Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Liberal arts education is at the heart of the University of Denver. Our faculty, staff and students come together in a shared quest for knowledge of the human condition.
Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Dean's Message
Fall 2012
Welcome to the divisions of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. We have the honor this fall of welcoming to AHSS 18 new faculty members and more than 180 graduate students and 300 freshmen who have pre-declared a liberal arts major.
Under the guidance of our accomplished faculty and staff, these students will join their AHSS peers and engage in academic projects as diverse as our 13 departments, two schools and multiple centers and institutes. They have come here to study areas ranging from studio art to sociology, religious studies to psychology or musicology to English. The territory of our inquiry and expertise is vast, yet a common passion binds faculty, staff and students together: our passion for the complex ways in which we humans express ourselves, organize in groups and seek understanding.
Our undergraduates achieve depth of knowledge in one or more majors while taking advantage of the breadth of a curriculum geared to the development of critical thinking skills and written and oral proficiency. I encourage students to take advantage of the Liberal Arts Advantage program, which offers programming and events to engage you in the intellectual community that is AHSS.
While some students this fall will hone their writing techniques under the guidance of distinguished poets, others will conduct experiments on brain functions, gain mastery in digital media studies, analyze foreign cultures, or explore the meaning of rituals. Our majors who graduate from AHSS go on to graduate and professional schools or enter the workforce with the knowledge and vision necessary to achieve professional success, personal satisfaction, and responsible citizenship. Our graduate students leave DU as professionals in their own right, prepared to contribute to the global good.
AHSS faculty figure among the best trained artists and scholars in the nation. They bring to bear on their teaching the significant research and creative endeavors that they pursue year-round but most intensively over the summer months. Some professors work in the field, others in labs, studios, archives, and libraries throughout the world; the results of these entire efforts take the form of publications, treatments, policies, performances and exhibits. Their findings and new queries influence the syllabuses and assignments that they share with their talented and curious students. As Dean, I honor these undertakings that help diversify forms of communication, enhance understandings of human identities and develop creativity.
Among the many accomplishments completed this summer, Beth Karlsgodt, history, received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) summer research grant for her work on a forthcoming book on the post-World War II recovery of art that had been looted by the Nazis in France. Also, two AHSS faculty members participated in Spotlight Colorado, a media event in Washington, D.C., to prepare nation media for the Presidential Debate that DU will host on October 3. I encourage you to take part in that moment event: learn more at www.debate2012.du.edu.
Fall is a particularly beautiful season at DU. I invite prospective students, parents, alumni and friends to visit our impressive facilities, explore our robust course offerings and meet the expert members of our academic community. I am confident that you will want to learn more about our liberal arts community and the forms of knowledge that we are producing. Do contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Cordially yours,
Anne McCall, Dean