Arizona International College
| Type | liberal arts |
|---|---|
| Active | 1996–2005 |
| Provost | Paul Rosenblatt |
| Location | Tucson, Arizona |
Arizona International College (AIC) was an American liberal arts college in Tucson, Arizona, that existed from 1996–2005.
In the 1990s Arizona's public university system hosted two large public universities in Tucson and Phoenix (University of Arizona and Arizona State University), the smaller Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and a number of community colleges. There was no teaching-intensive, liberal arts college. In 1990, the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) began exploring the establishment of a liberal arts institution, in part due to anticipated growth in student numbers in the state. A formal proposal was made in 1994.
AIC was established as "Arizona International University" in an old IBM plant in Eastern Tucson, where the University of Arizona hoped to later establish a research park, and began to admit students in 1996. Seven faculty were hired, on one-year contracts only, working under a Provost, the sociologist Celestino Fernández. Fernández returned to his tenured position at the University of Arizona after a year of poor results, and was replaced at AIC by Paul Rosenblatt.
After two more years of low enrollments, a re-organisation took place and AIU was renamed as a "College". In summer of 1998, AIC lost its independent status and became a college of the University of Arizona. AIC was relocated to a building near the UofA campus on East Helen Street. This was to benefit from economies of scale - facilities for students and administration procedures could be shared with the main campus operations.
By 1999 a liberal arts curriculum with personalized plans of study was attracting more students. Details from the 2000-2001 Academic Catalog show sixteen faculty members teaching the following degree concentrations [1]:
Students began with "On Becoming a Fully Educated Person" Other core classes were "Critical Writing and Communication", "Introduction to Global Perspectives", "Statistical Techniques for Problems of the Modern World", "Human Consciousness and the Formation of World Views", and a Symposium. Second language and regional study was required. After completing the core, students worked with faculty advisors to design an individual course of study. They also had to satisfy competency in six essential skills, and complete two supervised internships. There were established student exchange relationships with colleges in Mexico, Canada and elsewhere. The student experience was reported as positive.
...
Wikipedia