What do the inventor of microsurgery, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a CNN news anchor, and a renowned portrait artist all have in common? They each began their illustrious careers with a liberal arts degree right here in the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Toledo. The skills, knowledge, and attitudes that liberal arts majors graduate with are applicable to a large array of professions and occupations—-from astronaut to archeologist, writer to web designer—-the possibilities are as diverse and exciting as your program of study will be. Want to learn more? Click on the profiles of Arts and Sciences alumni listed on our website.
As a liberally educated person you will develop skills in problem solving and writing, which coupled with your ability to appreciate multiple opinions and different worldviews, can draw together a wide range of perspectives in the creation of new knowledge. A liberal arts education encourages intellectual curiosity and creativity, and fosters strong student-faculty and student-student interactions, providing a breadth of experiences that will prepare you to succeed in a variety of career paths. It exposes you to a multiplicity of study areas, while also allowing you to focus on a field of study of your particular interest. Liberal arts areas include the Fine and Performing Arts, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and the Social Sciences – all housed in the College of Arts and Sciences.
A liberal arts education has at its center four practices that distinguish it from other kinds of learning: critical thinking, examination of life, encounters with diversity, and free exchange of ideas. By using critical thinking to identify assumptions, to test logic, to evaluate evidence, to reason correctly, and to take responsibility for the conclusions and actions that result, a student of the liberal arts can grow personally as well as intellectually. A liberally educated person should be capable of principled judgment, seeking to understand the origins, context, and implications of multiple areas of study. If there is one common denominator among our students it is this: a life-long love of learning.