{"id":260,"date":"2014-11-17T20:53:23","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T01:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/?p=260"},"modified":"2015-11-19T18:27:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T23:27:32","slug":"science-faculty-weigh-in-on-why-liberal-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/news\/science-faculty-weigh-in-on-why-liberal-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Science Faculty Weigh in on &#8220;Why Liberal Arts?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Marcus Hughes &#8217;18\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When I told my friends at home that I was going to Williams College to study science, some of them asked me why I was choosing not to go to a STEM-oriented college. Their curiosity got me thinking.<\/p>\n<p>Why study science at a liberal arts institution? Why teach science at a liberal arts institution? \u00a0What are the benefits of a liberal arts education for science students?<\/p>\n<p>To explore these questions, we decided to survey the Williams science faculty to find out why they teach at Williams and what they think about liberal arts. \u00a0Many of the responses confirmed what we already know, while others highlighted the pros and cons of a Williams education specifically for science students.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">Click on the word clouds below to find out more!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- index.php -->\n<div\n\tclass=\"ngg-galleryoverview\n\t ngg-ajax-pagination-none\t\"\n\tid=\"ngg-gallery-99eef3c11fe65f8cba14ef171f0401a1-1\">\n\n\t\t\t<!-- Thumbnails -->\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-0\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/whylibarts.png\"\n\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Why do professors teach at a liberal arts institutions? Because of the students. This graphic represents the most common words professors used when explaining why they chose to teach at liberal arts institution. They want to devote their full attention to undergraduate teaching and research with students who have a multitude of interests.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-src=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/whylibarts.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/thumbs\/thumbs_whylibarts.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-title=\"Why Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-description=\"Why do professors teach at a liberal arts institutions? Because of the students. This graphic represents the most common words professors used when explaining why they chose to teach at liberal arts institution. They want to devote their full attention to undergraduate teaching and research with students who have a multitude of interests.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-slug=\"whylibarts\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"99eef3c11fe65f8cba14ef171f0401a1\">\n\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Why Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Why Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/cache\/whylibarts.png-nggid014-ngg0dyn-120x90x100-00f0w010c011r110f110r010t010.png\"\n\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"120\"\n\t\t\t\t\theight=\"90\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"max-width:100%;\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-1\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-12.57.23-PM.png\"\n\t\t\t\ttitle=\"This story from a member of the neuroscience faculty highlights the essence of a liberal arts science education.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-src=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-12.57.23-PM.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/thumbs\/thumbs_Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-12.57.23-PM.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-id=\"7\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-title=\"Quote 1\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-description=\"This story from a member of the neuroscience faculty highlights the essence of a liberal arts science education.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-slug=\"screen-shot-2014-11-17-at-12-57-23-pm\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"99eef3c11fe65f8cba14ef171f0401a1\">\n\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Quote 1\"\n\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Quote 1\"\n\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/cache\/Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-12.57.23-PM.png-nggid017-ngg0dyn-120x90x100-00f0w010c011r110f110r010t010.png\"\n\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"120\"\n\t\t\t\t\theight=\"90\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"max-width:100%;\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-2\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/benefit_histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Scientific studies often have very narrow scope, so narrow that a biologist might be clueless about the meanings of key words in an astronomy paper. A liberal arts education gives science students a broad background, allowing them to approach any scientific field - and many other fields, for that matter. Within a close community, students can explore both scientific and non-scientific interests.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-src=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/benefit_histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/thumbs\/thumbs_benefit_histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-id=\"1\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-title=\"Benefits of Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-description=\"Scientific studies often have very narrow scope, so narrow that a biologist might be clueless about the meanings of key words in an astronomy paper. A liberal arts education gives science students a broad background, allowing them to approach any scientific field - and many other fields, for that matter. Within a close community, students can explore both scientific and non-scientific interests.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-slug=\"benefit_histogram\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"99eef3c11fe65f8cba14ef171f0401a1\">\n\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Benefits of Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Benefits of Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/cache\/benefit_histogram.png-nggid011-ngg0dyn-120x90x100-00f0w010c011r110f110r010t010.png\"\n\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"120\"\n\t\t\t\t\theight=\"90\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"max-width:100%;\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-3\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/drawbacks_histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Faculty members mentioned that preparation for graduate school is relatively less extensive at Williams, partly due to the fact that only about 9-10 courses are required for most majors. However, many students take more courses than required, and this relatively narrow scope is offset by experiences gained in other fields. Another drawback frequently mentioned was lack of graduate lab students who can act as role models and mentors to undergrads. That being said, about a fifth of respondents believe there are no drawbacks to a liberal arts education for science students.