Liberal Arts, School of
The liberal arts are diverse in their focus on the human experience, which is reflected in the traditional role of departments in the school and the growing number of undergraduate and graduate programs as well as the inclusion of institutes and centers that serve a wide variety of academic and civic communities. The multi-disciplinary nature of the IU School of Liberal Arts provides an important basis for its faculty to work collaboratively in research, teaching, and service with colleagues in many other units across campus, nationally, and internationally and also with community partners locally and regionally to contribute significantly to the university-wide initiative of achieving excellence in research, with special focus on the life and health sciences.
The most significant investment of the School of Liberal Arts is its faculty and in very large part the accomplishments of the faculty, with the critical support of the administration and staff, underscore their contribution to the mission of the campus. Outstanding achievements of the School of Liberal Arts are commonly presented in the areas of teaching, research, and service. In the following listing of highlights those traditional categories have been grouped in three areas: diversity, interdisciplinary and international programs, studies, and activities; research impact; and civic engagement–with many of the remarkable successes making a significant difference in two or all three areas.
Diversity, Interdisciplinary and International Studies and Activities
- The school has embarked on a comprehensive plan to enhance diversity in its curriculum and faculty as part of its Strategic Plan 2006-2010 and it has a long history of promoting diversity among faculty, staff and students. The African American and African Diaspora Studies program; also: in particular and academic pursuits in the liberal arts more generally will benefit greatly from the successful search of three public scholars in African America whose disciplinary expertise in Political Science (International Relations), English, History, and Museum Studies are enhanced significantly by additional special focus on civic engagement, undergraduate learning, and community and institutional partnerships in greater Indianapolis. This extraordinary rise in the research profile of the school will also have positive impact on the recruitment and retention of students, faculty, and staff alike.
- In support of the IUPUI Strategic Partnership with Moi University in Kenya, School of Liberal Arts developed its own formal partnership, and SLA faculty members established a Social Science Research Network (SSRN) with colleagues at Moi. In March, the SSRN hosted the Moi-IUPUI International Symposium on "Social Science Perspectives on HIV and AIDS in East Africa," in Eldoret, Kenya. The development of the school’s formal partnership with Moi University in Kenya is not only a testament to collaborative relationships across the IUPUI campus but also an example of the internationalization of the research interests as well as the curriculum. Several faculty members with social science interests have established far-reaching and long-term research connections with their colleagues in Kenya and plans for faculty and student exchanges have been successfully initiated—both with great promise for diversity and the recruitment and retention of students and faculty.
- The decision of the government of China to select IUPUI as the place of a Confucius Institute holds special promise for the school’s Department of World Languages and Culture which is poised to expand its Chinese Language Studies and Culture program to match the demand of students and the community.
- The first-year success of the International Studies program is evident in students’ interests in this degree and the greater emphasis on internationalization and globalization in the school is underscored by an increasing number and variety of exchange programs and study abroad opportunities for students and faculty. Most prominently among those that raise our reputation nationally and internationally are the semester and year-long exchange for undergraduates with University of Derby, UK and the development of a graduate-level program in History and Museum Studies with the University of Newcastle, UK, both of them administered through the American Studies Program; and also the exchanges with Moi University, Kenya, Hakuoh University, Japan, the University of Salamanca, Spain, and Sun Yat-Tsen University, China.
- The Conference on Native Americans and Higher Education, organized by Religious Studies faculty member Johnny Flynn and others in Liberal Arts, was the first such state-wide conference and drew much positive attention to the school and campus—an inspiration to students and the community.
- Two Fulbright-Hayes Fellowships (to Africa and Mexico) underscore how research projects are closely aligned with international studies and interests.
Research Impact
- The school earns its research reputation in several ways, foremost through the publication of books by highly ranked university presses and of articles in scholarly and professional journals (28 books; 2 scholarly journals; 100 articles; 42 book chapters; 38 texts; and 2 videos). Those contributions to the research community do not only stand in their own right but what makes them remarkable is the variety and range of collaborations among researchers nationally and internationally (for example, William Blomquist’s work with others on Integrated River Basin Management Through Decentralization) and a demonstrated focus on the translation of research into practice (tow examples are Margaret Ferguson, The Executive Branch of State Government and Chris Kraatz, Radical Recovery: A Manifesto of Eating Disorder Pride), not only in the health and life sciences but across many fields in the liberal arts.
