UNL College of arts and Sciences
Transforming Lives and Improving Our World. Like Only Nebraska Can.
Throughout the College of Arts and Sciences, our passion drives discovery and creative activity. The college is distinguished by the combination of the breadth of its disciplines and its shared commitment to leverage this diversity to collaborate in new and innovative ways. The college promotes discovery of new knowledge and the pursuit of excellence in liberal arts education.
Relentless Focus on Student Access and Success
Gifts directed toward student-focused initiatives have an enormous impact on the college, one of the largest at UNL. With your support, the college will:
- address student financial need and improve retention and graduation rates;
- provide more experiential learning, study abroad and research opportunities for students;
- expand funded graduate student fellowships; and
- grow Nebraska’s workforce.
Enhancing Faculty and Academic Excellence
You can help the college recruit and retain new faculty in the sciences, social sciences or humanities through gifts for endowed faculty positions. The need is particularly acute because faculty salaries across these areas lag behind other Big Ten and peer universities.
Transformational Research and Innovation
The College of Arts and Sciences leads the university in external grant dollars and has achieved some of the highest levels of university, national and international recognition for research and creative activities. Your investment in research helps us find solutions to some of today’s most pressing challenges while raising the profile of the college and the university.
FOR THE FUTURE WE’LL BUILD
INVESTING IN OUR
SHARED VISION.
Only with donor support can we accomplish our loftiest goals. Together, we can increase the number of students who make it to the graduation finish line while reducing their debt. We can give students the guidance and experience they need to find a career where they can thrive, and support faculty whose teaching and research make a difference for Nebraska.
A MESSAGE FROM LEADERSHIP
“With a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences, our graduates have the knowledge, skills and cultural awareness necessary to flourish in a rapidly changing global economy because they are prepared to think critically, communicate clearly, live ethically and work effectively with diverse groups of people to address complex real-world problems.”
– Mark Button, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Read more about the College of Arts and Science’s strategic plan here.
TOP CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES
Career and Experiential Learning Center
The College of Arts and Sciences will be a national leader in experiential learning, workforce development and public-private partnerships through its innovative new Career and Experiential Learning Center. Professionally relevant internships and career counseling are integrated with students’ major areas of study, making experiential learning a key part of students’ education and post-graduation career success.
Thanks to donor support, two additional career coaches have been hired since the center opened. Your support can help the college hire additional staff to ensure it can serve all of its more than 3,500 undergraduate students. Gifts can also be directed toward a new space that will become a central hub for students to discover opportunities and create connections.
UNL CAS Cares Fund
The college launched the CAS Cares Fund program in 2020. Funded entirely by private support, CAS Cares provides direct financial relief to students at risk of not continuing their education due to unforeseen financial emergencies.
Since 2020, almost 250 graduate and undergraduate students have been impacted by this fund. Thanks to donors’ generosity in supporting CAS Cares, the college surpassed a key goal, increasing the six-year graduation rate to 67.2% in the 2021–2022 academic year (up from 55.5%). With your help, we will maintain this level of student success and strive for a new goal of 72% by 2025.
Chairs and Professorships
Professorships and chairs provide leverage for the college to recruit and retain world-class academic leaders. This support provides students with outstanding teachers and gives faculty the resources to tackle today’s most urgent problems through research and innovation.
The college started the campaign with the goal of funding 20 chairs and professorships. Opportunities remain for incredible impact at the college through faculty support.
Inclusive Excellence Research Faculty Program
One way to support diverse faculty hiring is through gifts to the Dean’s Inclusive Excellence Research Faculty Program, designed to build a faculty that more accurately reflects the diversity of its student population.
Historically underrepresented scholars are highly sought after throughout academic institutions. To ensure the college can successfully recruit and retain talented and diverse faculty members in a competitive environment, it is essential to invest in the hiring process. The goal remains to fund four full-time faculty.
Nebraska Research Fellows
The Nebraska Research Fellows program will bring together multidisciplinary teams of scholars and graduate students, selected from among the most talented and innovative members of the college, to focus on a selected theme or pressing problem.
One of the primary aims of the Nebraska Research Fellows program is to enhance the national and international reputation of the College of Arts and Sciences, and of UNL.
