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Living in a Material World

The world is on the cusp of a new technological era. And today's students have an opportunity to shape how society will go beyond the "Silicon Age," according to Kayla Nguyen, assistant professor physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

Materials sciences is a a new, cutting-edge CAS major, preparing students to drive technological change through high-demand careers in fields such as semiconductor manufacturing and energy and sustainable materials development. 

"We’re not stopping at silicon," Nguyen said. "There is a whole entire periodic table and a large number of combinations we can use to make new materials with different properties. Students who learn how to do this could be at the forefront of a revolution to bring in the next materials age.” 

Explore the Materials Science Major

News from CAS

ANTHROPOLOGY - Theresa Gildner’s research in the Amazon as a doctoral student in anthropology led to publications and experience in conducting ethical field research. She continues that work as a Washington University faculty member.
COMPUTER SCIENCE - 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.
THEATRE ARTS - The Robinson Theatre is reopening this February with University Theatre’s winter production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” The reopening brings University Theatre’s largest performance space back into rotation, marking an important step forward for student training, production capacity and community engagement.

All news »

We Love Our Supporters

Your gifts change lives

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 January issue

What’s Happening in CAS?

How can you rethink goals, whether it's for personal achievement, success in the classroom or in everyday work life? CAS Psychology Professor and Natural Sciences Divisional Associate Dean Elliot Berkman offers a way to rethink the "why" behind your goals. 

Also in the January CAS Connection issue, find out what new CAS major is equipping students to drive change, how squatting in three US cities influenced housing policies, an alum who leveraged his Spanish degree to a U.S. Department of State job—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

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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

Feb 18
NW-NALRC Consultation and Assistance Time 2:00 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...
NW-NALRC Consultation and Assistance Time
January 21–March 18
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

Feb 18
Food Studies in Costa Rica Information Session 4:00 p.m.

Join to learn more about GEO's Food Studies in Costa Rica program! This program offers an immersive experience in the study of food within Latin American history, combined...
Food Studies in Costa Rica Information Session
February 18
4:00–4:30 p.m.

Join to learn more about GEO's Food Studies in Costa Rica program! This program offers an immersive experience in the study of food within Latin American history, combined with comprehensive Spanish language instruction and engaging excursions. Over four weeks, students will participate in Spanish courses tailored to all proficiency levels during the first two weeks, followed by an in-depth course on the history and cultural significance of food in Latin America, in English, in the second half. No prior Spanish knowledge is required, making the program accessible to all students.

Feb 18
Real Estate Investment Group Meeting 6:00 p.m.

Learn about different career paths in the real estate industry and the foundations of financial analysis from guest speakers, hands-on workshops, and site tours. Join the UO Real...
Real Estate Investment Group Meeting
January 7–March 4
6:00–7:30 p.m.
Lillis Business Complex 132

Learn about different career paths in the real estate industry and the foundations of financial analysis from guest speakers, hands-on workshops, and site tours. Join the UO Real Estate Investment Group for our weekly meetings every Wednesday in Lillis 132 from 6:00–7:30 p.m.! Our club is open to all and no application is required.

Feb 20
IRES Presents: “Displaced Practices of Discursive Change Circulations of Social Justice Ephemeralities within a Leather Bar Context” 11:00 a.m.

Please join the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies for a talk with Shane T. Moreman, PhD, Department of Communication, California State University, Fresno, titled...
IRES Presents: “Displaced Practices of Discursive Change Circulations of Social Justice Ephemeralities within a Leather Bar Context”
February 20
11:00 a.m.
Ford Alumni Center Room 202

Please join the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies for a talk with Shane T. Moreman, PhD, Department of Communication, California State University, Fresno, titled “Displaced Practices of Discursive Change Circulations of Social Justice Ephemeralities within a Leather Bar Context.” 

"While not the only ones, three normative discourses still dominate U.S. Western society: Whiteness, masculinity, and heterosexuality. As a critical communication scholar working through a performance studies paradigm, my work codifies these discourses with the goal of recognizing moments of social justice reconstitutions. My latest communication performance ethnography focuses on discursive interactions within a leather gay bar—Falcon—located in a mostly commercial neighborhood on the northeast side of a major U.S. northwestern city. I am drawn to learn how Whiteness and its adjacent cis male and masculine positionalities are circulating within contemporary, shifting registers of social codes around race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. As the world changes, how are these discourses adapting and changing? Steeped within the Whiteness, cis-maleness, and masculinity of a leather gay bar context, Falcon is a context for a bar culture that modulates and incorporates macro-level discursive conceptions into its localized performative acts all situated within contemporary frameworks. Influenced by Gloria Anzaldúa, Maria Lugones, and José Esteban Muñoz, I embrace a ontoepistemological approach so as to empirically cruise Falcon for creativity that disrupts normative reductions and advances complex co-existence. As Whiteness and its adjacent cis male and masculine positionalities co-mingle with contemporary expressions of nonnormative race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, I observe moments of co-mmuning and possibly co-muting with transness, nonbinariness, and gender diversity. When normativity tries to adapt to queer worldmaking, how are those adaptations manifested in the moment? In what ways are social codes reconfigured to generate a better presence? And, as queer worldmaking is ephemeral, what might we move forward with to improve the normative worlds in which we all predominantly must exist—at least for now? I begin answering those questions as a joto with a tequila soda in my hand at a mostly White, mostly cis male, and mostly masculine leather gay bar named Falcon."