ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS & PROGRAMS

The College comprises more than 20 departments across the liberal arts and sciences with a curriculum that challenges students to go beyond mastering subject matter to gaining real insight and a global perspective. CLAS offers interdisciplinary programs that enrich and diversify the educational experience and nine Centers of Excellence that encourage research collaboration across academic disciplines.

Asian Studies

Biochemistry

Cognitive Science

Comprehensive Science

Creative Writing

Cultural Studies

Gender and Women's Studies

Russian Area Studies

Latin American Studies

Irish Studies

Peace and Justice

Sustainability Studies

Writing and Rhetoric

CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

The Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest

Center for Arab and Islamic Studies

Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship

Center of Excellence in Enterprise Technology

Center for Irish Studies

Center for Peace and Justice Education

Center for Political Theology

Center for Statistics and Data Education Science

The Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good

The Waterhouse Family Institute for the Study of Communication and Society

FACULTY RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

INTERCULTURAL MATHEMATICS

Alexander Diaz-Lopez, PhD, associate professor, Mathematics and Statistics, has been named principal investigator on a two-year, $249,937 National Sciences Foundation grant. The grant will support his study of permutations from a combinatorial and geometric point of view, and create the Villanova-Puerto Rico Research Retreat, a collaborative summer program between students at Villanova University and the University of Puerto Rico. MORE...

EXPLORING CUBAN WOMEN'S NARRATIVES

In her new book, translated in English as "Cuba: emotions and political fictions: emotional cultures in a literary, feminine and sexological key within the Special Period," Laura Sández, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Spanish, explores a new approach to narratives produced by Cuban women during the Special Period. MORE...

FINDING FAMILY AFTER SLAVERY

Judith Giesberg, PhD, Robert M. Birmingham Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History, received a 2022 National Endowment Public Scholars Fellowship, including $60,000 in funding for one year. The fellowship will support her project “Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery,” which offers access to thousands of “Information Wanted” newspaper advertisements by formerly enslaved people in the US looking for family members. MORE...

SMALL PARTICLES WITH BIG IMPACT

For advanced science students, biopharmaceutical researchers, and even patients at the doctor’s office, nanoscience is an important yet unseen part of everyday life. Physics professor Georgia Papaefthymiou, PhD, explores how nanomagnetism, a developing field of nanoscience, can be applied across disciplines to dramatically shape the world in her new book "Nanomagnetism: An Interdisciplinary Approach." MORE...