“Leaders from across disciplines, institutions and specialties are finally competing against cancer instead of each other, as research moves from bench to bedside to benefit patients more quickly.” —StandUp2Cancer Website
as four year and comprehensive state universities. The LEAP document recommends a firm foundation in liberal education no matter the major or career emphasis. The document, in fact, does not label such majors as engineering and nursing, for example, as vocational subjects. They are career fields, sure, but the LEAP document recommends that the liberal arts and liberal education be deeply embedded in these professional courses. (You can view the entire LEAP document at www.aacu.org/leap/documents/ GlobalCentury_final.pdf.) Actually, the report serves as a blueprint for Stetson’s General Education Requirements. (See the chart comparing the LEAP recommendations with Stetson’s current General Education Requirements on the facing page.) Now, Stetson is truly a comprehensive university with professional programs in music, law and business. And there are career-focused majors, such as those in teacher education, counseling and integrative health science. These programs teach students to pursue careers in these professions. Yet, Stetson students — especially in the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration and School of Music — have stringent General Education course requirements that include Foundation Courses, Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Natural World, and Personal and Social Responsibility. These include first-year and junior-year seminars as well as a Capstone senior project. All professions need these cross-disciplinary critical-thinking skills, according to the LEAP report. That’s especially obvious in the law profession, says Stetson Law Professor Timothy Kaye, Ph.D. “It’s very difficult to make something of a law education without a liberal arts background,” he says. “So no, it’s not old hat.” Kaye lists several subjects he believes lawyers need. “We have to understand how the law responded to different events in history. Law is closely tied to the economy, so lawyers need to 30 30
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understand how the law works in society. “And most important, lawyers need to be able to read and write well,” he adds. “They have to read and understand a lot of difficult material in a short amount of time. Lawyers primarily write and rarely stand up in the courtroom to try a case. Judges rightly criticize lawyers for being bad writers.” Moreover, Stetson’s College of Law values and teaches liberal learning skills. For example, Kaye points to the law school’s top five ranking in legal writing and its No. 1-rated advocacy program that focuses on speaking and writing. “Liberal learning encompasses all,” he says. “Some say you don’t need to read Shakespeare, J.D. Salinger or Mark Twain, but then how do you know what good writing is?” Pearson’s charge as assistant vice president is to promote and continue to integrate General Education across the university. “We want to hold onto best practices and break down barriers,” he explains. “After all, General Education is what all students do at Stetson, and it’s dynamic and changes. This is an opportunity to create and promote a more integrated way of learning, and we want our General Education program to be a model for the whole country.” Can Liberal Learning Save the World? The global problems mentioned at the beginning of this article are in many ways perennial ones and, thus, require a new kind of thinking. Current cancer research is a case in point in how cross-disciplinary thinking can solve the cancer puzzle. Just a few years ago, many cancer researchers worked in isolation, guarding their research like a jeweled box. At the time, this was the model for producing breakthroughs in medical science. Think Jonas Salk working in his lab to find a cure for polio. Picture the medical researcher as hero who struggled alone in his or her lab to help humanity one small grant at a time. Just in the last couple of years, however,
cancer research grant-authorizing organizations began requiring groups of scientists and other experts to work together across disciplines to investigate and develop targeted therapies. Looking at cancer from more than one disciplinary perspective has helped bring about breakthroughs that were unimagined just a few years ago. Some of these breakthroughs include using nanoparticles that target specific cancers, treating each person as a unique individual, and building treatment plans based on that person’s genome. StandUp2Cancer grants to research “dream teams” have led this new, innovative approach through collaboration, innovation, acceleration, targeted therapy and translational research. “Leaders from across disciplines, institutions and specialties are finally competing against cancer instead of each other, as research moves from bench to bedside to benefit patients more quickly,” explains a news release on the StandUp2Cancer website. “Many of the most important innovations, breakthroughs and even incremental steps forward are coming more and more frequently from collaborative efforts,” says Joan Brugge, professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School. Looking at problems across disciplines and collaborating with others are hallmarks of a liberal education. Can someone without a liberal education have these analytical and critical-thinking skills? Of course. Nevertheless, many experts and employers believe the rigorous liberal learning environment helps students and graduates hone these skills. “Our university mission is one of growing free thinkers,” says Paul. “It’s one of helping our students realize they have a social and personal responsibility to the world and that they can use liberal learning skills to effect positive change in that world.” Bill Noblitt is editor of stetson magazine. You can email him at wnoblitt@stetson.edu.