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the story of integrated liberal studies:
how the program started-why it has grown
By Robert C. Pooley '32
Chairman, ILS; Professor of English
T HE PRESENT patterns of the gen-
    eral B.A. and B.S. courses at Wis-
consin were established a dozen years
ago, after a thorough review of curricu-
lums in the University's largest college,
Letters and Science, by the Ogg Report
of 1946.
  At the end of this significant report
was buried a minority statement. It
called for an additional curriculum to
provide "a program of studies at once
more general and more integrated" than
those of the main section of the report.
This view was advanced by Professors
Stephen Lee Ely, H. Scudder Mekeel
and Merle Curti.
  The major recommendations had al-
ready received faculty approval when,
after some discussion during a faculty
meeting on the last day of January,
1946, this resolution was adopted:
  "That the faculty approve in princi-
ple the establishment of an alternate
closely integrated B.A. curriculum . . .
that the senior staff for the new course
involved be drawn chiefly, at the start,
from the present faculty; that the fac-
ulty authorize the Dean of the College
to appoint a committee to work out the
plan of this curriculum . . . to be put
into operation in the fall of 1948."
  This was the birth of Integrated Lib-
eral Studies-ILS. The committee was
formed in March of 1946, and was
called "Committee B." The members
were Homer Adkins, chemistry; Wal-
ter R. Agard, classics; Karl G. Bottke,
French; James S. Earley, economics;
a broad general education continues to
pay dividends, an alumnus reports
By Jack Rhode '53
Westinghouse Corporation, Milwaukee
S IX 7:45's and two Saturday classes.
   How terrible!
   Terrible or not, that was part of my
class schedule as a first semester fresh-
man in the ILS course. With a schedule
like that, ILS had two strikes against it
before I had ever set foot in a university
classroom but that's as far as the count
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went. From there on, ILS was one hit
after another.
  Integrated Liberal Studies. An im-
pressive sounding name, to be sure, but
just what does it mean? It means a
wonderfully new and challenging ex-
perience in higher education; a stimulat-
ing curriculum; an array of outstanding
educators; a closely knit group of stu-
dents from all walks of life, from all
parts of our country; an extremely satis-
fying educational experience that pro-
vides the student with a real "educa-
tion" and leaves him (or her) with
friends and with memories that will last
a lifetime.
  Since ILS purportedly provides the
student with an "education," it seems
appropriate to elaborate for a moment
upon just what "education" means. To
me, education means understanding; it
means understanding yourself, your fel-
low man and the world about you; it
means more than understanding just
your own specialized field of work, but
understanding the significance of hap-
penings in other fields of endeavor.
  Based on this, the "training" neces-
  Wisconsin Alumnus, March, 1958