Mission

The College of Arts and Letters promotes learning, scholarship, and service to the broader community in all aspects of human communication — spoken, written, visual, musical, dramatic, and electronically mediated. With support for general education and with discipline-specific degrees, both undergraduate and graduate, we aim to foster intellectual independence, expressive competence, and aesthetic appreciation within the traditional arenas of arts and letters. We also aim to instill the desire and capability for lifelong learning, in keeping with the advancements of our disciplines and their technologies. In the departments and programs of the College, we enhance students’ creative and performance skills, sharpen students’ communication effectiveness in a variety of languages and media, and prepare students to be effective professionals and community members. We hope to model an attitude of respect for diverse cultures, traditions, values, ideas, and ways of knowing.