The College of Arts and Sciences

Carrying out a three-fold mission of teaching, research and service

Teaching:

Our fundamental mission is to educate students in the tradition of the liberal arts, a tradition that encourages students to be independent thinkers and lifelong learners.

Our faculty members are excellent teachers and accomplished scholars who actively engage students in learning. In addition to teaching and research, our faculty members devote time and energy to helping students succeed through advising, mentoring and providing hands-on experiences to their students through internships and research projects.

To improve classroom instruction, A&S faculty members created the Teaching Scholars Initiative. More than 130 professors attended its first symposium on classroom teaching. The college promotes student-centered teaching through annual awards to faculty who are outstanding teachers and mentors.

Research:

Joining the best research minds with bright students in world-class facilities enhances learning and helps address issues of relevance to our society.

Researchers in the college study such diverse topics as terrorism, early Oklahoma hunters and gatherers, human genome technology, particle physics, aquatic biology, American Indian history and medieval sciences.

We house one of the world's best collections of material on the history of science, the largest collection of broadcast political advertisements and extensive collections of plants and animals native to the state. Additionally, there are field research opportunities throughout the state and overseas at permanent and temporary locations for the biological and natural sciences and archaeology.

Of the $60 million in research received by the University of Oklahoma in 2004, the College of Arts and Sciences produced $25 million. Three of OU's top five research funded departments are in the college: Chemistry and Biochemistry; Physics and Astronomy; and Botany and Microbiology.

Service:

Students and faculty in the college provide a wide variety of services to the local and global communities, affecting countless others with their ideas, knowledge and hard work.

Through their research, teaching and outreach, faculty members are helping preserve Oklahoma's history, encouraging an understanding of nature to citizens across the state, creating new technologies that fuel the state's economy and offering their expertise to governmental agencies.

Students provide able bodies, creativity and energy to organizations on campus and within the community. There are more than 60 organizations directly connected to the college and more than 300 at the university that provide students the opportunity to participate, lead and serve. Students give blood, collect food for local pantries, visit the elderly, register voters, interact with youth, and make a difference in a myriad of other ways.