A Spelling Bee with Buzz
Theatre arts students conclude the University Theatre's 2024-25 season with the popular musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. To bring the production to life, College of Arts and Sciences students have worked through the term to transform the Hope Theatre into a middle school gym in the mid-90s.
“Our goal was to create a playful, cartoonish aesthetic and incorporate relatable accessories, like friendship necklaces, that evoke nostalgia and connection,” said Sara Smith, co-costume designer and CAS student.
Produced by University Theatre, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs through May 23–June 8 in the Hope Theatre. Performances are at 7:30 p.m., with matinees June 1 and June 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets are free for students and available for purchase at the EMU Ticket Office.
News from CAS
All news »
We Love Our Supporters
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!
Preparing New Generations of Global Leaders
A gift from one of Oregon’s most philanthropic families will inspire the next generation of global citizens and changemakers to address the world’s most pressing issues. A $25 million commitment from Portland real estate developer, philanthropist and UO alumnus Jordan Schnitzer and the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation will raise the national and global reputation of the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.
This gift—the largest ever to the College of Arts and Sciences—will provide financial support for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as retain and recruit top-tier faculty members. It will also expand the reach of the recently formed Center for Global Futures, creating an interdisciplinary hub for scholars and practitioners dedicated to the understanding of, educating about and preparing for future trends and challenges across the world.
Congratulations, Graduating Ducks!
The College of Arts and Sciences’ departments will hold commencement ceremonies on Sunday, June 15, and Monday, June 16, 2025.
What’s Happening in CAS?
The urgency of climate change can’t be overstated. The Earth’s ten hottest years on record have occurred in the last decade, and 2024 has been the very hottest. This is leading to devastating and costly consequences. This month is a special issue that looks at how students are dealing with one of the bleakest futures of any generation and how CAS researchers are addressing climate change.
Find out how researchers in CAS are calculating the cost of climate change for Oregon households, chemists developing sustainable technologies, using economics to inform policymaking—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.
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
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!
The College of Arts and Sciences includes:
Happening at CAS
11:00 a.m.
The Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies Presents: “Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together.” Join us for a book talk and reception with Author Dean Spade on Friday, May 23 at 11 am in the Redwood Auditorium (EMU 244). Free book available to the first 100 people!
Dean Spade is the author of Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law and Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the next). He has worked for twenty-five years in movements for trans liberation, prison abolition, and anti-militarism. His latest book, Love in a F*cked Up World: How To Build Relationships, Hook Up and Raise Hell Together, was published by Algonquin Press in January 2025. Find him at deanspade.net.
Free and open to the public.
Cosponsored by LGBT Education and Support Services and the Mellon Foundation
noon
Brief presentations by Global Studies and Languages faculty, discussion and light catering
From Memory to Algorithm: Technoloical Mediation of Knowledge in "Ypsilon Minus" (Daniel Quintero, PhD Candidate)
AI Intergration and Collaborative Learning in the Utopian Heterotopian, and Dystopian Furture of Language Education (Jon Dell Jaramillo PhD, Career Instructor of Spanish)
7:30 p.m.
Music and Lyrics by William Finn Book by Rachel Sheinkin Conceived by Rebecca Feldman Additional Material by Jay Reiss Originally Directed on Broadway by James Lapine Originally produced on Broadway by David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo Barrington Stage Company, Second Stage Theatre
Directed by Tara Wibrew
An eclectic group of six mid-pubescents vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming “ding” of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves a champion! At least the losers get a juice box.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com
7:30 p.m.
Music and Lyrics by William Finn Book by Rachel Sheinkin Conceived by Rebecca Feldman Additional Material by Jay Reiss Originally Directed on Broadway by James Lapine Originally produced on Broadway by David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo Barrington Stage Company, Second Stage Theatre
Directed by Tara Wibrew
An eclectic group of six mid-pubescents vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming “ding” of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves a champion! At least the losers get a juice box.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com