Month-long focus group conversations concerning the future of the liberal arts and sciences programs at MSU have culminated into a 15-page summary proposal for Provost Lou Anna Simon's review.

The report included recommendations to merge departments within colleges, use more electronic communications and evaluate broad cost-cutting ideas and course overlaps.

Marcellette Williams, an MSU alumna and retired MSU English and comparative literature professor, submitted the summary Thursday and said participants were passionate during focus group conversations.

"It was extraordinary faculty and toward the end, the provost will find extraordinary support," Williams said. "They care about the place, care about the students - that's very special."

The report defined the terms "educated person," "liberal arts and sciences," "humanities" and "interdisciplinary studies." For the purpose of discussion, liberal arts and sciences was defined as encompassing the basic skills of reading, listening, writing, speaking, observing, measuring, calculating and reasoning.

In efforts to strengthen the study and practice of these skills during budget crunches, Simon said restructuring would focus on the future reputation of the university.

"The purpose isn't to cut money, it's to build quality," Simon said. "You make decisions not simply because you have to make the numbers balance, you make decisions to build quality and reputation of the institution, because what you're buying is how good we're going to be 20 years from now with your degree."

Simon will use the information gathered from focus group discussions along with other resources to make recommendations by the end of February.

Council of Graduate Students member Brad Love was involved in the graduate student focus group and said the group's ideas contributed a large portion to the summary. Love said the open communication about liberal arts will help ensure a successful future.

"It can only be helpful that everyone gets listened to," he said.

The focus group's summary can be found at http://www.msu.edu/unit/provost/summary.html. Comments can be posted with newidea@msu.edu and the "Vision2004" listserv.