Oscar Page Gives the Carlson Memorial Lecture

A.  J. Carlson

Vicki and I attended the A. J. Carlson Lecture at Austin College on September 10th. The speaker was Austin College President Emeritus Oscar Page, who is also a historian. During the time of his presidency at the college, he also held the rank of Professor of History. Dr. Page's topic was The Changing Nature of the Liberal Arts: The Impact on the Traditional Liberal Arts Colleges." In so doing, he explored the various models of liberal arts colleges, especially the broad-based reliance on the humanities as a central core. The traditional liberal arts college may be a model no longer relevant. In 1950, he noted, 50% of American college students attended a liberal arts college. Today, 4%. That figure does take into account the tremendous expansion of public universities and junior colleges over the last 60 years, while liberal arts colleges have shrunk in number. Nonetheless, Dr. Page issued a clarion call for change. All must center about what is "necessary." Liberal arts colleges should not debate what constitutes the liberal arts. Instead, they should concentrate of what is necessary to know and fine innovative ways to deliver it. He reviewed innovative programs at about half dozen liberal arts colleges that are doing this. 

This lecture honors the late A. J. Carlson, our colleague in the history department. He joined the Austin College faculty in 1962 and retired in 1994. He was active in the campus community until his death in 2014.