University of Michigan - Flint

The Master of Liberal Studies (MLS) is offered through the College of Arts and Sciences in conjunction with the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. It offers concentrations in American Culture, and Theatre & Community.

The MLS is designed to:

• Engage students in a critical, multidisciplinary examination of contemporary American Culture/Theatre and Community
• Encourage students to explore and critique issues important to American thought and culture, such as race, gender, equality, politics, religion, and popular culture
• Give a meaningful context by offering a series of prescribed core courses which are enriched by student choices from a series of elective courses
• Help students learn research methods and techniques and apply them in a thesis or research/creative project that critically examines an issue beyond the scope of individual courses and when possible, encourages meaningful engagement in the community

The MLS is designed primarily for the part-time student with evening courses and courses that are partially online. The MLS consists of two concentrations: American Culture and Theatre & Community.

The Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies has approved the University of Michigan-Flint to being offering a Theatre & Community track in the Master of Liberal Studies program beginning in Fall 2008.

The Department of Theatre and Dance and the MLS program faculty will offer the new concentration within the existing MLS program. What is intended in the program is a combination of creating a sense of community through the arts and including local communities in that process. There is strong evidence that a demand exists within the UM-Flint service region for this special graduate program in theatre. This demand is clearly delineated by the support of materials from area theatres, schools, museums, and recent UM-Flint Alumni who live in the Greater Flint Metropolitan area.