The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences strives to follow ASU’s charter as “a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom we exclude, but rather by whom we include and how they succeed.”
Take a look at where we’re at now and what we’re doing to fulfill this promise within The College community and beyond.
Who are we as a college?
As the academic core of the New American University, The College fosters educational excellence, intellectual inquiry, discovery and unmatched access through our unique collection of programs in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Our students, staff and faculty represent diverse cultures and backgrounds. Here are some of the demographics that make up our students and faculty in The College. (Statistics are pulled from fall 2022 data.)
31% of undergraduate and graduate students are historically underrepresented minorities.*
30% of immersion students; 32% of ASU Online students.
27% of undergraduate students are first generation.
26% of immersion students; 29% of ASU Online students.
63% of undergraduate and graduate students identify as female.
64% of undergraduate students; 59% of graduate students. Available data does not yet include non-binary student information.
16% of faculty are historically underrepresented minorities.*
63% of those faculty identify as female.
50% of faculty are tenured or on tenure track.**
44% are tenured; 12% are on tenure track.
*Historically underrepresented minorities include American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.
**Statistics are pulled from fall 2021 data.
What do we aspire to be?
We’re building a community of belonging where every voice matters, and where new perspectives and histories are shared.
Committees and councils at the Dean's Office and academic unit levels are leading strategic Charter initiatives. In turn, we hope to empower our students as a new generation of leaders that will help societies become more socially just.
How do we serve our community?
As outlined in the university’s Charter, ASU assumes “fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.” The College is an integral part of that purpose.
Members of The College community are leading several initiatives and programs that drive local, national and global solutions to real-world problems.
Awards and funding
The Jenessa Shapiro Undergraduate Research Scholarship supports annually one to two ENERGIZE students with documented financial need and demonstrated potential in psychology research, with funding of up to $5000.
To improve diversity and equity in the STEM field at ASU, The College launched diversity, equity and justice seed grants to help contribute to equality and inclusion across departments in The College.
First-generation college students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs at The College may apply for over $10,000 in scholarships. Applications are available each fall and scholarships are awarded and distributed for the fall and spring semesters.
Start with Equity Fellows work with Children’s Equity Project members to conduct, review and translate cutting-edge equity research in early childhood education and serve as interns at a policymaking organization to develop a better understanding of how research becomes policy.
Campus and community conversations
The goal of this program is to have an honest conversation about race that provides the audience with a range of views on crucial issues, including perspectives that may not have been included in other events or programs on campus.
This initiative funded by the Institute for Humanities Research encompasses various multimedia projects to document, amplify and create alternative cultural resources related to the ecological vulnerability Black communities in the U.S. and around the African Diaspora face.
The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership led a program of discussion, learning and action for a renewal of our common pledge to respect and protect the equal rights of all Americans to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
How can narratives and experiences from hundreds of years ago help us make sense of today’s issues? The Sundial, a digital publication by ACMRS Press, welcomes difficult conversations and uncomfortable moments, helping readers and contributors think about what inclusivity is and should mean for all of us, and where we start envisioning inclusive futures.
Centers and institutes
This center is focused on producing pioneering research on the structures and processes that impact daily life for children and families in a rapidly evolving world. It seeks to forge alliances among scholars across the social, behavioral, and health sciences and to join them with community partners and policy makers.
The Center for Indian Education's mission has been continually revisited and reinterpreted to reflect changing contexts and evolving needs while expanding our emphasis on world-class research, the preparation of a new generation of Indigenous scholars, and our involvement with a global community of scholars, policy makers, and practitioners in Indigenous education.
The mission of CLAPR is to foster and support thoughtful, objective, and innovative research on the political and policy circumstances of the nation’s Latina/o-Hispanic population, thereby creating a fuller, deeper understanding of politics and governance in the United States.
The ASU Department of Physics is honored to be part of the APS Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance, whose mission is to empower and support physics departments, laboratories, and other organizations to identify and enact strategies for improving equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).
K-12 outreach
This series of initiatives within the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics is focused on using basic research to identify factors and develop programs that promote positive outcomes among Latino youth and their families.
This storytelling and advocacy project funded by the Institute for Humanities Research and the Global Sport Institute seeks to disrupt anti-transgender legislation and policies by collecting and sharing primary accounts from transgender and non-binary students.
This lab within the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics conducts high-quality research studies that provide insight into social and cultural factors that shape children's and adolescents' social, school and psychological adjustment in diverse populations.
The College’s Early Start program is a free program for students that allows them to join the campus community nine days before the start of the fall semester to prepare them for success in an immersive, integrated experience.
Socially embedded programming
This program, led by the School of Molecular Sciences, is part of the larger Inclusive Graduate Education Network, a collaboration of more than 30 professional societies and institutions, leading a paradigm shift in increasing the participation of Black, Latino and Indigenous students in graduate programs in physical sciences.
The Network is a joint initiative of ASU, the PLuS Alliance, and the University of New South Wales and unites domestic and international research expertise to respond to, prevent and end gendered violence in the United States and beyond.
The Children’s Equity Project at the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics works at the intersection of research, practice and policy and focuses on closing opportunity gaps and dismantling systemic racism in learning settings to ensure that children reach their full potential.
RaceB4Race is an ongoing conference series and professional network community by and for scholars of color working on issues of race in premodern literature, history and culture. RaceB4Race centers the expertise, perspectives and sociopolitical interests of BIPOC scholars, whose work seeks to expand critical race theory.
Training and mentorship
The goal of this signature initiative of the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics is to increase participation of undergraduate and graduate students from historically underrepresented or excluded groups in social science research through several program initiatives.
This committee within the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies helps students and the broader community understand the ongoing realities of systemic racial violence and oppression, and amplifies past and present voices offering alternative visions of justice.
This initiative helps connect students with meaningful research lab experience during their undergraduate career. The labs are specifically looking for students who are under-represented in the sciences. This includes: racial and ethnic background, sexual orientation, religious diversity, first-generation students, international students, students with disabilities, nontraditional students, rural students, older students and students with families.
This resource page on the Department of Psychology's website is designed to provide easy-to-access resources to maximize student wellness and connections to opportunities within and outside the department.