Introduction to Academic Planning

The stated mission of Lewis & Clark College is “to know the traditions of the liberal arts, to test their boundaries through constant exploration, and to hand on to successive generations the tools and results of this quest.” By these means the College pursues the general aims of all liberal learning: to seek knowledge for its own sake and to prepare for active civic engagement. In this way, a Lewis & Clark education encourages each and every student to:

• practice and gain facility in critical and imaginative thinking
• have a grasp of the past and present and an acquaintance with intellectual disciplines
• learn how to learn, as part of a lifelong career of learning
• master effective written and oral communication skills
• apply knowledge to search for solutions to important problems
• become an active, informed citizen of the community, nation, and world

Knowing these values and goals may help you better appreciate why you are taking this or that required course, why it is important to strive to succeed in each of your classes, and how your educational and life goals relate back to the College’s liberal arts mission.

College is of course also a time for discovering new interests and life goals, and indeed most new LC students do not know what they want to major in or every class they want to take. Although every student is required to choose a major during the second semester of his or her sophomore year, that leaves most students ample time for exploring. Lewis & Clark’s General Education requirements in fact are there in part to foster breadth of academic exploration, experience, and learning. At the same time, it is also vitally important for you to set goals and to plan how to achieve those goals, as best you can, semester by semester. Would you like to participate in an internship program during your junior or senior year? Prepare the way through coursework, volunteering, work-study, and summer jobs. If you’d like to study on an overseas or off-campus program, plan out your four years accordingly. The more you actively plan your time at LC, the more you’ll be able to accomplish and the fewer unwanted academic and other surprises you’ll experience.

In keeping with our College’s motto—Explorare, Discere, Sociare—each of you will explore, learn, and work with others, from classroom to dorm room and from outdoors trips to overseas and other programs. Plan your four years carefully and intrepidly, reaching for and discovering all the education you can.