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COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

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.

Augustine and Culture Seminar

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Biology

Chemistry

Communication

Computing Sciences

Criminology and Sociology

Economics

Education and Counseling

English

Ethics

Geography and the Environment

Global Interdisciplinary Studies

History

Humanities

Human Resource Development

Romance Languages and Literatures

Mathematics and Statistics

Philosophy

Physics

Political Science

Psychological and Brain Sciences

Public Administration

Theology and Religious Studies

Theatre

Africana Studies

Arab and Islamic Studies

Asian Studies

Biochemistry

Cognitive Science

Cultural Studies

Gender and Women's Studies

Russian Area Studies

Latin American Studies

Irish Studies

Peace and Justice

Sustainability Studies

Writing and Rhetoric

The Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest

Center for Arab and Islamic Studies

Center of Excellence in Enterprise Technology

Center for Irish Studies

Center for Peace and Justice Education

Center for Statistics Education

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

The Waterhouse Family Institute for the Study of Communication and Society

   

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Check out the College podcast, "Research that Resonates," and hear faculty talk about the innovative research they do alongside their student partners.

  

FACULTY RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

FAITH AND FINANCES

Mary Hirschfeld, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Humanities, explores the intersection of economics and faith in her book "Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy." She received the Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice Foundation’s “Economy and Society” International Prize, given every two years to individuals who are making significant contributions to implementing the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Cardinal Reinhard Marx, of Munich and Freising, presented her with the award. MORE...

FINDINGS FOR ANTIFUNGALS

The National Science Foundation awarded a $560,959 grant to Dennis Wykoff, PhD, the Dennis M. Cook ’90 Gregor Mendel Chair in Genetics in the Department of Biology. The project, “RUI: Characterization of thiamine signal transduction pathway in Candida glabrata and other Ascomycetes,” investigates how closely related fungal species have changes in their genome specific to nutrient starvation, and how those subtle genomic differences allow for changes in each species' behavior. MORE...

LAST SEEN: FINDING FAMILY AFTER SLAVERY

American slavery tore apart families—separating wives from husbands, children from parents, siblings from siblings. After the Civil War, emancipated slaves searched for these lost loved ones by placing hopeful and often-heartbreaking newspaper ads. History professor Judith Giesberg, PhD, and archivist and genealogists from Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia are uncovering and digitizing these ads in an online database. The "Last Seen" project has become a critically important tool for researchers, students and individuals looking to piece together their own family history. MORE...

RED THUMBS

Growing food on Mars is not just a plotline in the 2015 film "The Martian." Edward Guinan, PhD and Scott Engle, PhD, professors in the department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, began the “Red Thumbs Mars Garden Project” to research the feasibility of growing sustainable food sources in sheltered greenhouses on the Red Planet. MORE...