By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf. A new survey reveals that not only do business executives value college, they want students with skills associated with the liberal arts. More...
The humanities are in crisis
People have been proclaiming the imminent extinction of the humanities for decades. A best-selling volume in 1964 warned that a science-focused world left no room for humane pursuits, even as Baby Boomers began to flood the English and history departments of new universities. Allan Bloom warned about academics putting liberal ideology before scholarship in 1987; humanities degrees quickly rose. While coverage of individual academic disciplines like musicology, history, or comparative literature often deals with the substance of scholarship, talk of the humanities in general always seems to focus on their imminent extinction. In 2010, Wayne Bivens-Tatum provided a useful walk through the first 50 years of the humanities crisis, until about 1980. Because of this long history, I’ve always been skeptical of claims that the humanities are in retreat. More...
'I allow myself a mini-wallow': how to handle rejection in the arts
Knock-backs are normal when starting out in the industry. Here, the pros share their advice for dealing with them. More...
Discover your creative niche at Falmouth University
Creative degrees can take you in directions you never imagined – as one music student from Falmouth University found as he embarked on an exciting career with a record label. More...
Stepping Back From Graduate Programs
By Rick Seltzer. Many a liberal arts institution has attempted to diversify revenue streams and student pools by opening graduate programs, but at least one in New York State moved in the opposite direction this summer. More...
New Haven Ending Programs at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
By Rick Seltzer. The University of New Haven will stop offering degree-granting academic programs at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts after the academic year closes in May 2019, it announced Tuesday, ending a partnership after five years. More...
Cuts to Liberal Arts at Goucher
By Colleen Flaherty. Goucher College is the latest institution to announce a series of program cuts following an academic prioritization process. Majors and minors in math, music, physics, religion, Russian and elementary and special education are being phased out, as are majors in studio art and theater, the college said this week. Book studies, German and Judaic studies will also be eliminated as stand-alone majors. More...
Flight of the Humanities (Advocate 25 02)
Not long ago, the American philosopher Martha Nussbaum published a short book entitled: Not for Profit. Why Democracy needs the Humanities (Princeton NJ, 2010). Nussbaum identifies a crisis facing the humanities, in the United States as well as internationally, with higher education coming under increasing pressures from commodification and corporatisation. More...
Seeking Consensus for Earlham's Future
By Rick Seltzer. A president's unexplained departure, a massive recurring deficit and fears for the liberal arts spark questions. More...
Augustine College to open school in Blacksburg
Augustine College’s United States campus is slated to start classes in the fall of 2019 in the town. It will be a one-year liberal arts program that harkens back to Christian higher education in a classical sense with a strong emphasis on Western tradition, its leaders said. More...