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.
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.
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.
Campus and community conversations
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.
This lecture series hosted by the Health Humanities Initiative addresses how histories of bias, racism and colonialism are intimately bound up in the history of epidemics.
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.
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.
Centers and institutes
Project Humanities is an award-winning initiative founded in 2011 by Neal A. Lester. It connects the university and diverse, local communities for engaged, inclusive, multidisciplinary public conversations about the intersections of humanities, social justice, racial/gender/sexual identities and more.
This council acknowledges the significant contributions of Arabic studies and Islamic civilization and cultures. Research and teaching programs promote multiculturalism, diversity, interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural understanding through Arabic and other Middle-Eastern languages.
This center’s mission is to actively drive the discourse and experiences of underrepresented girls in STEM by owning, generating and critiquing the collective body of scholarship on, and offering culturally responsive programs for, girls of color and STEM education.
This center promotes work that is historically grounded and theoretically expansive, with the aim of advancing dialogues that reach into the present moment and point us to different, more inclusive, futures.
K-12 outreach
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.
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.
The Better Together Challenge at the Sanford School’s Center for Child and Family Success supports middle, junior and high school students' success. Teams of students work with a faculty advisor to design projects to make their school environments more inclusive, safe and equitable.
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.
Socially embedded programming
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.
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.
In partnership with Rising Youth Theatre, this project led by Rafael Martínez Orozco and Lily Villa is a decolonized approach to centering the lived experiences of marginalized people through student-led story circles. This project will build a living archive of stories that speak directly to our community.
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.
Training and mentorship
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.
The mission of Psych for All is to materialize the Department of Psychology's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging as specific initiatives, activities, programs and policy recommendations.
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.