The College of
LIBERAL ARTS
Student Spotlight
An essayist of rural America
M.F.A. student Cooper Dart writes about rural landscapes of Western America, focusing on themes of shared connection and environments.
After growing up in the outdoor paradise of Hailey, Idaho, Dart spent his undergraduate studies on the East Coast at Bowdoin College, in Maine, where he graduated with bachelor’s degrees in environmental studies and anthropology. Today, Dart continues to take what he learned at Bowdoin and apply that to his nonfiction writing about rural America as an M.F.A. student in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film.
“In the rural west, it’s everything all the time,” said Dart. “It’s how you and the people around you are responding to environments and landscapes, and how landscapes and environments are responding to communities, and the feedback loop that happens.”
CLA Leadership
The College of Liberal Arts 2023-2028 Strategic Plan
The College of Liberal Arts builds a richer, more creative tomorrow through the rigorous study of human history, human expression, and the human mind. In the next five years, we will pivot towards the knowledge economies of the future.
In the next five years, we will pivot towards the knowledge economies of the future. Today's students will chart their professional paths in a wider variety of fields than ever before, including many that don't yet exist. They seek an education that universities of the past could not have envisioned. We must meet their aspirations. CLA will be a bridge-builder, elevating collaborative opportunities and amplifying the visibility of innovative research and creative work.
We will integrate the arts in research disciplines across the University. We will create globally-relevant opportunities for all students, including those who cannot physically travel abroad. We will prioritize new technologies and pathways for student learning. The College of Liberal Arts will lead Oregon State University as a model of higher education for the public good.
CLA BY THE NUMBERS
5,026
The right size for your education
The College of Liberal Arts is the proud academic home of 5,026 students. With 1 faculty member for every 15 undergraduate students, you'll receive a personalized education paired with a robust liberal arts college experience.
World Class Instruction
Our dynamic, intellectual community of 336 expert faculty tackle the world’s biggest issues from social justice to food insecurity. They conduct symphonies and design in virtual reality. They study the past to forge solutions for the future.
336
4
4-Year Graduation Guarantee
CLA is the only college at Oregon State that guarantees you'll graduate in 4 years. Our graduates go on to successful careers in medicine, technology, the arts, media, law, policy, education, business and more. Your path is wide open.
Research Highlights
Study finds a massive wave of gun purchases before and after Measure 114’s passing in 2022
New research by economist Katie Bollman at the School of Public Policy finds that an Oregon ballot measure on restricting access to firearms may have had the opposite intended effect
In 2022, a public referendum in Oregon, Measure 114, provided voters the choice to strengthen gun control throughout the state. The ballot measure promised background checks for all gun sales, restrictions on magazine capacities, and a new permit-to-purchase program. In a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Katie Bollman, assistant professor of economics, looks at how new gun regulations affected firearm demand and how anticipatory firearm purchases may have attenuated or delayed the desired effects voiced by proponents of Measure 114.
Faculty Focus
Stories told through time
Anthropologist Dr. Emily Yates-Doerr unearths the nuclear history of her grandmother’s hometown in South Dakota
For the first time in her career, Professor Emily Yates-Doerr of the School of Language, Culture, and Society is bringing her research home. Yates-Doerr’s previous contributions to anthropology have been centered on her extensive ethnographic research in Guatemala, as detailed in her 2015 book The Weight of Obesity: Hunger and Global Health in Postwar Guatemala and in her upcoming book, Mal-Nutrition: Maternal Health Science and the Reproduction of Harm. Yates-Doerr’s current research project examines her father’s hometown in South Dakota, where a 70-year old family tragedy still has lasting impacts on the community. Read more >
With 290 faculty members, the College of Liberal Arts has the collective experience to guide our students to greatness.
Meet our Facultydonation innovation
Visionary Donations Funding our Future: PRAx
“The Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts will serve as a unique and dynamic education and performance center and will be a showcase destination for the visual, musical, theater and cultural arts for students, faculty, campus visitors and Oregonians,” said Larry Rodgers, dean of OSU’s College of Liberal Arts.
A lead gift of $25 million for the complex has been provided by Patricia Reser. Additional gifts include a $2 million commitment from the family of the late Lynne Detrick of West Linn to build a new 500-seat concert hall to offer a high-caliber venue for both listeners and performers, Rodgers said. The OSU Foundation continues to seek philanthropic support for the center, and OSU will also seek state bonding from the 2020 Oregon Legislature to help support the project.
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