Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
Mission & Learning Goals
Mission Statement
Building on the mission statements of Georgetown University and on the School of Continuing Studies, the Graduate Liberal Studies Degree (GLS) programs (DLS and MALS degrees) at Georgetown University rest on the belief that human life and human action have meaning and that human beings, throughout their lives, must seek it out and live by its implications. Liberal Studies courses—which engage students in reading, reflection, writing, and discussion—are meant to bring students the range of knowledge and vision to lead wise and rewarding lives.
Learning Goals
Upon completing the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program, you will:
- Examine perennial and current problems and recurring questions that we pose about our own identities, our past and future, our unique national experiences and conflicts, international behavior, and our place in a threatened environment.
- Understand the social ideals and values that unite us as humans and attempt to address the needs of a hurried, often fragmented world
- Analyze new ideas and develop new insights about our common life and mutual understandings
- Demonstrate awareness of human values as encompassing what constitutes human life and meaning, what it means to be a rational and free person, and what contributes to human flourishing and well-being
- Recognize the human values and ethics emphasized in one or more areas of study available to liberal studies, namely, in American and international studies; the classical, medieval, and modern worlds; religious studies; literature; philosophy; visual culture; social and public policy; science and society; and/or professional ethics
- Integrate classroom knowledge with practical skills in your personal and, perhaps, professional life
- Conduct rigorous interdisciplinary inquiry, i.e., how to engage various disciplines in the humanities and/or social sciences and integrate them in addressing topics related to your individual research interests
- Engage in intensive writing assignments of varied character and length in order to demonstrate proficiency appropriate to graduate-level scholarship
- Demonstrate the competence to consciously reflect on and assess your own scholarly development and that of your classmates with the aid of both faculty and peer review
- Practice the goals of Jesuit education, i.e., education of the whole person and education of "people for others" in leadership and service to the community