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Thursday, June 4, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
UM-Flint expands program to online format
School will offer
Master of Arts in
Liberal Studies
online in Fall 2015
By ALEX JUNTTI
Daily Staff Reporter
For the first time, the oldest
graduate program at the Univer-
sity of Michigan- Flint — Master
of Arts in Liberal Studies — will
be available for students in an
entirely online format. The pro-
gram will be implemented this
fall.
The new structure of the pro-
gram was conceptualized in an
effort to provide the flexibility
and tools necessary for working
adults to pursue an interdisci-
plinary graduate degree either
full time or part time.
Established in 1977 as a Rack-
ham Graduate School initiative,
the Master of Arts in Liberal
Studies program consists of 33
semester hours of graduate work
focused on a broad variety of
topics in American history and
culture, encouraging students
to explore and analyze issues
associated with national iden-
tity, such as race, gender, poli-
tics and religion. In addition,
each student must complete a
thesis and present it to a panel
of faculty and peers during the
student’s final semester.
Currently, all core courses
are available online as well as 25
approved elective courses. An
increasing amount of elective
courses will be available online
in coming semesters.
Jan Furman, director of the
Liberal Studies program, spoke
about how transitioning to an
online curriculum is helping to
broaden educational opportuni-
ties.
“It’s a part of making graduate
education available, accessible
and more democratic,” Fur-
man said. “The wonderful thing
about the program is the curric-
ular flexibility because we can
work with students to fine-tune
a curriculum that meets their
goals, but we’re now at a place
where we need to modernize
our delivery. If we still want to
reach working adults, then the
most effective way of doing that
is through online instruction.”
Frederic Svoboda, a professor
in American literature, film and
culture, added that the inter-
active online format is a great
way to draw in active learners
and expand the program’s reach
beyond the immediacy of cam-
pus.
“Really good students do just
as well online because they’re
very active, but the people in
the middle are actually pulled
in by the format and become
more active, and what we’re
hoping will happen, and what I
think will happen with the Lib-
eral Studies program online, is
that we will get a group of very
involved students or people who
really want to become involved,”
Svoboda said. “As soon as you
put the program online, the
students can be anywhere. It
really broadens the market for
the program, but it also allows
people who otherwise can’t get
to campus to still participate in
CEO
From Page 1
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Associate Prof. Hannah Wittman of the University of British Columbia
explains her work with agrarian citizenship, food sovereignty and rural
development at the Food Sovereignty Conference and Symposium at the
Dana Building last Thursday.
SUSTAINABLE FAR MING
See FLINT, Page 8
TASTE
From Page 2
this event is about our com-
munity,” Thomson said. “Our
goal is to connect people to this
downtown.”
Despite the large portion of
the student population hav-
ing left for the summer, many
remaining
students
attended
the event. Rising LSA senior Ben
Brenner is a frequent patron to
the Main Street restaurants. He
said he enjoys the more social
atmosphere of the event.
“It was definitely advertised
as more of a townie event,”
Brenner said. “A lot of the people
in my house hadn’t even heard
of it.”
Kerr
said
the
community
should take advantage of the
various eateries available in the
Ann Arbor area.
“Ann Arbor is known as a
foodie destination — over 200
restaurants are located in the
area,” Kerr said. “You may not
agree with me, but we’re prob-
ably one of the best food destina-
tions outside Chicago.”
Thompson said Taste of Ann
Arbor highlighted the growth of
the local food scene.
“The Ann Arbor food scene
has grown, and continues to
grow, over the last 10 years,”
Thomson said. “I feel like this
is another example of how the
Ann Arbor food scene has grown
and is shining and that is what’s
showcased here today.”
rated” from the University for
violating the University’s Stu-
dent Sexual Misconduct Policy
and after former Michigan coach
Brady Hoke was criticized for
his handling of sophomore quar-
terback Shane Morris’ helmet-to-
helmet hit in September 2014.
Brandon’s resignation came days
after MGoBlog.com <a href=http://
www.michigandaily.com/sports/
michigan-wolverines-football-
athletic-director-dave-brandon-
resigns-timeline>reported</a>
Brandon had responded to fans’
e-mails in ways many considered
unprofessional. The e-mails con-
tained messages such as, “I suggest
you find a new team to support. I
really don’t care about your opin-
ions,” and “Quit drinking and go to
bed.”
Per the terms of agreement
for his resignation, Brandon was
scheduled to receive a $3-million
settlement over four years from the
University. However, according to
the agreement, the University can
lower the settlement amount based
on income he would receive from a
new job.
Before his tenure as athletic
director, Brandon built a business
career in Southeast Michigan.
He served as the CEO of Valas-
sis Communications from 1989 to
1999, then held the same position at
Domino’s Pizza from 1999 to 2010.
Bain Capital, the Boston-based
investment firm that hired Bran-
don at Domino’s when it acquired
the company, is also the primary
owner of Toys “R” Us.
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