Congratulations to the Graduating Class of 2026!
The College of Arts and Sciences’ divisions will hold commencement ceremonies on Monday, June 15, 2026.
The Story of B-12
Inside the human gut, billions of microbes compete and cooperate for survival. For many of them, access to a single nutrient — vitamin B12 — determines who thrives and who doesn’t.That microscopic competition is the focus of research led by Romila Mascarenhas, a new assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Mascarenhas' work investigates how gut bacteria recognize, transport and use vitamin B12, a molecule that plays a huge role in shaping microbial communities in the human gut. She anticipates her research will lead to collaboration with fellow CAS researchers across disciplines and attract a new generation of STEM students.
Read more in the May issue of CAS Connection.
News from CAS
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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?
Congratulations class of 2026! Hear from a few of the members of this diverse graduating class, from a political science PhD student on her way to a tenure-track faculty member position to an undergrad inspired to address bicycle infrastructure in the US.
Also in the May CAS Connection issue, an economist weighs in on the impact that rising sea levels could have on East Coast real estate, undergrads producing a theatre arts play, why B-12 is for this CAS chemist — 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
1:00 p.m.
Please join us Wednesday afternoons 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!
7:00 p.m.
Filmlandia Screening Series presents: Ed's Coed (1929) with a live musical accompaniment by Orchestra Next. Free and open to the public.
Directed by Carvel Nelson and James Raley | 74 min
Synopsis: Ed’s father wished for him to attend college, but he’s reluctant to leave the family sawmill until he sees his cousin with a pretty co-ed. The sophomores have hazing on their mind when country boy Ed matriculates, but he won’t be deterred.
The movie was filmed on the UO campus.
The Department of Cinema Studies and the University Film Society celebrate Oregon’s rich film heritage with a new screening series showcasing movies with a unique Oregon connection—from locally shot features to stories written or directed by Oregon filmmakers. Discover Oregon’s reel legacy on the big screen while connecting with the university film community.
Cosponsored by: Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Endowment; Department of Art; Department of Comparative Literature; Department of English; Department of History; Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Folklore and Public Culture Program; School of Journalism and Communication; Art House Theater; DUX Present; Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art; Julie and Rocky Dixon Chair of U.S. Western History; and Oregon Humanities Center’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities.
4:00–5:30 p.m.
Join us for a talk: "The Middle East Crisis in India."
Kishalay Bhattacharjee is currently Professor and Dean, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication and Director, New Imaginations. He is a journalist, author and former resident editor, New Delhi Television Ltd. (NDTV) and has reported widely from India’s conflict zones.
His books include Che in Paona Bazaar: Tales of Exile and Belonging from India’s Northeast (Pan Macmillan India, 2013), Blood on My Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters (Harper Collins India, 2015) and An Unfinished Revolution: A Hostage Crisis, Adivasi Resistance and the Naxal Movement (Pan Macmillan India, 2017) and Where the Madness Lies: Citizen Accounts of Identity and Nationalism (Orient Blackswan 2023). He has co-authored Mapping Innovation in India’s Creative Industries Policy, Context and Opportunities (Routledge 2024) and his forthcoming publications are two edited volumes, Bearing Witness: Reporting Conflict, Crisis and Disaster (Orient Blackswan), On Rivers and Water (Orient Blackswan) and a handbook on reporting from the margins (Routledge).
Kishalay Bhattacharjee is the recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Award Excellence in Journalism, India's highest journalism award. He was Chair, Internal Security and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). He was a Panos Fellow for HIV/ AIDS and an Edward Murrow Fellow in Journalism. He was the first recipient of Penguin Random House Writers Residency Award. He is the founder curator of ArtEast—a festival of art and livelihood held annually at the India International Centre, New Delhi.
This event is sponsored by The Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages.
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Conservation Between the Tides: Seagrass Meadows Past, Present, and Future
Seagrass meadows are critical ocean ecosystems that purify water, mitigate pollution, stabilize sediments, and support diverse marine life — yet they are increasingly threatened by climate change, rising temperatures, and infectious disease. Assistant Professor Aoki will spotlight seagrass ecology and conservation on the west coast and beyond, highlighting the capacity for ecological resilience, successful restoration, and the power of collaborative science to advance conservation efforts.
About the speaker: Lillian Aoki is a coastal scientist studying ecosystem dynamics and resilience in nearshore and estuarine habitats. Using field, lab, and computational methods, her work builds a cross-scale understanding of coastal ecology in a rapidly changing world. Current projects examine seagrass meadow recovery following marine heatwaves and the role of land management in carbon sequestration in tidal marshes. She earned her PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia.
Refreshments provided. Doors open at 6:00 PM.
Sponsored by the Graduate Evolutionary Biology & Ecology Students (GrEBES) and the Institute for Ecology and Evolution (IE²).