January 2023 Update

CLAS community: 

Last year, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences made meaningful progress on the ambitious goals laid out in our 2021-2026 strategic plan.  

Across the college, we increased our external funding proposals to a record $142 million; we collaborated to deliver innovative new curricula and increase support for undergraduate and graduate education and training; we invested in community engaged scholarship and learning in our college; and we continued to strengthen our culture in CLAS through our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. You can read more about our progress and our priorities going forward linked below.

In the course of my work as dean, perhaps the most rewarding aspect is the opportunities I have to know and work with incredible students, scholars, teachers, and staff across this college; in every imaginable way, the people of CLAS personify the promise of our mission, delivering transformative education enhanced by excellence in research, scholarship and creativity.

As we move forward this year in our vision to be a world-class comprehensive college, we will continue to invest in our faculty and staff and foster a culture of discovery; we will redouble our efforts in support of undergraduate and graduate student success; we will engage communities in Iowa and beyond through our scholarship and learning; and we will collaboratively define our vision and roadmap for DEI in our college. 

I continue to be excited and grateful to have the opportunity to work with all of you to help advance this college, for the benefit of future generations of students and faculty, and I'm thankful for the great progress we are making together in CLAS.

Sara Sanders, PhD, MSW

Dean