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Drones Defying Gravity 

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane—it’s students using drones for mapping! High-flying unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, are increasingly used to map and analyze large areas, especially in a world impacted by climate change. To prepare students for mapping-related careers, the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Geography offers a Mapping with Drones course during the spring term. 

The course invites students—whether they're majoring in environmental studies, geography, or journalism—to explore the fundamentals of using drones to map the geographic features of a location.

How Students Are Learning with Drones

News from CAS

PHYSICS - The National Science Foundation has awarded a one-year, $1 million grant to a team led by University of Oregon researchers exploring practical applications for emerging quantum technologies and working to move discoveries beyond the lab. “Oregon has a small group of proficient researchers leading the way globally in quantum technology," said Brian Smith, a professor of physics and director of the Oregon Center for Optical, Molecular and Quantum Science.
PSYCHOLOGY - Brice Kuhl is the first faculty member awarded the Dr. Michael Posner Psychology Professorship in Cognition and Neuroscience. This brand-new professorship, awarded in honor of the Department of Psychology’s groundbreaking researcher Michael Posner, will help support Kuhl’s teaching, research and professional development.
The world looks different in the laboratories buried 17 feet beneath campus, where you can pick up an object 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and peer at its individual atoms. In UO’s underground materials characterization labs, researchers are pushing the boundaries of what can be observed through a microscope. Read more in the December sci-fi issue of CAS Connection.

All news »

We Love Our Supporters

four students gathered, two on a bench, two sitting on the sidewalk

Your Gift Changes Lives

Gifts to the College of Arts and Sciences can help our students make the most of their college careers. To do this, CAS needs your support. Your contributions help us ensure that teaching, research, advising, mentoring, and support services are fully available to every student. Thank you!

Give to CAS

a collage of images from the CAS Connection December issue

What’s Happening in CAS?

The December sci-fi special issue of CAS Connection is out of this world. Our faculty members are working on innovations so cutting edge, you’d think they were straight from the pages of a sci-fi novel—and students are getting in on the action through experiential learning opportunities that are preparing them for careers of the future.

Find out how CAS researchers and students are tackling tomorrow's problems and exploring new frontiers, such as exoplanets, spacecraft to the Jupiter Europa moon, drones for mapping—and more. 

Undergraduate students posing for camera making hand signals

Undergraduate Studies

Wherever your academic goals eventually take you at the UO, all Ducks begin their journey with foundational courses in CAS. More than 60 percent of students go on to pursue a major in a CAS department or program. With more than 50 departments and programs, there’s an intellectual home for almost any interest, talent, or career aspiration.

Graduate students working in a lab

Graduate Studies

The College of Arts and Sciences offers more than 30 master's programs and more than 20 doctoral programs across a diverse range of disciplines. Both as contributors to research teams and through their own scholarship and teaching, our CAS graduate students are indispensable to the vitality of the UO academic mission.

Student Support Services

We provide our students with a variety of resources to help you thrive inside and outside the classroom. Through Tykeson Advising, we provide comprehensive academic and career advising from the start of your journey at the University of Oregon. Learn about career preparation and get assistance in selecting the very best classes. Connect with labs, libraries, IT and tutoring. Find your community on campus.

World-Class Faculty

Speaker conducting a class with projector

The College of Arts and Sciences faculty members are a driving force of the high-output, high-impact research activity that has earned the UO membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU). Our world-class faculty members are inspiring teachers.

Among them are five members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, four members of the National Academy of Sciences. They are committed to helping students discover their academic passion. Every day, they work to expand students’ intellectual horizons, preparing them for life after college with real-world knowledge and skills.

 

 

Spotlight on CAS Academics

Choose Your Path

The College of Arts and Sciences offers more than 50 majors and nearly 70 minors across multiple departments and programs in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. We also offer 36 master’s programs and 25 doctoral programs.

dean chris poulsen posing in front of Tykeson hall

Meet our Dean

In the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), we are committed to excellence in research and teaching, student success, and diversity, equity, and belonging. 

A liberal arts education—one that offers a breadth of intellectual approaches and perspectives and depth in a major discipline—is the foundation to a purposeful life as a life-long learner, engaged citizen, and leader. The skills you will learn here—from written and verbal communication to analytical and quantitative reasoning, to compassion and understanding—are those that employers seek and will open the door to a wealth of opportunities. 

You will find more than 50 majors and a multitude of minors within CAS, and seemingly endless opportunities for personal exploration and discovery. Whether you are an incoming first-year student, a grad student or a transfer student, you can map an exciting future and be part of a fun, warm, engaged liberal arts community here. Come join us. And go Ducks! 

