the principal academic tenets of the student's chosen degree concentration

Degree requirements

Earning the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies degree requires a total of 120 credits, earned at Georgetown or elsewhere, with a minimum GPA of 2.0. These are divided among Core courses, concentration courses, non-Western studies courses, and electives.

Core courses

The 13 core courses provide the foundations for successful undergraduate study from the liberal studies perspective. The bulk of the core courses is a set of 10 interdisciplinary courses that will acquaint you with the evolution of Western civilization from ancient times to the third millennium.

The core courses are:

BLHS 100: Introduction to Ethics
BLHS 101: Introduction to the Social Sciences
BLHS 102: Greeks and Romans
BLHS 103: Biblical Literature and the Ancient World
BLHS 104: Medieval Thought and Culture
BLHS 105: Faith and Reason in the Middle Ages
BLHS 106: The Renaissance
BLHS 107: The Early Modern World
BLHS 108: Enlightenment, Revolution and Democracy
BLHS 109: The Nineteenth Century
BLHS 110: War and Peace
BLHS 111: The New Millennium
BLHS 120: Writing in an Interdisciplinary Environment

Detailed descriptions of the course are available online in the university's course catalog at http://courses.georgetown.edu.

Your first core course should be one of the following: BLHS 100 (Introduction to Ethics), BLHS 101 (Introduction to the Social Sciences), BLHS 102 (Greeks and Romans), or BLHS 103 (Biblical Literature and the Ancient World).

Also, you should plan to take BLHS 120 (Writing in an Interdisciplinary Environment) during your first two semesters.

Concentration

In addition to the core courses, you must complete 48 credits (16 three-credit courses) in a concentration. Currently, 14 concentrations are available:

American studies
Catholic studies
Classical civilizations
Communications
Entrepreneurship
Humanities
International affairs
Leadership
Literature and society
Organizational leadership
Religious studies
Social/public policy
Theory and practice of American democracy
Urban analysis and community development

Alternatively, you can elect a custom-designed concentration called "individualized study."  Please consult with the Associate Dean on how to craft such a concentration. Descriptions of the concentrations are found at the end of this booklet.

You may declare your concentration at any time, and you may change it at any time. Some concentrations require specific courses from the concentration, while others are less structured. Call, fax, or email your choice or change of curricular field to the Associate Dean. The student's chosen curricular field will appear on the student's official transcript.

Many B.A.L.S. courses carry credit toward two or more related concentrations. The currently available courses are listed on http://explore.georgetown.edu.

Optionally, you can complete a thesis in your concentration, which will count toward your credits earned in the concentration. More details on the thesis option are available later in this booklet.

Of the concentration courses, one must be a core course in the concentration, and a second must be either a core course in the concentration or a human values course in the concentration.

In addition to completing the core and concentration, you must complete 21 credits (7 three-credit courses) in B.A.L.S. courses outside of your concentration. Your concentration and electives courses together must include two courses in non-Western studies.

Non-Western studies courses

Two courses (6 credits) in courses that focus on non-Western topics are required. These can be courses that were used to fulfill other degree requirements.

With the approval of the Associate Dean, students in the B.A.L.S. program may take a limited number of courses from other units of Georgetown University. Ordinarily these will count toward your electives requirement unless otherwise approved by the Associate Dean.

You may design an independent study project with any willing Georgetown faculty member. Instructions and forms are available on our forms page. The completed proposal must be submitted to the Associate Dean before the first day of class.

You also may take a limited number of courses at other Washington DC educational institutions. You pay the usual Liberal Studies tuition rate, to Georgetown, for such arrangements. Information is available at http://www12.georgetown.edu/undergrad/bulletin/consortium.html, and the necessary forms are available from the B.A.L.S. office.

Optionally, a student may complete a thesis, which counts toward credits required in the concentration. The student must have a minimum letter grade average of C and a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 quality points.

