CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT LIBERAL ARTS AND THE FUTURE OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION May 10-11, 1996 The Banff Centre for Conferences Banff, Alberta, Canada 2nd International Conference Sponsored by: Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Liberal Arts (CIRLA) University education is no longer simply the concern of professional educators. It has now entered the public forum as an object of political discussion. The issues are well known: What form should public support of universities take? How should the university be held accountable for that support? How do we determine the significance and relevance of the education being offered? What is the relationship between academic freedom and tenure? Related to these issues is the role of the liberal arts and sciences in university education. Once assumed to be the cornerstone of higher education, the liberal arts and sciences have become the focus of intense political and social doubt and debate within the university, within government, and within society in general. Demands for more specialized and more practical knowledge suggest that the liberal arts are the luxury of an elite class. At the same time, however, the ever-increasing need to work across disciplines points to the potential usefulness of both the skills that the liberal arts develop, as well as the issues they address. Are the liberal arts vestiges of a lost era? Are they a ray of hope in a future of uncertainty? What, if not the liberal arts, is to count as the cornerstone of higher education? Is the very notion of a cornerstone itself anachronistic? What role do the liberal arts have within the university and (post-)modern society? The purpose of this conference is to explore recent developments in the relation between liberal arts and the university, the polis and society. But we are not only interested in conversation about the liberal arts; we also hope to foster conversation within the liberal arts, as the following topics indicate. Papers or abstracts may be submitted on any of these topics (NOTE: this list is not exhaustive, but is meant to give an idea of some relevant issues. If you have an idea for a paper or session that is not included here, please contact the director of CIRLA): University education, politics, and society - The role of the university in contemporary society - Government policy on education: What kind of citizens do we want? Who governs education? - Does the economic demand for flexible institutions mean that tenure is outmoded? - Technology, media, and the liberal arts: What are the implications of technology and the media on the shape and priorities of university education? Contemporary university education and the liberal arts and sciences - Are the liberal arts and sciences relevant (to the university, to society, to the student) anymore? - What relation is there between the liberal arts and sciences and practical education? - What relations do the liberal arts and sciences have to contemporary developments in continental philosophy? - Reinventing liberal arts: How have the liberal arts changed, and how must they change, if they are to meet contemporary challenges? Border wars within the academy - Science and the social construction of knowledge: With the publication of books like Higher Superstition, some scientists have returned fire in what they consider to be an attack on science by the humanities. How does this debate affect the university? - Tensions and opportunities in interdisciplinary research and teaching: Is co-operation possible or even desirable? If so, how? - The character of the university and the liberal arts: What types of knowledge or investigation are legitimately part of the liberal arts? Is there a way of deciding at all? Diversity and unity - Gender and tradition: Women's studies and the liberal arts. - The classroom is the world: Reflecting diversity and fostering conversation among race, religion, and/or ethnicity. - What's worth reading/viewing anymore? Ongoing issues of canon in text, art, and idea. - Fissures and bridges in knowledge, society, family, disciplines, curriculum. If you are willing to organize a symposium on one of the listed topics or on another one, please contact us. As well, there will be a poster session, in which you may display innovations or ideas for liberal arts or interdisciplinary teaching or research expressed visually. Deadline for abstracts, draft papers, poster display proposals, or session proposals: November 30, 1995 Notification of acceptance: February 1, 1996 Deadline for completed papers: March 15, 1996 Complete registration information will be mailed in the fall of 1995. For more information, please contact: Bruce Janz, Director Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Liberal Arts (CIRLA) c/o Chris Jensen McCloy Augustana University College 4901-46 Avenue Camrose, Alberta CANADA T4V 2R3 TEL: (403)679-1502 FAX: (403)679-1129 email: [log in to unmask]