Welcome to Liberal Arts Gateway!
The Liberal Arts Gateway’s aspiration is to equip students through deep engagement with the liberal arts with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a pluralistic society.
Departments & Programs
Liberal Arts Gateway Courses by Department
The Liberal Arts Gateway prepares students to live a good life. Living a good life is living an aware, informed life. This is what Aristotle endorses when he suggests that the sign of an educated mind is sufficient knowledge in as many fields of inquiry as necessary to see connections. For this reason, the aspiration to prepare students for full participation in a pluralistic society must include not merely a deep engagement in a discipline, but engagement in learning across the full range of skill and knowledge domains, from the human and heuristic sciences to an understanding of natural and mathematical worlds.
Program Effectiveness Reports
What is Liberal Arts Gateway?
LEAD Classroom Guiding Principles
CURIOSITY
Foster open inquiry, intellectual engagement, and exploration across disciplines.
- Open-mindedness – willingness to consider unfamiliar ideas
- Balanced and Critical Thinking – ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information from multiple sources
- Engagement/Motivation – enthusiastic and proactive attitude toward learning, persistence, and showing genuine interest in intellectual work
- Inspiration – be exposed to compelling ideas, stories, or experiences that fuel learning and creativity
- Strategic Thinking – plan thoughtfully, recognize patterns, set long-term goals based on informed decisions
INTEGRITY
Ground knowledge and actions in ethics, accountability, and self-awareness.
- Honesty – truthfulness in communication and actions, especially in academic and professional contexts
- Ethics/Morality – adhere to moral principles that guide behavior in both personal and societal contexts
- Self-awareness – understand one’s own values, emotions, and biases, and how they influence behavior and decision-making
- Personal Responsibility – identify and apply ethical principles and practices to decision-making by connecting choices, actions, and consequences
- Evidence – research-based inquiry, flexible thinking, awareness of biases, learning from mistakes, and attention to nuance and context
- Decision-Making – make choices guided by evidence and ethical considerations
- Data and Digital Literacy – find, interpret, and ethically use information from digital sources
COMPASSION
Cultivate empathy and a recognition of our common humanity.
- Empathy – understand and share the feelings, perspectives, and experiences of others
- Civic Responsibility – analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, have knowledge of civic responsibility, and be able to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities
- Global Citizenship – analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, have knowledge of civic responsibility, and be able to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities
- Relationship Building – develop meaningful, respectful, and collaborative connections with others
- Storytelling – use stories/narratives to communicate lived experiences, build empathy, and foster human connection across cultural and ideological divides
RESILIENCE
Encourage adaptability, collaboration, and perseverance in pursuit of personal and collective growth.
- Determination – persevere in the face of challenges, guided by purpose and vision
- Personal Accountability – hold oneself to shared standards of behavior and responsibility
- Collaboration and Teamwork – work productively and respectfully with others to achieve shared goals
- Progress – track one’s academic and intellectual progress and take responsibility for one’s own learning
Liberal Arts Gateway Information for
Students & Advisors
Want to learn more about the Liberal Arts Gateway experience? Watch our student testimonials video above and select from the following list:
Curiositas
Curiositas is a student-run journal dedicated to showcasing student work from Austin Community College that demonstrates the curiositas, an intense, almost meddlesome curiosity at the heart of courses dedicated to studying the liberal arts.
**Curiositas is sponsored by Liberal Arts Gateway.**
Curiositas
Academic Journal
Undergraduate Research Symposium
The undergraduate research symposium provides a platform for faculty and students from diverse disciplines to present their research projects, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange. The symposium encourages projects that bridge disciplines, incorporate high impact practices, and offer solutions and insights that have the potential to shape the future. More information about the 2026 symposium will be shared soon
The Dean’s Vision
Guiding Principles
The mission of the Liberal Arts Gateway is to save civilization by equipping students for productive lives in a pluralistic society. The image of the gateway is a metaphor of our aspiration: Every gateway opens into a pathway . . .
Liberal Arts Gateway
Faculty Leadership
Dr. Brinda Roy
Chair, Liberal Arts Gateway
Professor of English
broy@austincc.edu
Arun John
Associate Dean, LEAD
Associate Professor of English
ajohn@austincc.edu