There is no across-the-board minimum length for a B.A.L.S. thesis. The thesis should be a substantial work exceeding the length of customary term papers. The appropriate length will be determined by the faculty mentor, with the approval of the associate dean, taking into account the content of the thesis.

The student's Thesis Committee is made up of the thesis mentor chosen by the student, the student's Thesis Proposal Workshop professor, and the Associate Dean. Successful completion of the thesis proposal and its approval will result in a Pass ("S") grade for the Workshop. Students who must Withdraw ("W") from the course or Fail ("U") the course may only register for the course one more time.

Before writing the thesis, the student completes the Thesis Proposal Workshop in the semester in which the student plans to prepare and submit for approval a thesis proposal (the semester before the student enrolls in the Thesis Research/Thesis Writing courses). This is a non-credit, zero-tuition course. Please note: The Thesis Proposal Workshop taken in conjunction with a three-credit course constitutes half-time status. During this Workshop the student joins with other students and the professor offering the Workshop to do the research necessary to create a statement of the nature, purpose, theme of the thesis; an outline of its parts; and a schedule of accomplishing these goals and completing the thesis.

Following the approval of the thesis proposal, a student registers in the three-credit Thesis Research/Thesis Writing courses offered during the fall or spring semesters. Enrollment in these two courses constitutes half-time status. The Thesis Writing course is the final three-credit course for Bachelor's candidates who choose the three-credit thesis option. Students must also register at the same time for the Thesis Research course, which is for 0 credits, $0 tuition, and carries no grade. The Thesis Writing course is for the actual production of the thesis and carries three credits with regular semester tuition charges and is assigned a letter grade by the student's mentor reflecting the work on the thesis.

All theses not completed during the first term in which the student enrolls in the Thesis Research and Thesis Writing courses MUST be submitted and accepted by the established deadlines of the following semester (fall or spring, summer not included).

Thesis final deadlines are:
May 1 for students enrolled in Thesis Writing/Research in the Fall semester
Dec. 1 for students enrolled in Thesis Writing/Research in the Spring semester
Failure to complete the thesis by the final deadline results in the grade of "F" for the course and termination of degree candidacy. (If these dates fall on a weekend, the following Monday will be the deadline.)

Undergraduates who receive an "N" for the first semester of the thesis course may request a letter from the Program Director explaining their student status so that they may continue using the library.

The B.A.L.S. degree must be completed within five years of first registration. Extensions for good cause can be granted by the Associate Dean.

Announcing Study Abroad Opportunities for Georgetown Liberal Studies Students

The School of Continuing Studies is pleased to announce the following Study Abroad opportunities for its students in the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies program. For questions about the applicability of financial aid to overseas courses, please contact the office of financial aid.

New Year's in Florence Study Tour
Dec. 27, 2011-Jan. 6, 2012

The New Year’s in Florence Study Tour will be held from December 27, 2011 – January 6, 2012 at Villa Le Balze in Fiesole, Italy. Please note that this course is listed as a Spring 2012 course. Credit will be granted for BLHS 106: The Renaissance.

The Tour, and the Course, will focus on the evolution of ideas, social conditions, and artistic practices which historians often call the emergence of the Renaissance. Famously, Florence is the central site for this evolution and the course examines its roots in late medieval Tuscany, the principle figures who were to effect striking changes in the arts and in intellectual culture during this period. Participants in the Tour will examine, daily, the buildings, statues, pictures, and urban sites where this crucial development in Western history occurred. Concurrently they will be reading in translation celebrated texts from this period, as well as modern historical assessments by contemporary experts. We will also discuss how the idea of the Florentine Renaissance first gained currency in the nineteenth century and we will look at some highly influential examples of how that idea first emerged.

The cost of the tour is $5300 which includes tuition accommodations at the Villa in Fiesole, most meals, ground transportation, entrance fees, and tours as indicated in the itinerary and subject to the specified conditions. Airfare to/from Italy is not included.

