Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Oregon State University College of Liberal Arts

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Type
  
Liberal arts education

Dean
  
Larry Rodgers

Founded
  
1973

Established
  
1973

Phone
  
+1 541-737-0561

Undergraduates
  
3,700

Oregon State University College of Liberal Arts

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.

Notable alumni

  • Pinto Colvig, voice acting pioneer at Disney animation studios, journalism (?–1911).
  • Webley Edwards, World War II news correspondent & syndicated radio host (Hawaii Calls), journalism (?–1927).
  • Kevin Hagen, actor, political science (?).
  • Christopher Howell, poet, English (?-1968).
  • Harley Jessup, 1987 Best Visual Effects Oscar winner for the film Innerspace, graphic design (?–1976).
  • Chris Johns, editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine, technical journalism (1971-1974).
  • George Oppen, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize in poetry, English (1926-?).
  • Mary Oppen, poet, English (1926-?).
  • Travis Rush, Country music singer, liberal studies (?).
  • Notable faculty

  • Jon Franklin, journalist - Pulitzer Prizes in journalism and science writing with the Baltimore Evening Sun, head of technical journalism department (1990-1992).
  • Bernard Malamud, author - 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, most famous for writing The Natural, English composition (1949-1961).
  • Ed McClanahan, writer - wrote for Esquire, Playboy and Rolling Stone. Received Playboy's award for nonfiction in 1972 and 1974, English (1958-1962).
  • Joseph Millar, poet - 2008 Pushcart Prize winner and Guggenheim Fellow, English, (?).
  • References

    Oregon State University College of Liberal Arts Wikipedia