Communications of the ACM - Self managed systems
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For many people, computer science is not closely associated with the liberal arts. Yet “liberal arts” can denote a philosophy of education that emphasizes broadly preparing students for all aspects of their future lives, and as computing becomes more central to the ways in which we think about the world, computer science becomes correspondingly more central in such an education. This, in turn, makes computer science more important in the programs of educational institutions that follow a liberal arts philosophy. This issue of Transactions on Computing Education presents three articles that examine the intersection of computer science and the liberal arts. Walker and Kelemen explore in detail how a liberal arts philosophy complements the needs of computer science education, and how computer science as a discipline fits the goals of a liberal arts philosophy. Bruce et al. present the history of a consortium of computer scientists from liberal arts colleges and the model computer science curricula they have developed for such colleges. Finally, Baldwin et al. describe the concrete computer science programs at five institutions, each with a distinct place in the liberal arts spectrum. We hope that these articles will advance understanding of computer science in the liberal arts, and inspire readers to incorporate liberal arts principles into their own computer science programs.