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take off of the NASA Europa Clipper

A Blast Off for a CAS Researcher 

Can the Jupiter moon Europa support life? That's the question that NASA is exploring with the launch of Europa Clipper on Oct. 14. As a member of the research teams behind two of the nine scientific instruments the spacecraft, Department of Earth Sciences Professor Carol Paty is part of the journey to confirm and measure what scientists strongly suspect is a vast sea of salty water buried under a sheet of ice enveloping the moon’s surface. Paty attended the launch with undergraduate student Erin Morrison, a multidisciplinary science and journalism double major who focused her undergrad thesis on the Europa Clipper mission.

How CAS Is Supporting the Journey to Europa

News from CAS

GLOBAL STUDIES - The University of Oregon’s School of Global Studies and Languages is hosting a conference on climate change Oct. 17-19. The climate conference is taking an interdisciplinary approach to discussions by reflecting on the multifaceted issues related to climate change—affecting health, environment, economy, governance, and many other issues on a local and global level.
EARTH SCIENCES - Carol Paty, a comparative planetologist in the College of Arts and Sciences helped develop one of the scientific instruments aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper, which blasted off Oct. 14, on the world’s first mission to conduct a detailed study of Jupiter's moon Europa. Paty, an Earth sciences professor, is a member of the research teams behind two of the nine scientific instruments the spacecraft will use to confirm and measure what scientists strongly suspect is a vast sea of salty water buried under a sheet of ice enveloping the moon’s surface.
EARTH SCIENCES - Members of the College of Arts and Sciences community have the opportunity to practice their earthquake preparedness skills when the University of Oregon conducts a campus-wide earthquake drill on Oct. 17 as part of Great ShakeOut Day.

All news »

We Love Our Supporters

students walking and holding possessions during Unpack the quack day

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 photos with the words CAS Connection at the top

What’s Happening in CAS?

It's a crucial moment for higher education. Many families are questioning the value of a college degree due to rising costs and a delayed return on investment—and the College of Arts and Sciences isn't immune to these challenges.

The October issue of CAS Connection explores how a CAS liberal arts education is evolving with the times, as well as the college's new strategy and the ways it will prepare students for challenges and opportunities ahead. Read more about a PhD student who researched how a community recovered from the 2020 record-breaking wildfire season, how advisors are preparing students to succeed in and out of the classroom, new Latinx studies-related professors joining the college—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

Oct 15
Department of History Coffee Hour 10:00 a.m.

Please join us Tuesday mornings for a free cup of coffee, pastries, and conversation with your history department community! We’re excited to continue this tradition...
Department of History Coffee Hour
October 8–December 3
10:00–11:00 a.m.
McKenzie Hall 335

Please join us Tuesday mornings for a free cup of coffee, pastries, and conversation with your history department community! We’re excited to continue this tradition for our history undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. We hope to see you there!

Oct 15
Disabled and Neurodivergent Graduate Student Time Together 11:00 a.m.

Meets Week 3 in person and Week 7 online each term First meeting in person Tuesday, October 15 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Graduate Student Lounge, Susan Campbell...
Disabled and Neurodivergent Graduate Student Time Together
October 15
11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Susan Campbell Hall 111 - Graduate Student Lounge

Meets Week 3 in person and Week 7 online each term

First meeting in person

Tuesday, October 15 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Graduate Student Lounge, Susan Campbell Hall, Room 111 RSVP

This event is co-sponsored by the Accessible Education Center and the Division of Graduate Studies.

Oct 15
The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars noon

A Morse Bookmarks event featuring Neil O'Brian, assistant professor of political science at UO.  In the late twentieth century, gay rights, immigration, gun control,...
The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars
October 15
noon
William W. Knight Law Center 110

A Morse Bookmarks event featuring Neil O'Brian, assistant professor of political science at UO. 

In the late twentieth century, gay rights, immigration, gun control, and abortion debates all burst onto the political scene, scrambling the parties and polarizing the electorate. Neil A. O’Brian traces the origins of today’s political divide on these issues to the 1960s when Democrats and Republicans split over civil rights. It was this partisan polarization over race, he argues, that subsequently shaped partisan fault lines on other culture war issues that persist to this day.

Neil O’Brian is an academic expert in U.S. politics with focus on public opinion, political parties and polarization. In May 2024, he was named a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow

Oct 15
How to Be Ready for the Graduate Student & Postdoc Industry Recruitment Event (GSPIRE) 2:00 p.m.

Attending the Graduate Student & Postdoc Recruitment Event (GSPIRE)? Are you not too familiar with a virtual career fair and how it works on Handshake, specifically? Join...
How to Be Ready for the Graduate Student & Postdoc Industry Recruitment Event (GSPIRE)
October 15
2:00–3:00 p.m.
This is a virtual event.

Attending the Graduate Student & Postdoc Recruitment Event (GSPIRE)? Are you not too familiar with a virtual career fair and how it works on Handshake, specifically? Join gradCAREERS to learn how to put your best foot forward - before, during and after this, and any, virtual fair!

Attending a virtual career fair will give you an edge in landing that next job or internship. Academic and research institutions, organizations and companies who will attend this fair and all future ones want to hire UO graduate students and postdoctoral scholars —and they’ll host virtual sessions to find the students they want to interview. If you are a graduate student or postdoc scholar, register now for this free zoom session!