Dear Friends,

More than ever, the liberal arts matter. Whether it's a political scientist looking at why social movements fail or succeed, a historian seeing the links between Civil War battles and ones being fought now, or an artist exploring aesthetic expressions of cancer, research in the liberal arts can and does affect the world.

Because research is so important to our future, we have made concerted efforts to give our undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in research with faculty members. For many years, our undergraduates have worked with professors in libraries, in labs, and in the field, but we have recently been able to increase this important activity with a will bequest from Margo Katherine Wilke (BA ’56). Just this year, we have created an internship program that is designed to nurture a lifelong interest in learning and an appreciation of the humanities and other liberal arts disciplines that were important to Margo Katherine Wilke Melichar. Undergraduate students gain an awareness of advanced research and faculty members have the chance to work with our most gifted students. This is just one example of how your generous support continues to enable us to make the Purdue experience even better.

I hope the articles in this issue do what we do best in Liberal Arts: provoke discussion, enhance knowledge, perhaps even make you revise an opinion; but most of all, I hope they will make you THiNK.

Sincerely,

Irwin Weiser
Justin S. Morrill Dean