The Study Tour will be led by Prof. Frank Ambrosio, Assoc. Professor of Philosophy, and Director, Doctor of Liberal Studies Program, and Ms. Deborah Warin, Director, The Renaissance Company, former Director of Continuing Education and lecturer at Georgetown University, and author of the forthcoming book, Battista Sforza and the Court of Urbino. Over the past 15 years, they have led more than 35 academic study tours together for Georgetown Liberal Studies students.

You cannot register for this course on MyAccess. For more information, or to register, contact Ms. Karen Wardzala in the Office of International Programs at 202-687-5624 or klw45@georgetown.edu.

Springtime in Florence and Assisi
May 10-22, 2012

The Springtime in Florence and Assisi Study Tour will be held from May 10-22, 2012 at Villa Le Balze in Fiesole, Italy. This tour will be led by Prof. Michael Collins and Prof. Penn Szittya, both from the Department of English. Please note that this course is listed as a Spring 2012 course. Credit will be granted for BLHS 107: The Early Modern World.

The tour, and the course, will focus on the transition in Western Europe from the medieval to the Renaissance world and looks particularly at the work of Giotto, masaccio, Dante and Michelangelo. Participants on the tour and in the course will visit all the significant sites in Florence and take a day long trip to Siena and San Gimignano. They also spend a weekend in Assisi,the beautiful medieval hill town where St. Francis lived and died and where the first flowering of the Renaissance took place. The goal of this course is to provide the students with an intellectual framework within which to situate their understanding and appreciation of the artistic and cultural achievement which they will witness during their visit to Florence.

The methodology of the course will be to trace the roots of the fifteenth century "Florentine Renaissance" by uncovering the spiritual, economic, social, political and artistic sources which fed and nourished it. This will be accomplished by readings and lectures prior to visiting the city, site visits and presentations at Villa Le Balze, Georgetown's study center in Fiesole outside Florence, and the completion of an individually selected research project and paper after the trip.

The cost of the tour is $5300 which includes tuition accommodations at the Villa in Fiesole, most meals, ground transportation, entrance fees, and tours as indicated in the itinerary and subject to the specified conditions. Airfare to/from Italy is not included.

You cannot register for this course on MyAccess. For more information, or to register, contact Ms. Karen Wardzala in the Office of International Programs at 202-687-5624 or klw45@georgetown.edu.

Shakespeare in Performance (ENGL 363)
London and Stratford-upon-Avon
June 24-July 8, 2012

Three Credits

Week 1: London

The course begins in London where students will spend a week focused on Shakespeare’s theatre, past and present. They will visit the Globe, a replica of the open air stage where many of Shakespeare’s plays were first produced, and the Middle Temple Hall, the indoor space where Twelfth Night was performed by Shakespeare’s company in 1602. They will attend three performances, at least one of which will be staged at the Globe.

Students will also attend classes taught by Professor Michael Collins and participate in discussions centering on these performances. They will meet with a London actor or director to discuss Shakespeare in performance. Students will have an opportunity to visit other important sites in and around London on their own or in a group with the instructor.

Week 2: Stratford-upon-Avon

The second week of the course will take place in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace. This week will focus on three productions by the renowned Royal Shakespeare Company. Classes in Stratford will be taught by Professor Mary Jane Barnett and Shakespeare scholars in association with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Students will also meet with at least one actor from the Royal Shakespeare Company for a post performance discussion.

Students will also get a taste of some more practical performance skills, either through a master acting class or an afternoon’s instruction in stage combat. And finally, Professor Barnett will take students on a tour of Shakespeare’s Stratford, with stops at the house in which Shakespeare was born; Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried; Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, the Elizabethan farmhouse where Shakespeare wooed his wife-to-be.; and King Edward VI School, the school that Shakespeare attended as a boy.

Course Requirements

Students are expected to attend all the scheduled classes, meetings, excursions, and performances. They are also required, once the course is completed, to submit short reviews of the performances and a longer research paper on a date to be determined.

Tuition and Fees

Early applications will be due at the end of November. Regular applications will be due the first week of February.

The cost of the program in 2012 will be approximately the same as it was 2011, $4900.

