The goal to position the College as the place to discuss effective and efficient liberal arts education appears more attainable now than ever.

The College and the Center of Inquiry are one in striving to educate young people to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely.

Read more about the Center: www.liberalarts.wabash.edu

Read articles on the liberal arts from Liberal Arts Online's archives.

Read Dean of the College
Mauri Ditzler's essay on the liberal arts and Wabash.

Read Professor of Religion
Bill Placher's views on Virtue and the Liberal Arts.

Magazine
Summer/Fall 2001

Moving Ahead with
the Center of Inquiry
in the Liberal Arts at Wabash


by Andrew T. Ford
President, Wabash College

Many folks have been asking, "What is happening with the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts?" I typically respond by saying the site is being prepared, contracts have been issued, and construction is underway. Many questioners then tell me what they really want to know about is the program of the Center of Inquiry. Funny how the same language carries at least two different meanings.

From off campus, the most visible part of the program is liberalartsonline, an occasional newsletter on timely topics relevant to the liberal arts. You can join more than 1,000 subscribers by writing to liberalartsonline@wabash.edu. Recent articles on the role of technology in a liberal arts education have stirred great conversation from faculty, staff, and alumni of liberal arts colleges nationwide.

On campus, you might see a small committee meeting regularly in Center Hall to guide the emerging Center. Or you could meet Rachel Kendall, assistant director of New Media who will provide the electronic infrastructure for the Center of Inquiry and liberalartsonline, and Trevor Fanning '00 who serves as an administrative assistant. And had you been on campus this summer you could have seen faculty and students working on the first two Inquiries.

One Inquiry began systematically to try to develop a definition of an effective liberal arts education that would provide a common language for all future Inquiries. The other Inquiry worked toward isolating those out-of-class practices that contribute most efficiently and effectively to that education. You can learn more about both of these efforts by checking the website: www.liberalarts.wabash.edu.

What you could not see, however, is almost as important as what you can see. The Center began by telling educators, civic leaders, businessmen, and others about its funding and mission. We wanted to let people know about our plans, both to be sure that our goal of pulling together disparate efforts across the land did not miss anybody, and to begin establishing Wabash as the place to find out more about effective liberal arts education in this country. Eight months later, people are coming to us. They have begun asking questions about the liberal arts, about effective teaching practices, how they might become scholars in residence at the Center, and how we might help them in these various endeavors.

I have recently been invited, for example, to join the editorial board of Liberal Education, the publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and to join the board advising the Rand Corporation/Council for Aid to Education project, Value-Added Quality Education. This initiative will attempt to measure the outcomes of a college education. Charles Blaich, a faculty member in our psychology department working as a research fellow for the Center of Inquiry, recently received an invitation to attend the national meeting of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. As a result, that group will hold its next meeting on the Wabash campus to learn more about the Center of Inquiry and its activities.

We expect to continue both reaching out and being called upon. The goal to position the College as the place to discuss effective and efficient liberal arts education appears more attainable now than ever. In the not-too-distant future, much more will be visible—the building itself and the actual results of these inquiries. Please feel free to learn more about them by writing me or by checking our website.

Finally, we should note again that the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts is not an add-on, a second thought, or a pet project of anyone at the College. Rather, it is an integral part of the strategic plan developed almost two years ago. That plan calls for redefining effective liberal arts education and, in so doing, improving the College and raising its visibility. The College and the Center of Inquiry are one in striving to educate young people to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely.

Return to the table of contents