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Opportunities abound for LAS

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences faces a multitude of challenges in the coming years.

Faculty salaries, budget concerns, a declining enrollment pool and available classroom space are just a few of the obstacles the College will have to overcome in the coming years, LAS Dean Michael Whiteford said in his annual "State of the College" address on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

"Challenges, however, can easily morph into opportunities," Whiteford said at the LAS Fall Convocation held in the Memorial Union.

Whiteford cited the efforts of the LAS Curriculum Committee that will conduct the most thorough review of what the College is doing since Iowa State shifted from the quarter system to the semester system almost 25 years ago.

"We are asking our academic departments to do the same," Whiteford said. "We want them to prioritize and plan strategically for the future. Declining resources have forced LAS and its academic departments to look carefully and seriously at what we are doing.

"What we know is, we can’t continue to do everything we’ve done in the past."

Whiteford mentioned the efforts of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, which has already gone through the process and is "emerging with a tighter focus and an energized faculty."

The College will continue to put additional emphasis on its fundraising efforts. Last year, LAS and its academic departments raised $8 million in outside donations, up from $3 million the previous year.

In the coming years, additional outside resources will be sought to provide additional scholarship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, add to the College’s endowed professorships and complete needed building construction and renovations.

Efforts will also continue in LAS on the College’s "First Year Experience" program.

"We began discussions last year on how we can make the first year more exciting for entering students in LAS and at Iowa State," Whiteford said. "We want to capture their attention in a positive manner that whets their spirit of scholarly engagement."

The effort, led by Zora Zimmerman, LAS associate dean, has already established "Frontiers of the Discipline," a program held prior to the start of the fall semester where 80 first-year students, divided into groups of 17-19, worked with a pair of faculty. As early as next spring, Whiteford hopes additional programs will be in place that will go beyond current learning communities by linking two or more classes through a common theme.

Whiteford also pointed out that LAS took advantage of many of the opportunities afforded it in 2004-05. Some of the highlights included:



  • The 100th anniversary of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication

  • The establishment of the new Center for American Intercultural Studies

  • The major role LAS has played in the new Center for Computational Intelligence, Learning and Discovery

  • The acquiring of an additional 30,000 square feet of new space in Carver Hall, which is being utilized by the Departments of Mathematics and English, the Center for American Intercultural Studies, the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, Women in Science and Engineering and the Institute for Science and Society.

    • Rob Wallace with "Frontiers of the Discipline"

    Gene Matibag

    Vasant Honavar

    Three of the programs mentioned during LAS Dean Michael Whiteford’s “State of the College” address were, pictured top to bottom, “Frontiers of the Discipline,” the new Center for American Intercultural Studies, directed by Eugenio Matibag (pictured), and the Center for
    Computational Intelligence and Discovery, directed by Vasant Honavar.

    Around LAS
    September 19 to October 2, 2005
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