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Dean

Pamela Jansma, Professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences

Associate Deans

Richard Allen, Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Curriculum; Professor of Psychology
Laura Argys, Associate Dean for Research and Creative Activities; Professor of Economics
Sarah Fields, Acting Associate Dean for Student Success; Associate Professor of Communication
Marjorie Levine-Clark, Associate Dean for Diversity, Outreach and Initiatives; Associate Professor of History
John Wyckoff, Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs; Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Sciences

Contacts

CLAS Deans Office
North Classroom, Suite 5014
Phone: 303-556-2557
Fax: 303-556-4861

Undergraduate Advising Office
North Classroom, 1030
Phone: 303-556-2555
Fax: 303-556-6277

Mailing Address
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Campus Box 144
P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217-3364

The mission of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is to foster academic excellence, to create and impart knowledge critical to a modern society and a global economy, and to ensure the acquisition of skills essential for professional careers and graduate study. Our vision is to enact a new paradigm for a liberal arts education that retains the proven values of a broad education while imparting career-oriented skills throughout the curriculum.

Today’s university graduates need to be critical thinkers who are able to apply knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines to unscripted, real-world problems. A College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) education involves mastery of essential learning outcomes, such as creative problem solving, oral and written communication, quantitative literacy, intercultural competence, and ethical reasoning, which provide students with the tools to become lifelong learners who are adaptive and innovative. While establishing a broad foundational education, CLAS gives students the opportunity to dig deeply into disciplinary and interdisciplinary majors, which train them in scholarly fields, traditions, and methods of analysis. This combination of breadth and depth prepares students for our twenty-first century world, which requires flexibility and mobility, as new jobs develop and careers change at an ever-faster pace. CLAS graduates enter a wide variety of occupations and pursue advanced degrees in academia and in professions like law and medicine.

The CLAS curriculum provides rigorous academic programs while offering a number of flexible learning opportunities, such as the Individually Structured Major, to meet our students’ varied needs and objectives. The college draws on our downtown location and makes use of the city’s many resources through student internships, experiential learning programs, and partnerships with Denver businesses and non-profit organizations. CLAS students have excellent opportunities to participate in first-class faculty research, and the college prides itself on its faculty-mentored undergraduate research programs and applied research in the community.

 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Educational Goals

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences provides undergraduates at CU Denver with a broad and multilayered education consisting of:

1. In-depth knowledge of the major disciplines of the humanities, natural and physical sciences, and social and behavioral sciences that call the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences home.
2. Intellectual and practical skills, including inquiry and analysis, critical thinking, creative thinking, written communication, oral communication, university-level reading, quantitative literacy, information literacy, teamwork, and complex problem solving-practiced at progressively more challenging levels.
3. Personal and social responsibility, including civic knowledge and engagement (local and global), intercultural knowledge and competence, ethical reasoning and action, and foundation of skills for lifelong learning.
4. Integrative and applied learning, synthesizing knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines and experiences to address complex, real-world problems in our diverse local, national and global communities.

A CU Denver liberal education combines world-class knowledge in specific disciplines with the comprehensive skills and dispositions that students need for success and that our society needs its citizens to possess. In a world where content knowledge rapidly becomes obsolete and where graduates may have a dozen different jobs, these skills and dispositions are crucial. Employers increasingly look for employees who can think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems. A liberal education may be the most vocational education that today’s student can earn. A liberal arts and sciences education truly is “learning with purpose.” 

Academic Advice and Information

Students in the college are expected to assume responsibility for planning their academic programs in accordance with college policies and major requirements. To assist undergraduate students, the college maintains the CLAS Academic Advising Office, North Classroom, 1030, 303-556-2555. Students must meet with a CLAS staff advisor upon matriculation into the college through one of the established orientations for first-year freshmen or transfer students. Undergraduate students can identify their assigned CLAS staff advisor in the “Advisor” box in their Student Center on the Passport ID portal. The CLAS staff advisor advises undergraduate students about CU Denver and CLAS specific policies, CU Denver core curriculum and CLAS specific degree requirements, and certifies that CU Denver core requirements and CLAS specific degree requirements have been met for graduation purposes. The CLAS Academic Advising Office also has a specialty college advisor in secondary teacher education.

As soon as students have determined a major, minor or certificate granting program they should meet with a faculty advisor as early in their career as possible. The faculty advisor will be responsible for the student’s major, minor or certificate advising and for certification of the completion of program requirements at graduation.

Students planning to ultimately earn a degree from one of the professional schools should also see an advisor in that school or college.

Departments and Programs 

 (For Graduate Programs and information please refer to the Graduate catalog.)

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