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Women's Studies-directed MALS

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The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) offered at West Virginia University is an interdisciplinary degree that provides the opportunity for highly-motivated students to continue their studies in the liberal arts beyond the baccalaureate within a coherent, structured program, but without an exclusive concentration in one discipline.  Studies for this degree should focus primarily on theoretical issues in the fine arts, the social sciences, and the humanities (English, foreign languages, history, philosophy, religious studies, women's studies).
     This is a highly personalized degree program that allows applicants to create their own unique interdisciplinary programs of study.  Topics might include area studies, such as American studies, Appalachian studies, and French culture; period studies, such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the American Revolution; or other special interests, such as ethnic and race studies, media studies, or women's studies, that tie together work in various areas.  Such topics, by their nature, cross disciplinary lines and may require courses in several academic units.
     Topics of study within the MALS program are limited only by the student's imaginations and the breadth of the course offerings that are available in the relevant graduate programs at WVU.
     This program is administered by a multi-disciplinary committee, which is appointed by the program director and approved by the dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.  This five member committee serves as the program's admissions committee and plays a role which is, in some ways, like that of an academic department in a more traditional degree program.  WVU faculty members from a wide range of disciplines, both within and outside of the Eberly college, effectively serve as the faculty for the program, and many of those faculty members are eligible to serve as members of a MALS student's Master's Committee.