Liberal Education Initiative

The Currency of the Liberal Arts and Sciences: Rethinking Liberal Education in Wisconsin

System Advisory Group
on the Liberal Arts (SAGLA)

The UW System Advisory Group on the Liberal Arts consists of UW Colleges Deans, Letters & Science Deans, faculty and academic staff from throughout the UW System and UW System Administration: SAGLA Members. The Group includes representation from each of the UW System's 15 institutions.

Initially convened by Senior Vice President Cora B. Marrett in September, 2004, the original purpose and charge of the group was as follows:

"To serve as an advisory group to UW System Administration as it moves forward with The Currency of the Liberal Arts and Sciences: Rethinking Liberal Education in Wisconsin. The group will work to:

• Clarify the focus of the initiative;
• Determine what the outcomes and the activities of the initiative should be;
• Decide how the small pot of money committed to the initiative should be spent by System and the institutions;
• Identify best practices for how the UW institutions can move forward on their own to raise the profile of and improve liberal arts education in Wisconsin.

As of early 2005, the group has taken ownership of the initiative and is working to implement the initiative's goals by focusing on three distinct but interrelated activities:

• Creating campus action plans to make liberal education a more intentional part of what faculty, staff and students do as part of the educational enterprise;
• Developing a public advocacy campaign that will reach the citizens of Wisconsin;
• Collaborating with the Association of American Colleges and Universities on the LEAP or Liberal Education and America's Promise Campaign. AAC&U has chosen the UW System as its partner in this Campaign and Wisconsin as the pilot state in which to launch the Campaign's activities.