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Sarah Lawrence, a coeducational liberal arts college,
offers a unique education to students who want to shape their own
curriculum with the guidance of a talented faculty. Sarah Lawrence
was the first college in the United States to propose that education
should be shaped to fit individuals and have a sustained commitment
to their needs and talents, and the first to realize that genuine
learning engages the imagination as well as the intellect. Other
innovations include:
• A seminar/conference system where students learn in small
interactive classes (limited to 15 students) and private tutorials.
Student/faculty ratio of 6:1 is one of the lowest in the country.
• Faculty advisers, called dons, with whom students work to
design individual programs of study. The don also teaches the student's
First Year Studies Seminar, meets weekly with first-year students,
and provides ongoing guidance throughout the undergraduate years.
• Written evaluations for coursework, with grades kept on
file for graduate school
applications only.
• No graduate assistants, instructors, or adjunct lecturers.
Each professor is fully a teacher, available to first-year through
fourth-year students.
Sarah Lawrence endows students with the efficacy and will to make
a difference in their own lives and in other’s. They are given
the resources and support needed to study their areas of interest
with intensity and to explore the moral, social, and political implications
of the subjects studied. The College believes that an educated human
being is one who combines skepticism with reverence, who will question
everything but the dignity and worth of others, and who recognizes
an obligation to serve the larger community.
The College was a pioneer in incorporating field work into its curriculum.
Students can arrange to receive academic credit for interning at
numerous social and political organizations if they work with a
faculty member to explore and write about an academic aspect of
their experience. Past field-work sites include the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Landmark Preservation
Commission, and the Mount Sinai Center for Occupational and Environmental
Medicine. Theater and dance students participate in outreach groups
that work with area public schools.
In an expansion of its field-work option, Sarah Lawrence has service/learning
courses in which all class participants do field-work in a social
service or public policy organization; their combined experiences
are formally integrated into the course content. The Community Partnerships
& Service Learning Program provides students with the opportunity
to learn about and engage in social change through course study,
community-based learning placements, immersion trips, advising,
and service projects. The program serves as a hub for students and
faculty interested in working for social changes in Yonkers, Westchester
County, and New York City.
Sarah Lawrence prepares students for global citizenship —
to meet the challenges of living and learning in a multicultural
world. In recognition of this, the College is a member of the International
50, a select group of schools that graduate a disproportionately
high number of people entering careers in international affairs,
or areas of government or academia with an international focus.
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Public
Policy
Political Science
Sociology
Area Studies
Environmental Studies
International Studies
Science, Technology and Society
Women's Studies
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