The College of
LIBERAL ARTS
Student Spotlight
Building on their Spanish fluency
Spanish students in the School of Language, Culture, of Society apply their language skills in classrooms and nonprofits in the U.S. and Mexico
Overseen by Senior Instructor Raven Chakerian, the Spanish-language internship program facilitates partnerships between local schools and regional nonprofit organizations with students looking to utilize their Spanish language skills in settings outside of the classroom. With what started initially as a capstone class, the program grew into a thriving practicum course benefiting students, as well as the host organizations and their patrons.
The Launchpad Scholars Program invites all First Gen, first-term, first-year Liberal Arts students to a training session for writing successful scholarship applications.
Faculty Excellence
College of Liberal Arts year-end reading list 2025
The College of Liberal Arts consists of voracious readers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more. While there are always too many worthy books to note, these were ones faculty and staff found particularly interesting and impactful. Here are just some of the books they couldn’t put down in 2025!
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
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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
Why listening to communities is key to faster renewable energy projects
Research by scholars at the School of Public Policy draws on global case studies to outline actionable strategies for key stakeholders to incorporate community concerns during the clean energy transition
Globally, countries have established ambitious targets for renewable energy development to address the climate crisis. Decades of research has found broad public support for renewable energy technologies, such as wind and solar, yet, attempts to act on building renewable energy projects have often run into local opposition.
An enlightening new study by researchers from the College of Liberal Arts’ School of Public Policy highlights a critical insight for the global renewable energy transition: speed and equity must go hand in hand.
Faculty Focus
The legacy of Gordon Gilkey
Gilkey, the College of Liberal Arts’ first dean, headed the German Wartime Art Project during WWII, where he tracked down and gathered over eight thousand pieces of German art produced under Adolf Hitler’s rule
Born and raised in Lane County, Oregon, Gilkey graduated from the University of Oregon in 1936 with a Master of Fine Arts. After World War II, Gilkey returned to Oregon where his service to the arts continued as chairman of OSU's art department and dean of CLA. He had tremendous impact on OSU, local and national art scenes, and museums across the U.S.
donation 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.
Explore PRAx