Graduate Catalog
Program Coordinator: Professor David Traboulay
History/Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy Building (2N), Room 214
Email: mals@mail.csi.cuny.edu
Telephone: 1.718.982.2877
*See the curriculum supplement for additions and changes
to the program.
The program is designed to provide students who have attained the bachelor's degree the opportunity to study modern Western society, culture, and thought through an intensive interdisciplinary examination of their origins and through comparison with other societies and cultures. The curriculum provides students with an integrated, sequential exploration of central works and topics in the liberal arts. The major focus is on the social sciences and humanities with attention paid to the development and impact of scientific thought and technological developments. There are seven required courses, two electives, and a master's essay.
All of the courses in the program focus on the study and analysis of key theoretical and artistic works created during the periods under study. Those works are studied in their own right as major intellectual statements, in their historic context as representative of major intellectual movements, and as potential sources of insight to an understanding of contemporary problems and issues.
The program is structured to facilitate the completion of all coursework in two years. Students are required to take two courses in the Liberal Studies sequence during each of four semesters. In addition they are encouraged to enroll in one elective course during a summer term and one during their fourth semester in the program.
The program holds full membership in and is accredited by the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs.
Admission Requirements
A bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 is required for admission. Students with other bachelor's degrees and/or with cumulative averages of less than 3.0 may be considered following an interview with the program coordinator of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies.
Applicants are accepted for fall semester admission.
Degree Requirements
To receive the Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies students must complete the following requirements:
1. All courses must be completed with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 (B). The courses are LBS 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 760, 770, 780, and electives, totaling 30 credits.
2. Students must complete a master's essay that will be an extended reflection on a problem of contemporary social and/or cultural interest drawing on the intellectual tradition of the liberal arts and on the student's own values and analysis. The completed essay must be judged acceptable by the student's master's essay adviser and by the coordinator of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program.
Courses
LBS 710 Roots of Modern Culture
3 hours; 3 credits
Consideration of the artistic and literary traditions inherited from the Renaissance and the significant classical revivals of the 17th and 18th centuries in order to identify and assess those divergent aesthetic movements in the 19th and early 20th centuries that gave rise to modernism. An effort will be made to place works discussed in their fullest artistic, literary, philosophic, scientific, and historical context.
LBS 720 Roots of Modern Society
3 hours; 3 credits
An exploration of the transition of the Western world from an agrarian, rural society to an urban, industrial-technological society, and the accompanying changes in economic and political structure and social values through a study of selected works written during this period concerned with social, scientific, philosophical, and political analysis and theory.
LBS 730 Modern Culture
3 hours; 3 credits
An analysis of selected works of 20th-century Western literature and art designed to provide an introduction to major movements in the cultural life of this century and an introduction to the analysis of individual creative works seen in the context of modern social and intellectual movements and modern scientific and philosophic thought.
Prerequisite: LBS 710
LBS 740 Modern Society
3 hours; 3 credits
An analysis of social movements such as liberalism, communism, socialism, nationalism, and fascism; an introduction to modern social structure and change; and the role of social theory studied through the analysis of individual works of social theory and commentary placed in their historical and intellectual setting. The relevance of the theories and commentaries read to contemporary social problems and movements will be discussed. Attention will be paid to the impact of science and technology on modern social thought and living conditions.
Prerequisite: LBS 720
LBS 750 Interaction of Western and Non-Western Societies
3 hours; 3 credits
An introduction to the structure and values of a selected non-Western civilization and a study of the cross-cultural impact of Western expansion since 1500. A variety of sources will be used such as fiction, anthropological studies, historical journals, traveler's accounts, and works of art.
Prerequisite: LBS 730 or 740
LBS 760 Ancient Roots of Modern Thought
3 hours; 3 credits
A study of key works of ancient and medieval thought chosen from figures or works such as the Bible, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Virgil, Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, and Dante. The emphasis will be on an understanding of the works and their relationship to the intellectual tradition of the Western world as studied in the previous courses.
Prerequisite: LBS 730 or 740
LBS 770 Seminar: Values and Contemporary Issues
3 hours; 3 credits
A seminar in which the instructor and the students assist in developing ideas about topics of contemporary social and cultural concern that have been chosen by the students as subjects of their master's essay. Each student must have chosen a topic before the beginning of the seminar. In the seminar the instructor and students draw on the works read and discussed in the previous courses in the program to illuminate the topics of the essays. Drafts of portions of student essays are discussed.
Prerequisites: LBS 730, 740, 750, 760, and permission of the MALS program coordinator
Corequisite: LBS 780
LBS 780 Master's Essay Tutorial
3 hours; 3 credits
A tutorial in which the student and master's essay adviser meet weekly to discuss drafts of and problems with the master's essay. Credit is awarded on successful completion of the master's essay and its acceptance by the essay adviser and program coordinator.
Prerequisite: Permission of the MALS program coordinator
Corequisite: LBS 770
