Bracing for the Pomp and Circumstance
This year, more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students will graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences. For everyone who works in CAS (and anywhere at the University of Oregon), getting students across the finish line is the collective goal.
What do typical CAS students experience during there time here? Hear from five students — four undergraduates and one graduate — who reflect on their college experiences and share some insights to encourage and help future CAS majors.
Read more about what's happening in CAS in the May issue of CAS Connection.
Congratulations, Graduating Ducks!
The College of Arts and Sciences’ departments will hold commencement ceremonies on Monday, June 15, 2026.
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!
What’s Happening in CAS?
Why is storytelling so important for College of Arts and Sciences students, whether they're pursuing creative writing or neuroscience? With the advent of AI and constant technological innovation, it's more important than ever to bring humans together. Find out more how the craft of storytelling is preparing students for an ever-changing world.
Also in the April CAS Connection issue, an economist weighs in on why the war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz leads to high prices around the world; alum, filmmaker and Olympic runner Alexi Pappas shares her perspective on ambition and failure; and a chemist shares research on how we can make labs more accessible for students — 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
4:00 p.m.
Explore research, discovery, and connection at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
Guided by museum staff and researchers, UO postdocs will explore current exhibits while gaining insight into research happening across campus and connecting with colleagues across disciplines.
Space is limited to 15 participants, so early registration is encouraged. If interest exceeds capacity, spots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
RSVP here: Postdoc Museum Tour RSVP Form
4:30–5:45 p.m.
Prof. Carolyn Nadeau (Illiniois Wesleyan University) will deliver a public lecture titled “Food Fit for a King: What the 1611 Cookbook Teaches Us about Early Modern Spanish Foodways.” Her lecture is one of two keynote presentations of the Mediterranean Seminar Spring Workshop and Conference, hosted by the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
This event was made possible through the generous support of the Schnitzer School for Global Studies and Languages, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Department of Romance Languages, the Italian Program, the Global Justice Program, the Rutherford Middle East Initiative, the Global Studies Institute, the Department of Religious Studies, the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, the Food Studies Program, the European Studies Program, the Department of History of Art and Architecture, the Department of History, and the Department of Comparative Literature.
7:30 p.m.
Scoobi is an undocumented-law-student-love-child of the Zapatista rebellion of 1994. Petra, her mother, a former revolutionary is also undocumented. Dylan O’Reilly, is Scoobi’s ticket to citizenship. This odd trio navigates personal and political borders on the heels of Scoobi’s marriage of inconvenience to Dylan. Oh yes, Roko, the soldier-ghost of Scoobi’s soulmate is hanging out too.
Credit: Los Dreamers is produced by special arrangement with Mónica Sánchez. Directed by Michael Malek Najjar. A University Theatre production.
11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m.
Prof. Anny Gaul (University of Maryland, College Park) will deliver a public lecture titled “A Mediterranean Nightshade: Tomatoes, Trade, and Travel over the Longue Durée.“ Her lecture is one of two keynote presentations of the Mediterranean Seminar Spring Workshop and Conference, hosted by the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
This event was made possible through the generous support of the Schnitzer School for Global Studies and Languages, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Department of Romance Languages, the Italian Program, the Global Justice Program, the Rutherford Middle East Initiative, the Global Studies Institute, the Department of Religious Studies, the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, the Food Studies Program, the European Studies Program, the Department of History of Art and Architecture, the Department of History, and the Department of Comparative Literature.