With a new academic year approaching, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is working to sustain a vision of focused expansion and high quality programs.
This fall the college will participate in the Degree-In-Three program, which allows 15 majors to be offered in a schedule that allows degree completion in three years or less if students attend in the summer and/or get a head start with Advanced Placement or dual enrollment credits.
A new B.S. program in Actuarial Science will also begin this fall followed by an M.A. in Communication and B.A. in Liberal Studies expected to begin in fall 2011.
The college is also in the midst of nearly two dozen projects that will enhance program learning. These projects include space upgrades for Laboratory Science and Music, Theatre and Dance. Perhaps most exciting is the “New Media Corridor” in the core section of the fourth floor of Wilson Hall. It will house a new computerized state-of-the-art language lab, a graphics lab for studio art and cinema studies, and computers for advanced media applications for the writing program. The overlapping and sharing of equipment makes this a highly cost-effective new facility.
There has been enrollment growth across the college, especially in the natural sciences. Sponsored research by CAS faculty has also increased. For example, Xianquin Zeng, associate professor, Chemistry, is the principal investigator on a large grant from the Office of Naval Research. She is leading a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the college and the School of Engineering and Computer Science to devise robotic sensors to detect explosives and other hazards in dangerous areas.
The Applied Music program (individual lessons in voice and instruments) is partnering with a comparable program from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to expand our existing partnership for educational programming. As a result, the college will have access to Orchestra Hall for two consecutive days each year for a large-scale concert.
For more information about the CAS, visit oakland.edu/cas/.