Message from the Dean
Welcome to the College of Liberal Arts, home to the humanities and social sciences.
The liberal arts comprise the humanities and social sciences whose disciplines ask big questions and provide tools to discover answers and solutions relevant to the world we live in. Curiosity, creativity, and collaboration are at the core of the exciting work in the college as faculty and students pose boundary-challenging questions with an intellectual flexibility and belief in the dignity of all human beings starting with oneself. The liberal arts nurture the skills, habits of mind, and intellectual orientation that support creative and critical thinking, as well as inclusive and interdisciplinary research and discovery.
CLA is made up of traditional departments as well as newer programs. Students can choose from more than thirty majors and thirty minors, a dozen graduate degrees, and eight graduate certificates. Undergraduate students can also accelerate their path to graduate studies by taking three graduate courses in their senior year toward their graduate degree.
CLA courses will challenge you to look at age-old questions with fresh eyes as we search for solutions to the most pressing matters of today. Essential to this spirit of inquiry is the impact of digital technologies, as well as the ways we interact with each other and communicate our findings to general and specialized audiences. Applying classroom knowledge to real-world problems happens through experiential learning that will take you into nearby communities or faraway countries. Together, your CLA classes will help you to achieve professional success and personal fulfillment wherever you call home.
Educational Utopias
Dean Chulos鈥� recently published essay, 鈥溾�� positions the liberal arts at the center of democratic societies. Dean Chulos鈥� essay appeared in a collection of essays in that was published in the Netherlands earlier in 2023.
A driving theme of CLA is 鈥淒emocracy Today.鈥� Our goal is to enrich our understanding of the essential components of a democratic society in the 21st century. CLA鈥檚 accomplished faculty, with their diverse research and community partnerships, help students to make connections between the classroom and the world beyond the campus.
Whether you are prospective or current students, alumni, community partners, or simply interested in what CLA does, I hope you will enroll in courses or attend a special event. In that way, you will become part of our community of discovery.
Chris J. Chulos
Dean
College of Liberal Arts