Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences


Click on the links below to go right to that information:

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, Associate Dean for Student Success; Professor of Communication
Marjorie Levine-Clark, Associate Dean for Diversity, Outreach and Initiatives; Professor of History
Kathleen, Bollard, Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs; Professor of Spanish

Contacts

CLAS Deans Office
North Classroom, Suite 5014
Phone: 303-315-7000
Fax: 303-315-7016

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

Undergraduate Advising Office
North Classroom, 1030
Phone: 303-315-7100
 

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. Students 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 graduation requirements, and certifies that CU Denver core requirements and CLAS graduation requirements have been met.

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.)

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Programs

Certificate

Dual Degree

Anthropology

Go to information for Anthropology.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Non Degree

Chemistry

Go to information for Chemistry.

Programs

Bachelor of Science

Certificate

Dual Degree

Non Degree

Communication

Go to information for Communication.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Non Degree

Economics

Go to information for Economics.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Dual Degree

Non Degree

Other Programs

English

Go to information for English.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Non Degree

Ethnic Studies

Go to information for Ethnic Studies.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Non Degree

Geography and Environmental Sciences

Go to information for Geography and Environmental Sciences.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Non Degree

Health and Behavioral Sciences

Go to information for Health and Behavioral Sciences.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Science

Non Degree

Health Humanities

Go to information for Health Humanities.

Programs

Non Degree

History

Go to information for History.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Non Degree

Humanities

Go to information for Humanities.

Programs

Minors

Individually Structured Major

Go to information for Individually Structured Major.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Integrative Biology

Go to information for Integrative Biology.

Programs

Bachelor of Science

Certificate

Non Degree

Interdisciplinary Programs

Go to information for Interdisciplinary Programs.

International Studies

Go to information for International Studies.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Dual Degree

Other Programs

Law Studies

Go to information for Law Studies.

Programs

Non Degree

Mathematical and Statistical Sciences

Go to information for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences.

Programs

Bachelor of Science

Certificate

Dual Degree

Non Degree

Modern Languages

Go to information for Modern Languages.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Minors

Non Degree

Philosophy

Go to information for Philosophy.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Minors

Non Degree

Physics

Go to information for Physics.

Programs

Bachelor of Science

Certificate

Non Degree

Other Programs

Political Science

Go to information for Political Science.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Dual Degree

Non Degree

Psychology

Go to information for Psychology.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Science

Non Degree

Other Programs

Religious Studies

Go to information for Religious Studies.

Programs

Non Degree

Social Justice

Go to information for Social Justice.

Programs

Non Degree

Sociology

Go to information for Sociology.

Programs

Bachelor of Arts

Certificate

Dual Degree

Non Degree

Sustainability

Go to information for Sustainability.

Programs

Non Degree

Women’s and Gender Studies

Go to information for Women’s and Gender Studies.

Programs

Non Degree