CAS Connection

CAS Connection
Dean Chris Poulsen speaking to an audience in a classroom

Creating a Future Forward CAS

How will CAS tackle the major challenges higher education faces? 
Dean Chris Poulsen has a strategic plan to establish the college as a leader and innovator.

By Nicole Krueger

 

In Focus  |  Around CAS  |  Liberal Arts at Large  |  Q&A  |  In the News  | Student Spotlight  |  Faculty Spotlight  |  Page Turners  |  Past Issues

Academic and career advisor Sonia Gordillo advises students who are pre-health and plan to go to medical school or other health-related graduate program.

Around CAS

Meeting Students Where They Are

What’s the best way to leverage your degree into a successful career path? Find out how CAS advisors help students flourish both in college and beyond.

By Jenny Brooks

Colin Wilfrid chose to attend UO in part for its disability studies program and in part for its marching band

Around CAS

Exploring Identity
in CAS

Students who come to CAS seeking a degree often find something even greater: themselves. Discover how an identity-focused major or minor can lead to a fulfilling career.

By Jenny Brooks 

Statue of Socrates illuminated with pink light

In Focus

Taking Liberal Arts to the Next Level

Are liberal arts degrees becoming obsolete? Far from it, say CAS faculty who are evolving liberal arts education to prepare students for jobs that don’t exist yet. 

By Nicole Krueger

A collage of images of LatinX professors

Faculty Spotlight

Meet Your New Latinx Studies Professors

Want to explore Latinx studies from a variety of perspectives? These nine new faculty members are bringing their valuable their expertise in Latinx studies-related issues to CAS.

By Henry Houston

Person on a roof making repairs with a nail gun

Student Spotlight

Finding Home
Again

It’s one thing to rebuild homes after a wildfire. Rebuilding communities is a different matter, discovered sociology graduate student Haisu Huang.

By Henry Houston

Page Turners

Book cover "Fighting Mad"

‘Fighting Mad’ Tackles Reproductive Justice 

The overturning of the nearly 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion in the US sparked a wave of responses across the nation. 

Explore the impact of this momentous decision through a collection of voices and perspectives in Sociology Associate Professor Krystale Littlejohn’s latest book.

By Codi Farmer

CAS News

a view of the Sisters
UO scientists rewrite eruption history of Oregon’s South Sister
EARTH SCIENCES - Graduate student Annika Dechert at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences and a team of researchers are working on studying the eruption history of South Sister volcano in the Oregon Cascades. The results of the study will inform the way the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory draws up hazards maps for Central Oregon and help shape the way scientists think about other similar volcanoes. The research team published their latest findings in August in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
a wildfire smoke filled sky in portland, oregon
New economics forum begins to tally costs of climate change for Oregonians
ECONOMICS - Wildfire smoke costs Oregon households $450 per day as they try to adapt by purchasing air purifiers, canceling trips and keeping children at home to minimize exposure. That’s just one of many economic impacts of climate change tallied up in a new report by a five-member nonpartisan group The Forum on Oregon Climate Economics, or FORCE. The group includes Keaton Miller, an associate professor of economics with the College of Arts and Sciences.
a student speaks into a microphone
At the eye of the storm
MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE PROGRAM - When Clark Honors College and CAS senior Erin Morrison set out to witness the historic launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in Florida in mid-October, she had no idea she’d also be facing a Category-5 hurricane. Morrison was there to be with Carol Paty, an earth sciences professor with the College of Arts and Sciences, who worked with a team of scientists to create some of the tools to help Europa Clipper study a moon 1.8 billion miles away.

All news »

From the Media

wood blocks that spell out thank you
RESEARCH: When You’re Grateful, Your Brain Becomes More Charitable
Psychology assistant Research Professor and senior instructor in the College of Arts and Sciences Christina Karns explores the brain-altering power of gratitude in the Being Patient publication. Psychology researchers recognize that taking time to be thankful has benefits for well-being. Not only does gratitude go along with more optimism, less anxiety and depression, and greater goal attainment, but it’s also associated with fewer symptoms of illness and other physical benefits, Karns said.
people sitting at a restaurant table, laughing
Your friends shape your microbiome — and so do their friends
Your microbiome isn't yours alone. Research published in Nature shows that a person’s microbiome is shaped not only by their social contacts but also by the social contacts’ connections. The work is one of several studies2 that raise the possibility that health conditions can be shaped by the transmission of the microbiome between individuals, not just by diet and other environmental factors that affect gut flora. Social interactions are “definitely a piece of the puzzle that I think has been missing until recently,” says postdoctorate microbiologist Catherine Robinson at the University of Oregon, who was not involved in the work.
a person using a smartphone with another person
A Deep Look into the Social Problematic of Smart Phone Use in Today’s World
The online publication Sheen Magazine features Elliot Berkman, a psychology professor and divisional dean of the Division of Natural Sciences at the College of Arts and Sciences. Berkman said the constant checking of phones is caused by reward learning and the fear of missing out (FOMO). Berkman explains that, “Habits are a product of reinforcement learning, one of our brain’s most ancient and reliable systems,” and therefore people tend to develop habits of completing behaviors that have rewarded them in the past.

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CAS Connection is produced by the CAS Communications Department and edited by Nicole Krueger.

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