Iowa State University
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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
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  • LAS Strategic Plan

    With the founding of Iowa State University under the provisions of the Morrill Act, the state committed itself to the support of an educational institution that provided both a practical and a liberal education. The liberal arts and sciences were to provide the educational foundation upon which all others studies rested.

    The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has embraced this purpose by providing the basic research and cultural foundations on which the other academic and professional colleges depend and offering general education courses that support every curriculum. Almost all students in the University take courses in the College at both the introductory and advanced levels, and in many disciplines. As the academic heart of the University, the College continues to sustain a special responsibility and commitment to ensure the highest quality education for all Iowa State students.

    The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is, indeed, "the university's college."

    Mindful of its continuing mission and pressing future concerns, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has developed its strategic plan with a commitment to providing leadership in basic and applied research, fostering creative activity, maintaining a comprehensive and intellectually rigorous academic program for all its students, and enhancing the life-long learning and well being of the citizens of Iowa and the nation.

    LAS Strategic Priorities for 2005-2010
    1. Provide a liberal arts education that will help prepare students, both undergraduate and graduate, to live and work in an emerging, constantly evolving world

    • Affirm a commitment to the core disciplines and modes of thinking that sustain higher education by offering high-quality instruction in foundation courses in addition to the outstanding majors, upper division and graduate courses provide
    • Promote the recruitment and the professional development of a community of world class scholar
    • Aggressively recruit and retain high quality and diverse students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including those students who have not yet selected a major field of study
    • Provide an innovative, intellectually stimulating and welcoming experience for new student
    • Encourage and support the development of collaborative teaching and interdisciplinary course
    • Provide diverse academic and cultural experiences by means of language study, cultural studies, study abroad programs, and coursework in the fields of American diversity and international issue
    • Coordinate coursework with student opportunities for internships, service learning projects, and similar experience
    • Continue to integrate technology as a teaching tool when useful and to develop alternative modes of instruction for on-campus and off-campus constituencie
    • Help build and support well-led collegial departments

    2. Promote excellence in research and creative activity

    • Aggressively recruit and retain outstanding faculty
    • Support hiring excellent faculty in all departments and encourage and reward faculty with outstanding scholarship programs while working with departments to form areas of academic excellence
    • Facilitate the pursuit of external funding for faculty research and creative activity
    • Develop and sustain academic departments and disciplines while continuing to support the development of interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and multi-institutional research and creative activity
    • Encourage and support undergraduate as well as graduate student involvement in research and creative activity
    • Continue to support the scholarly activities of Iowa State's centers of excellence

    3. Expand the College's engagement with academic, social, cultural, and economic communities beyond the campus - locally, regionally, and globally

    • Support and facilitate the public dissemination of scientifically based knowledge and practical applications of that knowledge
    • Enhance relationships with the K-12 and two-year college programs of the State of Iowa to improve coordination and articulation of shared goals and expectations
    • Support student and faculty performances, presentations, workshops, and other contributions to academic and community arts and humanities programs throughout the State of Iowa
    • Encourage student and faculty involvement in addressing the social, political, ethical, and economic challenges and opportunities facing the State of Iowa
    • Strengthen ties to alumni and other constituencies through scholarships, internships, student placement, and resource development

    Approved:
    LAS Cabinet - September 29, 2005
    LAS Representative Assembly - October 5, 2005

Catt Hall at night
Around LAS

October 31 to November 13, 2005

Air Force Aerospace Studies - Anthropology - Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology - Chemistry - Computer Science
Ecology, Evolution & Organismal Biology - Economics - English - Genetics, Development & Cell Biology - Geological & Atmospheric Sciences
Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication - History - Mathematics - Military Science - Music - Naval Science
Philosophy & Religious Studies - Physics and Astronomy - Political Science - Psychology - Sociology - Statistics - World Languages & Cultures

African and African American Studies - American Indian Studies - Biological/Premedical Illustration - Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Classical Studies - Communication Studies - Criminal Justice Studies - Environmental Science - Environmental Studies - Interdisciplinary Studies
International Studies - Liberal Studies - Linguistics - Software Engineering - Speech Communication - U.S. Latino/a Studies - Women's Studies