MLA Program

The Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Program provides a flexible, interdisciplinary graduate pathway designed for returning adult students who seek a broad education in the liberal arts. Established in 1991, the program is built on the premise that knowledge gained through an interdisciplinary course of study fosters deep intellectual independence and satisfaction.

The core goals of the MLA program are to develop advanced critical thinking, foster intellectual range and flexibility, and cultivate an individual's ability to identify and analyze connections across diverse areas of human thought.

Interdisciplinary Master’s Degree

The MLA curriculum emphasizes the integration of multiple academic disciplines, encouraging students to synthesize ideas and find meaningful connections across traditional boundaries of human thought. Students explore the intersections of:

• Arts and Humanities: Investigating art, literature, history, music, philosophy, and theology to understand human creative expression and cultural history.

• Social and Physical Sciences: Analyzing anthropology, political science, environmental science, ecology, and AI to evaluate societal structures, historical movements, and empirical methodologies.

Program Structure

The Master of Liberal Arts Program offers a structured, yet flexible framework specifically tailored to part-time study: 

•  Part-time Format: Seminars meet in the evenings to accommodate work, family, and busy adult lives. Most students take one class per quarter. Students typically complete the degree in 4 to 5 years.

• Courses on Campus: To take advantage of the benefits of being on the beautiful Stanford campus and to gain the most from faculty and student interaction around the seminar table, all courses are taught in-person.  

• Stanford Faculty Instruction: All master’s seminars are taught by distinguished members of the Stanford University faculty, ensuring academic rigor and depth. To facilitate deep discussion and close collaboration, seminar enrollment is limited to 20 students.

• Intellectual Community: Students spend the first year with their incoming cohort, establishing a close-knit intellectual community that continues into their seminar and thesis work. Graduates regularly mention the MLA community as one of the highlights of the program.