Social Sciences

Higher ed faces big challenges, but Tykeson Dean of Arts and Sciences Chris Poulsen is ready to meet them with a forward-thinking plan to establish CAS as a leader and innovator. Read how Poulsen views the state of higher education and how a new strategy will work to make the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences a place where students can receive a high-quality liberal arts education while also preparing them for a 21st century work place.

HISTORY - Lauren Goss, BA ’11 (history), is the University of Oregon's new sports archivist. Funded largely by a gift from an anonymous family foundation with deep Oregon roots and a love for UO Libraries, Goss’s position is the only one on the West Coast and one of only a dozen in the US dedicated to preserving collegiate sports history.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - Do you love the University of Oregon campus enough to create a full-size LEGO replica? Stephen Mack spent, on average, four hours per week for a year building his model on display at the Ford Alumni Center. A 2023 graduate of the environmental studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Mack estimates his creation includes more than 10,000 pieces.

HISTORY - The stories of more than 140 Mexican and Mexican American workers who lived and worked not far from the University of Oregon campus went untold for nearly a century until students in a CAS history class discovered them, countering the white settler-dominant history books of the area. Led by Julie Weise, a history associate professor who focuses on the history of migrations in the Americas, students researched and wrote these local histories as part of a course series called Hidden Histories, which aims to tell the stories of underrepresented communities in Lane County.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - In mid-August, Chandler James, an assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, attended the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) as a district-level delegate. This is what he experienced.

ECONOMICS, GLOBAL STUDIES, PHILOSOPHY, POLITICAL SCIENCE - Two College of Arts and Sciences students — one attending an immersive Mandarin language study abroad and the other serving on a state of Oregon board on climate change and exploring Peru — are having life-transforming experiences.