- In addition to such traditional measures of scholarly and creative activities research excellence finds expression in successful competition for grants—by individual faculty members as well as by centers and institutes that faculty members direct or staff. The school continued to increase external grant funding, most spectacularly with a $40 million Lilly Foundation grant to the Center on Philanthropy. Liberal Arts is home to several other centers that also had remarkable accomplishments, including the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, designated as an IUPUI Signature Center, and the Institute for Research on Social Issues, the school’s second IUPUI Signature Center– both attesting to the competitive innovation and excellence of research in the humanities and social science. In addition, the Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication received significant funding from Lilly for research of health literacy across cultures. If expectations for external support and contracts for the Polis Center, the Survey Research Center, and the Institute for American Thought are high, success in attracting substantial, often collaborative grants from foundations and national agencies is never assured and it is especially noteworthy when traditional departments, namely Economics and History, attract substantial grants.
- Plans for establishing a Center for Ray Bradbury Studies have come to fruition and present another form of highlighting research excellence and innovation in the liberal arts.
- In the competition for university and campus-wide grants, the liberal arts faculty continued to do well and at all faculty ranks (5 New Frontier grants; 9 summer research grants; 15 development grants for faculty in lecturer ranks).
- Recognition of outstanding contributions to teaching and the scholarship of teaching can be measured through awards and peer review. In the past year, Richard Gunderman who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Philosophy won the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching after also having been recognized with the School of Medicine Teaching Award. Enrica Ardemagni was named “Faculty of the Year” by the Indiana Council for Continuing Education—a reflection of the impact of teaching in the community, too. The external reviewers of the academic program in history had high praise for the model character of the department’s graduate public history program, which has a strong “applied” component—very much in line with the mission of IUPUI.
- The innovatively combined-degrees program offers a doctoral degree in medicine and a Master of Arts in philosophy, with a concentration in Bioethics, which presents an exemplary cross-campus collaboration that is responsive to new research and teaching directions in the health and life sciences as well as the liberal arts.
- The symposium and exhibit, Indiana Eugenics, History and Legacy, 1007-2007, is a research project that involved faculty and students across disciplines and that also had a strong component of engagement with the professional and local communities.
Civic Engagement
- Teaching and Learning through Service in Communities and in Partnership with Institutions and Neighborhoods remains a goal that the school continues to develop. The school’s commitment is evident in the number and diversity of service learning projects and grants coordinated and administered by the Center for Service and Learning.
- Success of the commitment to civic engagement is also measured in other ways: Paul Mullins (Anthropology) won the Chancellor’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Civic Engagement. Larry Zimmerman, public scholar in Museum Studies, innovatively leveraged his collaboration with the Eiteljorg Museum to win the bid for the World Archeological Congress in 2009. Susan B. Hyatt (Anthropology) was named one of seven Boyer Scholars on campus and Una Osili (Economics) drew praise for organizing the African American Film Series at the Indiana Museum of Art. Also, Spirit and Place, an annual civic festival managed by the Polis Center, continues to enhance the reputation of the school and campus in Indianapolis and engages numerous community partners.
- The School of Liberal Arts is developing a comprehensive approach to offering students opportunities for internships in the local and professional communities as part of their course of studies that make civic engagement meaningful for interns, mentors, and sponsors. Several departments, Anthropology, Communication Studies, History, and Sociology have built successful models for internships on the undergraduate and graduate levels that can serve in the expansion of service and learning across the liberal arts curriculum.
- The new Certificate in Performance and Theater Studies is an example that showcases the development of the curriculum, cooperative relationship between schools (Liberal Arts and Education in this case) with a focus on diversity, and sensitivity to expressed needs in the community.
- A different form of engagement—focused mostly on students and their involvements in the political discussions of the day—that deserves mention is mentoring that Johnny Goldfinger (Political Science) provided in connection with the open forum of the Democracy Plaza.