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-src=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/drawbacks_histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/thumbs\/thumbs_drawbacks_histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-id=\"2\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-title=\"Drawbacks of Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-description=\"Faculty members mentioned that preparation for graduate school is relatively less extensive at Williams, partly due to the fact that only about 9-10 courses are required for most majors. However, many students take more courses than required, and this relatively narrow scope is offset by experiences gained in other fields. Another drawback frequently mentioned was lack of graduate lab students who can act as role models and mentors to undergrads. That being said, about a fifth of respondents believe there are no drawbacks to a liberal arts education for science students.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-slug=\"drawbacks_histogram\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"99eef3c11fe65f8cba14ef171f0401a1\">\n\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Drawbacks of Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Drawbacks of Liberal Arts\"\n\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/cache\/drawbacks_histogram.png-nggid012-ngg0dyn-120x90x100-00f0w010c011r110f110r010t010.png\"\n\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"120\"\n\t\t\t\t\theight=\"90\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"max-width:100%;\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-4\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Depending on their field and the years they&#039;ve taught at Williams, faculty members have worked with different numbers of students. However, as one respondent stated, student-professor interactions are defined by &quot;quality, not quantity.&quot; When talking about why they chose to teach at Williams, professors mentioned that they wanted to interact with both science majors and non-majors, work with smaller groups of students, and mentor students from the beginning to the end of their college careers.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-src=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/thumbs\/thumbs_histogram.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-id=\"3\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-title=\"Students Worked With\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-description=\"Depending on their field and the years they&#039;ve taught at Williams, faculty members have worked with different numbers of students. However, as one respondent stated, student-professor interactions are defined by &quot;quality, not quantity.&quot; When talking about why they chose to teach at Williams, professors mentioned that they wanted to interact with both science majors and non-majors, work with smaller groups of students, and mentor students from the beginning to the end of their college careers.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-slug=\"histogram\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"99eef3c11fe65f8cba14ef171f0401a1\">\n\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Students Worked With\"\n\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Students Worked With\"\n\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/cache\/histogram.png-nggid013-ngg0dyn-120x90x100-00f0w010c011r110f110r010t010.png\"\n\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"120\"\n\t\t\t\t\theight=\"90\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"max-width:100%;\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"ngg-image-5\" class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ngg-gallery-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-3.50.26-PM.png\"\n\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Ultimately, everyone has to think like a scientist or use scientific tools at some point. Liberal arts exposes students to topics they never dreamed of studying, enriching their future interests, whatever they may be.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-src=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-3.50.26-PM.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/thumbs\/thumbs_Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-3.50.26-PM.png\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-id=\"8\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-title=\"Quote 2\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-description=\"Ultimately, everyone has to think like a scientist or use scientific tools at some point. Liberal arts exposes students to topics they never dreamed of studying, enriching their future interests, whatever they may be.\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-image-slug=\"screen-shot-2014-11-17-at-3-50-26-pm\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ngg-fancybox\" rel=\"99eef3c11fe65f8cba14ef171f0401a1\">\n\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Quote 2\"\n\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Quote 2\"\n\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/624\/files\/why_liberal_arts\/cache\/Screen-Shot-2014-11-17-at-3.50.26-PM.png-nggid018-ngg0dyn-120x90x100-00f0w010c011r110f110r010t010.png\"\n\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"120\"\n\t\t\t\t\theight=\"90\"\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"max-width:100%;\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<!-- Pagination -->\n\t\t<div class='ngg-clear'><\/div>\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Marcus Hughes &#8217;18\u00a0 When I told my friends at home that I was going to Williams College to study science, some of them asked me why I was choosing not to go to a STEM-oriented college. Their curiosity got me thinking. Why study science at a liberal arts institution? Why teach science at a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/news\/science-faculty-weigh-in-on-why-liberal-arts\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Science Faculty Weigh in on &#8220;Why Liberal Arts?&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1004,"featured_media":283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21878],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/scientephic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}