You cannot register for this course on MyAccess. For more information, or to register, contact Dr. Michael Collins at collinmj@georgetown.edu.

Study Tours to Italy

Three interdisciplinary Study Tours to Italy, focused on the Italian Renaissance, will offer students the opportunity to study the origins, development and influence of one of the major cultural transformations in Western civilization, while examining first hand some of it most important and enduring creations in the fields of art architecture and simultaneously gaining an in-depth understanding of the social, political, economic and religious dynamics of change that surrounded them.

The following study tours will be offered during the 2011-2012 academic year. Each carries credit for BLHS 106, The Renaissance: 

May 28 - June 8 - The Renaissance in Tuscany and Umbria
June 11 - 22 - The Renaissance in Northern Italy: Venice and the Po Valley
June 25 – July 2 – The Renaissance in Florence

Each Study Tour will be led by Prof. Frank Ambrosio, Assoc. Professor of Philosophy, and Director, Doctor of Liberal Studies Program, and Ms. Deborah Warin, Director, The Renaissance Company, former Director of Continuing Education and lecturer at Georgetown University, and author of the forthcoming book, Battista Sforza and the Court of Urbino. Over the past 15 years, they have led more than 35 academic study tours together for Georgetown Liberal Studies students.

All of the Study Tours are open as well to participants who are not seeking academic credit. These Study Tours are not affiliated with Georgetown University’s Charles A. Strong Study Center, Villa Le Balze, in Fiesole. 

Political Economy of the Gulf

BLHS 469

Prof. Adhip Chaudhuri

to be offered at Georgetown’s campus in Doha, Qatar

June 24-July 5, 2012 (tentative)

The class will meet all morning for nine days at Georgetown’s lovely campus in Doha’s Education City. Some excursions will be offered in the afternoons. The course will culminate with a field trip to the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas terminal, one of the most technologically advanced in the world. The course may include some local residents from the Doha campus area. Students will be required to attend an orientation class on the DC campus, and a take-home examination will be administered after students return to the Washington DC area. In addition there will be a Mid-term exam in Doha.

The following topics will be covered:

1. Rentier states: these are states which do not tax individuals and yet supply public goods like infrastructure and free higher education from fiscal surpluses generated from natural resource exports. This has interesting implications for both the political and the economic systems for the Gulf countries.

2. Dutch Disease: Over-spending by the government on infrastructure leads to transfer of resources away from traditional industries and may cause inflation. Application to the Gulf .

3. State-Owned Oil Enterprises: The new titans like Saudi Aramco. How are they different from the traditional multinationals like Exxon and Shell?

4. Natural Gas and Oil markets: Spot and futures markets, transportation, and pipelines.

5. Labor Markets and Migrant Labor: The labor shortage in the Gulf and the labor and living conditions of the immigrants.

6. Islamic Finance: Is this a serious alternative to Western style capitalist banking and finance? Or is it just a "boutique" in the world of finance and banking?

7. Sovereign Wealth Funds and Foreign Direct Investment

Instructor: The course will be taught by Prof. Adhip Chaudhuri, an associate professor in the economics department and a long-time instructor in the liberal studies program.

Curricular details: The course will count as a concentration core course for the following BALS concentrations: Individualized Study, International Affairs, and Social and Public Policy. For students in other concentrations, the course will count as an elective. For all BALS students, the course also will count toward the required two courses in non-Western studies.

Financial details: This is a three-credit course, and usual BALS tuition rates apply; students are responsible for registering for the class through myaccess.georgetown.edu. In addition, there will be a charge for room and housing; the amount will be announced in early 2012. The fee will include shared accommodations in campus housing, bus transport to campus and to scheduled excursion destinations, admissions fees for scheduled activities, and lunch every day. Students will be responsible for breakfast and dinner each day, and airfare to and from Doha (estimated at $1,800 for economy class, although Georgetown’s Doha campus may be able to arrange for discounted airfare). Textbooks are included in the tuition charge.