Division of Liberal Arts
Welcome to the Division of Liberal Arts
SUNY Schenectady’s Division of Liberal Arts offers a wide variety of academic programs that provide students with the academic acumen to transfer competitively to baccalaureate institutions or to engage the workforce directly. Students wishing to transfer to a four-year program would be well served by the following programs.
Associate of Art (A.A.) degree programs in:
Liberal Arts: Humanities and Social Sciences with additional concentrations in
- Art - New for Fall 2024!
- Communications
- English
- History
- Psychology
Associate of Science (A.S.) in Human Services leading to a bachelors and later masters in Social Work.
The Division also offers career oriented Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) programs in Chemical Dependency Counseling and Human Services.
Our Certificate program in Chemical Dependency Counseling serves as the foundation for CASAC certification in the fields of substance abuse and problem gambling counseling.
Learn more about our certificate programs in Direct Support Professional and Community Health Worker.
Faculty
The Division of Liberal Arts faculty bring a tremendous wealth of knowledge and expertise to the classroom as well as years of experience working in the field. Many of our full-time faculty serve as leaders in their professional organizations, publish regularly, and win highly-competitive grants, like our latest, a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Many of the part-time faculty serve as community leaders and practitioners, owning their own businesses and professional practices. The faculty as a whole serve on numerous advisory boards, professional committees, and community groups.
The cornerstone of our faculty’s teaching is student success, with the goal that each and every student who starts their academic journey at SUNY Schenectady, with the right support, can reach their degree. Our faculty regularly challenge the brightest students with advanced material and texts, while ensuring that those students who are least confident have the support they need to complete the coursework.
Finally, our faculty understand the challenges that students face on a day to day basis. That is why many volunteer their time in our food pantry, serve as student club advisors, and participate in student events. With class sizes on average of 25 students, the division faculty have the opportunity to know students individually and thus support their students’ goals of transfer or workforce placement.
Dean’s Note
Traditionally the Liberal Arts were those subjects considered essential for a person to be a free citizen. For it is the sense of our past, and the knowledge of ourselves as persons, and our endeavors to create beauty, and our encounters with difference--our grappling to understand the perspectives of those unlike us—and finally, our struggles to stand against injustice—it is these acts that make us free. And it is the so-called soft skills of the humanities, arts, and social sciences—such skills as independent and critical thinking, the ability to make sense of complex and dynamic environments, and the ability to research and to communicate the results of that research with others—these are the skills that enable us to form cohesive communities and to build a world together. And these are also the skills that employers time and again say they most value in prospective employees. Thus, the Liberal Arts provide an essential foundation for professional, technical, and vocational education while simultaneously creating provocative, adaptive thinkers and communicators.