More from Dean Chris Poulsen

The College of Arts and Sciences includes:

50+
undergraduate degree programs
30+
masters programs
25
PhD programs
10,000+
Undergraduate students in CAS Majors
825
faculty members
1,295
masters and PhD students in CAS

Happening at CAS

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

UO College of Arts & Sciences (@uocas) • Instagram photos and videos

Jan 9
Graduate Writing Webinar: Every Semester Needs a Plan 11:00 a.m.

Do you often start the term with high hopes for your writing projects, but end disappointed by your actual productivity? Do you desperately want (or need) to write a lot...
Graduate Writing Webinar: Every Semester Needs a Plan
January 9
11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
This is a virtual event.
Do you often start the term with high hopes for your writing projects, but end disappointed by your actual productivity? Do you desperately want (or need) to write a lot this semester? Do you want to figure out how to be more productive AND enjoy your life this semester?

Join NCFDD using your UO login credentials for this planning webinar meant to help you identify your personal and professional goals, create a strategic plan to accomplish them, and identify the types of community, support, and accountability you need to make this your most productive and balanced quarter ever. Register at https://www.ncfdd.org/webinars/semesterplan25.

Carlita Favero, PhD, is a Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at Ursinus College, an exclusively undergraduate liberal arts institution with about 1600 students. On her campus, she also serves as the Coordinator for the Neuroscience Program, and Co-Director for the Teaching and Learning Institute. She has developed courses on the FUNdamentals of Neuroscience, Developmental Neurobiology, and Glial Cell Biology. Her scholarly work investigates the consequences of alcohol exposure on brain wiring and behavior during embryonic brain development, a field she moved into during her first year on the tenure track. At NCFDD, she has served as a small group and one-on-one coach for the Faculty Success Program.

Jan 9
Exploring the Dolomites Information Session noon

Join our Exploring the Dolomites Info Session to explore an exciting study abroad opportunity for this summer! Learn more about this 14-day journey, where you can...
Exploring the Dolomites Information Session
January 9
noon

Join our Exploring the Dolomites Info Session to explore an exciting study abroad opportunity for this summer! Learn more about this 14-day journey, where you can experience the best of the Dolomite Mountains of northeastern Italy, just south of the Alps. 

Jan 9
Wrestling Jerusalem: A Film Screening and Conversation with the Artist 4:00 p.m.

In a tour-de-force performance, writer-actor Aaron Davidman conjures a host of different characters while seeking answers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Wrestling...
Wrestling Jerusalem: A Film Screening and Conversation with the Artist
January 9
4:00–6:30 p.m.
Erb Memorial Union (EMU) Gumwood Room

In a tour-de-force performance, writer-actor Aaron Davidman conjures a host of different characters while seeking answers to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Wrestling Jerusalem. Creatively adapting his acclaimed one-man stage show using only simple props and backdrops, Davidman takes a multidimensional journey into the heart of the Middle East, and the intersection of politics, identity, and spiritual yearning. He embodies and gives voice to 17 different characters on all sides of the existential divide-deftly moving between male and female, Jewish and Muslim, Israeli, and Arab-modeling what it takes truly to bear witness through the eyes of the other. Challenging long-held beliefs with sharp and unblinking observation, Davidman finds both entrenched isolation and shared humanity in the shifting moral compasses and competing narratives of all his characters. The result is a unique hybrid of stage and cinema that reignites hope for the future of this troubled region.

Content warning: This work of art makes space for multiple perspectives and empathy for the “other”.

Jan 9
Women in Economics Club 6:00 p.m.

Join the UO Women in Economics Club at our weekly meeting! We host faculty talks and guest lectures, provide career development opportunities, as well as peer support. All are...
Women in Economics Club
October 10–September 18
6:00–7:00 p.m.
Allen Hall 140

Join the UO Women in Economics Club at our weekly meeting! We host faculty talks and guest lectures, provide career development opportunities, as well as peer support. All are welcome, regardless of major, minor, or gender identity!

The UO Women in Economics Club (WiE) was established in 2023 to support and meet the unique needs of women and gender-diverse individuals in the male-dominated economics field. WiE strives to build community, empower, and increase participation in economics through academic and social events. The club hosts guest speakers, roundtable discussions, professional development workshops, and more. Students undergraduate through PhD are welcome.

Meetings: Every odd week Thursday from 6-7pm in Allen 140. Hope to see you there!