Institute for the Liberal Arts

The Institute for the Liberal Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo fulfills the university’s commitment to the educational philosophy, standards, and practices of American liberal arts education. The Institute promotes a liberal arts culture at AUB Mediterraneo. In all its activities, it aims to instill humane values and an ethic of care that extends from the individual and the campus community to the city of Pafos, the Mediterranean region, and the wider world.

The liberal arts curriculum at AUB Mediterraneo focuses on the personal development of each student by fostering a desire to learn, a capacity to think critically, and the ability to communicate well. The university aspires to graduate students who will continue to learn throughout their lives and who will act as engaged citizens and leaders in their communities. The aims of liberal arts education at AUB Mediterraneo are realized throughout the curriculum in small class sizes, student-centered pedagogies, student participation in university governance, and active student life.

The Institute for the Liberal Arts is the academic and administrative home of the General Education Program and the home of the BA program in Global Liberal Arts.

The General Education Program requirements (90 ECTS) offer breadth of knowledge and student choice, balancing the depth of disciplinary knowledge acquired through requirements in the student major (150 ECTS).

Key Functions

• Administer the General Education Program
• Serve as the departmental home for the BA in Global Liberal Arts
• Oversee the undergraduate First Year Experience Program
• Organize extracurricular events and activities, including but not limited to organizing academic conferences, hosting visiting scholars, and offering lectures, exhibitions, reading groups, and other cultural events
• Contribute to effective advising that guides students to derive the most individual benefit from their college experience
• Support faculty members in designing student-centered instruction that enhances critical thinking

Vision

The Institute for the Liberal Arts is foundational to the academic, cultural, and civic value of study and research at AUB Mediterraneo. Its multidisciplinary faculty of scholar-teachers provides an enriching diversity of perspectives and methods for addressing intellectual and social issues within and beyond existing degree areas. ILA will engage in continuous recruitment and curricular innovation as AUB Mediterraneo grows its student body, serving as an academic and administrative engine driving the development of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

An expanding faculty will add curricular breadth while also forging connections and forming clusters from which will emerge new undergraduate and graduate programs and academic departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. ILA will house human and other resources for initiatives to improve the student experience and the faculty’s professional development. ILA will be a hub for student life, hosting events, supporting clubs, and widening students’ intellectual vistas and horizons of concern.

Mission

The Institute for the Liberal Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AUB Mediterraneo fulfills the university’s commitment to the philosophy, standards, and practices of American liberal arts education. ILA is the academic and administrative home of the program in General Education, a core component of the undergraduate experience which expresses the university’s unique character as an Anglophone university anchored in the Arab world and operating in a primarily Hellenophone part of Europe. ILA cultivates excellence in teaching and research across a broad range of humanistic and scientific disciplines and encourages active student life on campus. In all its activities, ILA aims to express humane values and an ethic of care that extends from the individual and the campus community to the Mediterranean region and the wider world.

People

• Chair of the Institute for the Liberal Arts (Acting): Hanan Toukan
• Coordinator for Writing and Language: Ryan McDonald
• Coordinator for Teaching and Learning: Georgios Charalambous