Student uses lab machines to conduct research

Liberal arts

The value of the liberal arts

What is all the buzz about the liberal arts? The “liberal” in liberal arts refers to liberty or freedom, in the sense of increasing knowledge and skills as a way to free your mind. The “arts” in liberal arts stands for the various areas of study, such as humanities, the social sciences, and the natural and physical sciences, including mathematics. St. Norbert College offers an exceptional liberal arts education that lays the groundwork for a life of meaning and purpose.

Our core liberal arts college curriculum explores connections between topics in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and the arts. Creating a solid grounding across these disciplines helps you synthesize helpful information from different sources. For example, the courses you take in environmental science can help you as an international business and language area studies major, because you will know how to evaluate major trends in extreme weather when you are planning for future business needs. Likewise, the courses you take in psychology can help you as a data analytics major, because you’ll build skills to see the story behind the numbers as it connects to human behavior.

No matter what area of study you choose, SNC gives you the tools needed to assess empirical claims, interpret cultural expressions, integrate knowledge from different disciplines, collaborate with others and confront ethical dilemmas in a thoughtful way. You’ll become an informed and insightful leader, ready to adapt to a variety of positions.

Because you want a degree that prepares you for your career — not just your first job.
Because you want someone to teach you how to think, not what to think.
Because it’ll help you explore and confirm your beliefs and values, creating context for issues that you’ll face in your life. Ethics and critical thinking are essential parts of the liberal arts education you’ll receive at SNC.
Because it will help you look critically at the world while affirming your beliefs and strengthening your personal convictions. SNC’s core liberal arts college curriculum was designed to help you understand complex global problems we face.
Because it will provide you with the tools to improve your community. That means learning to engage with the forces of change, be they cultural, religious, political, scientific or technological. SNC’s curriculum fosters advanced problem-solving skills.

You’ll earn a “future-proof” degree at SNC. Our core liberal arts college curriculum trains your mind to be agile enough to handle career curveballs. Plus, U.S. News & World Report ranks SNC among the best 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation at #93.
At SNC, we'll teach you how to communicate your ideas effectively, both verbally and through your writing. Our small class sizes mean that you’ll spend a lot of time involved in discussion, which challenges you to synthesize the information you’ve learned. We’ll help you learn better ways to ask questions, more impactful means of expressing your thoughts and ideas, and effective techniques for finding creative solutions to complex problems.
Service-learning plays an integral role in our liberal arts curriculum. Through the Sturzl Center, we work with faculty to help develop coursework that includes an academic service-learning component. We also create co-curricular service opportunities for community outreach. This translates into adults who look for ways to give back to their community through their career or by volunteering.
Our commitment to our Catholic and Norbertine traditions sets us apart from many other strong liberal arts colleges. The central aim of the liberal arts, to educate the whole person for the highest levels of meaning in all aspects of life, is more fully realized in an educational setting where we contemplate what we deeply value.

Employers look for candidates with strong communication and critical thinking skills, adaptability, leadership skills and the ability to problem-solve. Developing these capabilities is the focus of a liberal arts education.
The skills that you learn at SNC will allow you to keep pace with an ever-changing job market. If that’s not reason enough, a recent study by Georgetown University pointed out that the median return on investment for liberal arts colleges is nearly $200,000 higher than the median for all colleges.