Learning How AI Can Do the Dirty Work
These students aren't cheating their education by bringing AI into their classroom — they're preparing for an ever-changing workplace. Over the past few terms, computer science professors Hank Childs and Aye Thuzar have been working on reworking the entry level computer science class, “Fluency with Information Technology,” to incorporate AI-assisted programming. The idea is that allowing AI to take care of smaller details — like accurate syntax — allows students to cover more ground in a single introductory class.
Students in this class are jumping ahead to more advanced technologies to learn how to use AI technologies properly.
“You want AI to do the ‘dirty work’ for you. You don’t want AI to actually take over your work and decide what you need to do,” said Thuzar.
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What’s Happening in CAS?
What happens when the food pyramid gets flipped? Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages Assistant Professor Hannah Cutting-Jones dives into the new food pyramid announced by the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the impacts of the new guidelines.
Also in the February CAS Connection issue, read how a two-year prestigious Oregon fellowship is bringing a professor's visions to life, an alum who is a tenure-track faculty member at Washington University continuing research she did at the UO, a 100-level computer science course teaching AI — and more.
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 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.
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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
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.
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!
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Happening at CAS
7:00 p.m.
Please join the Department of History for the March pub lecture. Marc Carpenter will discuss "Hiding Native Genocide in Oregon, from the Pioneer Period to the Present."
Carpenter is an educator, writer, and historian, specializing in American and Native American history. He holds a PhD from the University of Oregon, an MA from Penn State University, and a BA from Portland State University.
Free and open to everyone!
The UO Department of History presents a series of talks with scholars about history, from the local to the global. Join us for stories, food, and conversation in a casual setting!
10:00–11:00 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 for our history undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. We hope to see you there!
6:15–8:00 p.m.
Citizenship is often imagined as a gateway to rights, recognition, and belonging. But what happens when citizenship itself becomes a mechanism of dispossession?
In her public lecture, award-winning sociologist Areej Sabbagh-Khoury explores the paradox of citizenship in settler-colonial contexts. Focusing on Palestinian citizens in Israel – especially those internally displaced yet denied return to their original homes – she examines how citizenship can grant formal rights while reinforcing dispossession of land, resources, and political power. At the same time, the talk highlights how Palestinian citizens of Israel have used citizenship itself as a tool of political struggle, challenging inequality and reclaiming collective history.
Iftar dinner will be provided. This event is sponsored and funded by UO’s Global Justice Program.
Sabbagh-Khoury is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research interests include political and historical sociology, settler colonialism, indigenous studies, and memory. She is the author of the award-winning monograph Colonizing Palestine: The Zionist Left and the Making of the Palestinian Nakba (Stanford University Press, 2023), a pioneering sociological study of settler colonialism in Palestine.
2:00–4:00 p.m.
From Jan. 21 and continuing until March 18, the Northwest Native American Language Resource Center (NW-NALRC) will be holding weekly consultation and assistance times.
From 2-3pm PST we will be providing consultation and assistance with Community Projects and Planning.
From 3-4pm PST we will be providing consultation and assistance for Supporting Language Teaching and Learning.
To join, please fill out this short form https://forms.office.com/r/D2pg3wErfj.
If you are in need of assistance, or if you have any questions, please contact nalrc@uoregon.edu.