The College of
LIBERAL ARTS
Student Spotlight
Documenting displacement: how Katie Livermore is using journalism to tell the human stories behind war
As an undergraduate student in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film, Livermore is focused on writing stories about underrepresented communities.
Livermore, a senior double majoring in international studies and creative writing with a minor in applied journalism, is spending her final term this fall in Spain, where she’ll complete her international studies degree. She’ll graduate in December, but her impact is already resonating beyond campus borders, especially through her ambitious thesis project on the human toll of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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
New faculty starting in fall 2025
The College of Liberal Arts welcomes 23 new faculty members this academic year with expertise in artificial intelligence, early American literature, social identity, labor markets, and more. Each new faculty member will help to advance CLA’s cutting-edge research, scholarship, and creative activity.
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
Racial bias in AI training data
In a newly published study in Media Psychology, Dr. Chris Chen of the School of Communication asks if laypeople can detect racial bias in AI systems caused by unrepresentative training data.
With nearly 800 participants, the researchers conducted three experimental studies using a prototype AI system called Emotion Reader AI, which classifies facial expressions as happy or unhappy.
Faculty Focus
Science through a human lens: OSU assistant professor examines stories people tell about marine mammals
Anna Guasco’s journey from the Channel Islands to Oregon State University's College of Liberal Arts.
As a Gates Cambridge Scholar, Guasco's Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge looked at the complexities of gray whales in American history and the marine mammal's transformation from ‘devil fish’ to ‘friendly whale.’
Now an assistant professor at the College of Liberal Arts, Guasco teaches courses on human-marine interactions and other interdisciplinary environmental analysis topics. 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.
Explore PRAx