UIS Liberal Studies ProgramPhotos of Students and Faculty

course list

All LIS majors MUST take the following:

  • LIS 301 Self-Directed Learning* (4 hours)
  • LIS 451 Senior Seminar (2 hours)

Four additional hours must be selected from the following interdisciplinary electives:

  • LIS 342 Conducting Liberal Studies Research (Online, 2 Hours)
  • LIS 360 and 460 Special Topics in LIS (Online, 4 hours)

Exploration of liberal studies topics relating to Boyer Categories. You may enroll in LIS 360 and 460 mulitple times as long as the topic varies.

Themes in Western Culture - The course aims to improve knowledge and appreciation of themes in western culture.  Readings are selected from a wide range of authors who are generally considered to be part of the cultural and literary heritance.  The rationale is that a good education is a life long asset and  enriches  life and living.

Stress And You - Stress is one of the major public health issues in America today. Stress contributes to heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, substance abuse, interpersonal violence, unsuccessful interpersonal relationships, etc. In addition, absenteeism, turnover and loss of productivity as well as work-related accidents cost businesses billions of dollars each year. Students will study the causes and consequences of stress socially and personally. In addition, students will complete a self-assessment, develop a stress reduction program and learn holistic approaches to stress reduction.

Memiors Across Cultures - This is a course about reading, analyzing, writing, and redefining memoir. Autobiographical writings look at the inner life of the authors as well as the outer events. They can be told in the first, second, or third person, or from multiple narrative perspectives. We will read life stories from different cultures and written in different times. Their lengths vary from one page to over three hundred page. Most of the memoirs we will read focus on a specific time period and/or important persons or events in one’s life. We will examine how historical context, cultural memories, and identities are represented in these personal narratives, and in the process redefine the genre of memoir.

Expatriate Paris 1900-1940 - This course will study the works of artists and writers from all over the world who settled in Paris between 1900 and 1940. We will concentrate on works by Foujita, Modigliani, Chagal, Picasso, Brancusi, Hemingwary, Henry James, Bunin, Tsvetaeva, Appolinaire.

Verbal Arts in the Community - Language makes us who we are. It structures the way we speak, read, and write but, more importantly, the way we thnk and, indeed, our social interactions as a whole. Thus, as the creative manifestations of human language, the verbal arts are important to how we understand ourselves and those around us. The verbal arts are particularly important to our local communities. They express a community's values and desires and provide a thread that weaves together its social fabric. In this course, we will investigate exactly how that occurs, and you will go beyond the limits of the classroom to participate in the verbal arts in your local community. (While there are plans to offer this class as LIS 360, it is currently being offered as ENG 370. This class meets an ECCE Engagement Experience requirement.)

Serving Up Art - A learning opportunity for Liberal Studies students who are interested in exploring art and service.  This online service learning class will ask participants to collectively explore the question “What is art?” and develop a philosophy of art that each participant  will then individually express.  Participants will also explore the concept of “community service” and develop a personal philosophy of service.  Students  will  explore their community for a personal service project to undertake, prepare a proposal, seek out a sponsor (agency, school, business,) and implement a project to help others in their community “see” art.  Although participants will be implementing  individual projects, their online community will continue to interact and share ideas and offer suggestions, support and advice.

Philosophy of Business - How can we do well in any endeavor unless we understand what we are doing? What you believe about business affects both your choice of career path and your opinion on business ethics and regulation. Most business ethics courses spend the entire course examining ethics, but not the underlying institution. Most business courses focus on the tools for success, but not on the nature of that success. This course is meant to compliment these other courses by focusing on the question “What is Business?”. The course takes a multi-disciplinary approach and examines business in history, philosophy, management theory, and literature. This course is meant for both business majors interested in humanities related to their discipline, and humanities majors wishing to learn more about business.

The Beatles: Popular Music and Society - The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of not only the Beatles and their musical accomplishments, but also the impact they had and are having on popular music and society.
Toward that end, we will listen to their music, watch videos of their work and hear their comments on that work, as well as read some of the best writing on the Beatles.
There are over 10,000 books that might be read, so those chosen as required texts are intended as the best of the best.

LIS 471 Honors Thesis (Online/On Campus, 2 hours)

  • LIS 380 Exploration of Learning Resources (Online/On Campus, 2 - 8 hours)
  • LIS 499 Independent Study: Tutorial (Online/On Campus, 2 - 6 hours)
  • BUS 303 Current Issues in Business: A Liberal Studies Perspective (not currently offered )
  • COM 421 Interpersonal Communication (On Campus, 4 hours)
  • COM 458  Media from a Liberal Arts Perspective (Online, 4 hours)
  • COM  480  Relational Communication (On Campus, 4 hours) [COM 480 is a topics course.  Only sections titled Relational Communication may be used toward the elective requirement.]
  • ENG 379 Writing for Social and Behavioral Sciences (not currently offered )
  • ENG 474  Professional and Technical Writing (Alternates Online/On Campus, 4 hours)
  • PHI 301 Critical Thinking (Alternates Online/On Campus, 4 hours)
  • PHI 452 Perspectives On Human Nature (Online, 4 hours)
  • POS 410 Public Policy Processes (On Campus, 4 hours)
  • PSY 302 Research Methods in Psychology (On Campus, 4 hours)
  • PSY 313 Critical Thinking (Online, 4 hours)
  • SOA 302 Understanding Other Cultures (4 hours)
  • SOA 428 Culture, Health, and Power (Online, 4 hours)
  • UNI 460 Global Experience Seminar (On Campus, 4-18 hours)
  • UNI 470 Global Exchange Program (On Campus, 8-18 hours)
  • UNI 480 Global Experience Program (On Campus, 6-18 hours)
  • UNI 401 Library Research Methods (Online, 2 hours)

*LIS 301 must be completed before enrolling in additional coursework toward the major.

Please consult the Online Course History (on Advising page) to learn more about specific course descriptions.

Back to top