Arts and Sciences
From the Dean of Arts and Sciences
The world is more demanding in some ways for the generation now attending college than it was for previous students. Competition for natural and financial resources is everywhere more severe. There are more college graduates competing for entry-level positions. The environment is under greater threat. Several nations (such as Brazil, China, and India) are gaining in political and economic importance, adding their languages, cultures, and societies to the agenda of knowledges to be acquired by globally successful companies, individuals, and ideas.
Bentley University is here to prepare students for this blooming, buzzing world of opportunity. At Bentley the arts and sciences and business produce a unique educational matrix in which different methods of thinking, working, and problem-solving are brought together to develop students to act and to think in context — law in the context of history, leadership in the context of ethics, accounting in the context of societal values, art in the context of finance, philosophy in the context of economics, management in the context of service to the community, and many others. A Bentley education is a unique opportunity and an approach to higher education that targets the entire human being, not just one small part of their brain.
Two exciting developments at Bentley in recent years that illustrate the focus on the entire person are the Liberal Studies Major (LSM) and Complex Problems / Creative Solutions (CPCS) as well as co-curricular activities sponsored by the Dan and Jeanne Valente Center for the Arts and Sciences.
The LSM, for example, allows students to bring together their own insights from the arts and sciences with their own perspectives on business, insights based on their classes, on conversations with their mentors, and on their life experience. Any student choosing a business or business-related major (or an arts and sciences major that requires a business component) can enroll in the LSM as a second major. The LSM brings together courses across a wide range of disciplines under the themes of “Global Perspectives,” “Ethics and Social Responsibility,” "Media Arts and Society," “Earth, Environment, and Global Sustainability,” "American Perspectives," "Health and Industry," or "Quantitative Perspectives.”
Bentley's educational philosophy and practice are based on more than our beliefs — they have been tested, refined, and proven in the careers of our graduates and with their employers. A Bentley education is multidimensional in a way that paves the way not only for professional achievement but also for engaged citizenship and a fulfilling, meaningful life in this ever more complex and challenging world.
— Daniel Everett, PhD
