Academic Catalog 2013-14 1.800.847.3330 advanced.jhu.edu 145
settled. Topics include the conflict between whites and Native Americans, the role of women on the frontier, the development of “civilizing” institutions like churches and schools, law and order justice, and the timeless distinctiveness of the West. Readings include Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay about the importance of the frontier, Julie Jeffrey’s Frontier Women, Owen Wister’s The Virginian, and Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s Ox-Bow Incident.
Capstone The Capstone is designed to encourage the integration of course work in the program and comes at the end of a student’s MLA career. Students conclude the MLA degree by doing a portfolio, graduate project or internship. The student works with the Program Director to determine the option best suited to the student’s needs and goals. 450.082 Liberal Arts Portfolio The Liberal Arts Portfolio is a non-credit option within the MLA Capstone. Students who select the Portfolio option will take 10 courses in the program. The portfolio will be completed within the same semester as the 10th course, and for students not selecting a graduate project or thesis, the portfolio is a degree requirement. The Program Coordinator serves as the portfolio advisor. The portfolio consists of a sampling of the best papers and projects written over the course of the student’s graduate career. It is not simply a collection of papers but designed to help students see the intellectual point of convergence in their studies. It is also provides a travel log chronicling the student’s journey toward their own “way of knowing.”
Internship 450.850 MLA Internship The MLA Program has competitive internships available at different institutions in Baltimore including The Walters Art Museum, The American Visionary Art Museum, The Maryland Historical Society, The Everyman Theatre, The Single Carrot Theatre, The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African-American History, The Baltimore Archives, and The Eisenhower Library Rare Book Department.
The Center for Liberal Arts (Center) provides a lively, intellectual space for students interested in a degree or those who want to learn more about the world and their own location in it. Courses, events and special symposia offer an immersion in the great ideas and thinkers, and a consideration of both the classic and the contemporary. Students of all ages and academic backgrounds come together to explore the social, cultural and humanistic dimensions and context of the world and their own individual lives. The Center includes the Master of Liberal Arts, the Odyssey Program, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The Odyssey Program (celebrating 20 years) offers non-credit classes to working adults interested in the richness of the liberal arts. Go inside the palaces of King George IV, or study renowned artists and take a guided tour of their works at a local museum. Compare two of American’s longest wars (Vietnam and Iraq) or take up your pen to begin that novel in a fiction writing class. Find the answer to the age-old question of, “Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa actually lean?” The Odyssey Program also includes the Certificate on Aging and the Mini-Medical School. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at JHU was created in 1986 to enhance the leisure time of active, semi-retired and retired individuals in the community. The institute builds on the assets of JHU to offer members intellectual growth, lively discussions, rewarding cultural experiences and new friendships. The institute classes explore the worlds of art, history, philosophy, literature, politics and science. Classes are offered in Baltimore, Columbia and Montgomery County, Maryland.
Liberal Arts
450.830 MLA Graduate Project Most students enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts program conclude their degree requirements by writing an independent project under the direction of a faculty sponsor. The graduate project is interdisciplinary in scope and reflects an emphasis or interest that the student has discovered in the MLA program. Before registering for the graduate project, a student must receive proposal approval from the faculty sponsor and the MLA Program Director.
The Center for Liberal Arts in Advanced Academic Programs