Type Liberal arts education Dean Larry Rodgers Founded 1973 | Established 1973 Phone +1 541-737-0561 Undergraduates 3,700 | |
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Location Corvallis and Bend, Oregon, Oregon, U.S. Website liberalarts.oregonstate.edu Address 207 Gilkey Hall, 122 SW Waldo Pl, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States Similar Oregon State University, Oregon State University, Oregon State University, University of Maryland, University of Oregon |
The College of Liberal Arts (CLA) is the second largest of the 11 colleges at Oregon State University and offers 22 undergraduate degrees, 10 master's degrees and two doctoral degrees.
Contents
CLA coursework is offered at the university's main campus in Corvallis, Oregon and at the OSU-Cascades campus in Bend, Oregon. Currently, the CLA employs 290 faculty members with an enrollment of just over 3,600 full-time undergraduates.
Programs
The most popular CLA majors include psychology, economics, sociology, digital communications arts, anthropology, liberal studies, political science, history and English.
History
Oregon State University first offered studies in liberal arts in 1868. According to the CLA website, however, students showed greater interest the sciences and technology through much of the early 1900s - forcing administrators to deemphasize liberal arts.
By World War II, courses in liberal arts grew in popularity and OSU President A.L. Strand created the first divisional majors in humanities and social sciences at the university in 1959.
The university later added the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in 1961 and continued to expand liberal arts studies throughout the 1960s. In 1973, the school became formalized as the College of Liberal Arts (CLA). Early departments included the Humanities, Social Sciences and the Fine and Performing Arts.
The first graduate degrees were offered by the college in scientific and technical communications in 1988.
Today, the College of Liberal Arts makes up one of the largest colleges on campus with a number of notable faculty and alumni.