This is in keeping with the mission of Florida State University to preserve, expand and disseminate “knowledge in the sciences, technology, arts, humanities, and professions, while embracing a philosophy of learning strongly rooted in the traditions of the liberal arts,” and the curriculum has been explicitly designed to help “instill the strength, skill, and character essential for lifelong learning, personal responsibility, and sustained achievement within a community that fosters free inquiry and embraces diversity.”

We are also guided by the mission of the administrative home of Liberal Studies, the Division of Undergraduate Studies, “to assure that each undergraduate student at the Florida State University receives a strong educational foundation on which to build a successful academic program of studies.”

Program Aims and Objectives

The Liberal Studies for the 21st Century curriculum is designed to expose students to the perspectives and methods of an array of fields outside of their intended major. In allowing students to take courses with faculty who participate in cutting-edge scholarly and creative work across a wide range of disciplines, this curriculum seeks to broaden a student’s view of the world and expand their thinking about how different academic communities approach key questions and problems. This comprehensive program also provides students with the intellectual and practical foundation for success in their major courses while fostering learning and growth over a student’s life course

Liberal Studies courses help students develop higher-order and critical thinking, intellectual flexibility, ethical judgement, a sense of inquiry, and information literacy and fluency, regardless of major or background. These courses also offer students the opportunity to study specific topics and issues that they might not have an opportunity to explore in their major program.

Through its various components, the Liberal Studies for the 21st Century curriculum offers a transformative experience, helping FSU students to become:

• critical analyzers of quantitative and logical problems;
• critical readers and clear, creative, and convincing communicators;
• critical appraisers of theories and the facts that support them;
• thoughtful patrons of and participants in cultural practices;
• ethically engaged and socially responsible citizens;
• culturally conscious participants in a global community;
• lifelong and independent learners; and
• interdisciplinary and flexible thinkers.

We invite you to explore our website to learn more about the curriculum and read about the many interesting and engaging Liberal Studies courses!