VISION

The role of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as the "Gateway to Higher Education" at the University and in the region is central to its mission. The faculty follows a liberal arts program that stresses free choice as the best vehicle for students to realize their educational goals. It offers excellent and varied courses of study at the undergraduate level as well as selected outstanding graduate programs. Its guiding principle is liberal education through freedom of choice. The undergraduate curriculum builds on a pivotal and formative freshman year. Although many students join the faculty in advanced standing at the sophomore or later years, their programs of study are adjusted through individual advising in order to permit the widest choice of major fields of study. Such choice is further expanded through the possibility of concentrating on a minor field of study. Students are invariably encouraged to exercise independent judgment and to explore a wide area of academic interests and to acquire diverse research skills.