2003-2005 - Special Collections - University of Baltimore

YALE GORDON COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
Dr. Carl W. Stenberg, Dean
Dr. Irvin Brown, Associate Dean
Dr. Margaret Potthast, Assistant Dean
Suzanne Behr, M.A., Director ofAcademic Advising
PROFESSIONAL APPUCATIONS IN "HE LIBERAL ARTS
The Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts, an upper-division and graduate institution,
awards bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees rhat combine traditional liberal arts and
professional studies. This combination, emphasizing inter- and cross-disciplinary work,
makes rhe College unique among rhe institutions wirhin the University System of
Maryland and allows students to pursue academic programs rhat prepare them for rhe
work of the world as well as for rhe life of the mind.
The College was founded in 1937 as a junior college emphasizing the liberal arts. In
1961, it became a four-year institution offering day and evening classes, and offered its
first graduate program in 1974. Since 1975, it has been an upper-division college and
graduate school.
In 1982, the College was named for Yale Gordon, a University of Baltimore alumnus
and businessman who understood the central importance of the humanities in higher
education and in the life ofa community. Thus, wirh his wife, he established the Peggy
and Yale Gordon Trust, which supports organizations, including the Yale Gordon
College, that are dedicated to advancing the humanities. Along wirh this endowment
from the Gordon Trust, the College is supported by a Challenge Grant from the National
Endowment for rhe Humanities and by endowment grants from the Hearst Foundation,
rhe Helen P. Denit Foundation, rhe Klein Family, and others. Support for developing the
General Education Core Curriculum was provided by a planning grant from rhe
National Endowment for the Humanities and by rhe Fund for the Improvement of
Postsecondary Education.
The College's mission is to advance professional applications of the liberal arts, that is ,
to define and explore the linkages between the intellectual and rhe practical, the theoretical
and the functional, and to apply rhe insights and critical perspectives of rhe liberal
arts disciplines to professional studies. The nature of the College, which offers only graduate
and advanced undergraduate programs, helps make this concentrated, innovative
focus possible.
The purpose, strengths, and offerings of the Yale Gordon College are targeted toward
students who are interested in establishing and/or advancing their careers in specific areas
in the humanities and social sciences. Most graduate students in the college work full- or
part-time, and most classes take place in rhe evenings, some on weekends. Student services
are also available during evening hours.
The College places considerable importance on research and public service as well as on
teaching. Theoretical and applied research among faculty members enhances the quality of
the academic programs and represents a significant benefit to students, and in several
areas, faculty members enjoy national recognition for rheir work. As a public institution,
the College recognizes its responsibility to the state and the Baltimore metropolitan area
and carries out this responsibility in numerous ways, notably through rhe work of the
Schaefer Center for Public Policy, rhe Institute for Language, Technology, and Publications
Design, rhe Center for Negotiations and Conflict Management, the Center for
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