Education for an Engaged Citizenry

The Hutchins School of Liberal Studies

By: Debora Hammond

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This collection of reflections from faculty and alumni of the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at Sonoma State University celebrates 50 years of a unique and transformative approach to undergraduate education. Named in honor of Robert Maynard Hutchins, who was a leading advocate of reform and innovation in higher education, the Hutchins School provides a compelling model of the kind of integrative and interactive teaching and learning that is essential for the preservation of democratic culture. In his 1988 book, 'How to Get an Ivy League Education at a State University,' Martin Lemko writes, “Hutchins is not only one of the more enduring, but one of the best interdisciplinary undergraduate programs in the country. The small seminars that teach students to listen, to rethink their position, to reexamine their personal values, to develop critical thinking skills, and to become intellectually engaged as well as verbally articulate, and the curricular emphasis on values and ethics strike me as the keys to its success.”