WHO IS LACS?
The first two meetings of the LACS group in 1984 and 1985 not only produced the Liberal Arts Model Curriculum, they also created a workable model for our organization and meeting style, our group membership, and our working principles that help determine what we do.
The LACS group meets once a year. Except for its 1984 and 1985 meetings, which were supported by a grant from the Sloan Foundation, LACS operates with no budget. To cover the cost of each annual meeting, a different member's home institution agrees to host the meeting and provide food, lodging, and meeting space. The other members individually find funding for their own travel to that meeting. Each meeting is a 1-1/2 day event, and its goals and outcomes are more carefully described on the What We Do page.
In addition to our annual meeting, LACS usually schedules an informal session at each year's ACM/SIGCSE Symposium. The major goal of that meeting is to set the agenda for the upcoming summer meeting. All LACS members are working members, in the sense that everyone contributes materially to the projects that are currently on the table. The main reason that the group's size remains small is to ensure our ability to work effectively on specific curricular projects that help advance the principles and practice of liberal arts computer science education. For more detailed information about these projects and their outcomes, see the What We Do page.
Organizationally, LACS is a small group of individuals who work to improve computer science education within the special setting of liberal arts institutions. Our membership size remains at about 16-18 members so that we may maintain our work style.