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Birmingham-Southern College Catalog 2015-2016
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GENERAL INFORMATION
international study-travel, service learning, and faculty-student research
collaborations. We also provide for tutorials and independent study
through which students may pursue topics of special interest in close
cooperation with a faculty member.
Our obligation as a liberal arts college is to help students develop the
capacity to make and communicate responsible decisions based on
information accurately gathered and astutely analyzed. Faculty take this
responsibility seriously and work to direct students toward developing
skills in reading, writing, and speaking; in understanding the methods
and principles of the sciences and their significance in the modern world;
in cultivating appreciation of the arts; in understanding and appreciating
diversity in spiritual, social, political, and economic institutions and
heritage; and in achieving competence in at least one field of knowledge
that will help prepare each student for his or her chosen profession
or vocation. These skills and dispositions serve students well whether
they choose to major in a traditional liberal arts field or one of our pre-
professional programs. Our commitment to the assessment of student
learning ensures that these goals are met.
Our faculty is composed of a talented and well-qualified group of men
and women who recognize effective teaching as their primary obligation
to the College. In class they present well-informed, up-to-date material
pertinent to their disciplines and strive to actively engage students with that
material. Out of class they make themselves available for student inquiries,
individual instruction, and directed research. We believe personal attention
to individual academic concerns and needs is an essential factor in the
effectiveness of our teaching and it allows us to continue to enhance the
healthy intellectual environment at the College.
While all faculty are concerned with students’ scholastic progress, each
student is assigned one faculty member to serve as an academic advisor.
Academic advisors help students to define individual interests and
academic goals, assist with planning course schedules, evaluate progress
toward the degree, and direct students toward other opportunities that
complement their academic studies.
Because of its size, Birmingham-Southern College enjoys a small student-
faculty ratio. That, combined with a genuine concern on the part of the
faculty for the intellectual and personal welfare of our students, creates an
atmosphere in which many advisor-advisee relationships become ones of
friendly understanding and mutual respect.