ACM off-campus study program mission
Our programs’ academic standards and curricula are rooted in the liberal arts. They emphasize the interdisciplinary educational approach, intimacy of small classes, focus on independent research, and discussion-based learning that characterize liberal arts education at ACM colleges.
The programs accelerate and deepen students’ scholarly and personal growth through structured interactions between selected topics and distinctive locations. They offer educational experiences unlike those found in conventional classrooms.
ACM offers programs for virtually every college major. In general terms, our programs fit into two broad models:
- Programs that help students make sense of the world through the liberal arts, emphasizing cultural and linguistic fluency; understanding oneself in unique spaces and places; making connections as disciplines come together in dialogue. Many of these programs offer internships; most involve independent work in the context of integrative courses. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
- Advanced research and applied study: putting the academic major to work. Work that builds on college majors and prepares students for advanced work in senior seminars, for independent capstone projects, for graduate schools, and post-baccalaureate fellowships. Open to juniors and seniors with sufficient grounding in the program subjects.
The Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), a consortium of thirteen liberal arts colleges in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Colorado, has operated unique off-campus study programs that reflect the priorities and goals of its member colleges, since 1960. Through its off-campus study programs, ACM strives to meet its larger goal of strengthening its member colleges as leaders and exemplars in liberal arts education.