the
College of Liberal Arts @Minnesota!
You aren’t like everyone else. Neither are we.
In the College of Liberal Arts (CLA), you will have an extraordinary experience that shapes your future. Our award-winning faculty can help you find your passions in the sciences, communications and media, fine arts, social sciences, languages, and culture. Your major is just one of the building blocks of your future. Our graduates succeed in a broad array of careers—law, health care, medicine, business, government, teaching, public relations and marketing, arts and entertainment, international relations—and more.
When you earn a degree in the College of Liberal Arts, you are preparing yourself for the careers of today and tomorrow. The liberal arts will develop your analytical and interpretive skills, teach you to communicate effectively, and give you the tools to understand human nature and culture. In short, you’re training your brain to adapt to new challenges throughout your life and career.
Majors Arts, Communication, and Media Acting Art Art History Communication Studies Dance Journalism Music Music Education Music Therapy Scientific & Technical Communication Studies in Cinema & Media Culture Theatre Arts
Humanities, Languages, and Cultures
Sciences and Math
Social Sciences
American Indian Studies American Studies Asian Languages & Literatures Chicano-Latino Studies Classical Civilization Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature English French & Italian Studies French Studies Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies
Astrophysics Biology, Society & Environment Chemistry Computer Science Earth Sciences Mathematics Physics Physiology Speech-Language -Hearing Sciences Statistics
African American & African Studies Anthropology Child Psychology Economics Geography Global Studies History Political Science Psychology Sociology Sociology of Law, Criminology & Deviance Urban Studies
German, Scandinavian & Dutch Studies Greek Hebrew Italian Studies Jewish Studies Latin Linguistics Philosophy Religious Studies Russian Spanish & Portuguese Studies Spanish Studies
Size matters, no doubt about it. CLA’s broad range of majors, courses, and engagement experiences provide you with extraordinary opportunities to experiment. Do you have a lot of interests? Here you can make the most of your four years in college by creating a program of study to prepare for your future career, graduate/professional school, and life plans—it’s all within our university. You already may know your ideal major when you arrive, but it’s OK to be undecided; with guidance from our professional advisers, you’ll discover your best path to success.
As a top research institution, CLA faculty are committed to creating new knowledge and art forms—in fact, many of them write the textbooks used across higher education. And they don’t do it alone; research and creative opportunities for students like you are plentiful, even for freshmen.
You don’t need to be on a coast to connect to the world. If you pursue a bachelor of arts degree in CLA, your studies will include two years of a second language. Why? We want you to be prepared to move easily through our globalized society. Want a deeper cultural experience? Take courses in history, geography, classics, art history, or anthropology, among many other liberal arts fields. Or join the 25% of all CLA students who study abroad in one of our 300+ programs—many of them taught by your U of M professors.
Engage With Professors— From the Start
BRANDON STENGEL
Each year CLA awards scholarships to freshmen to conduct research and creative projects with professors. Ellie Lijewski, for example, studied the effects of antidrug advertising on teenagers. Her team included professors and graduate students from advertising, psychology, and marketing. Said Ellie, “The relationships and networks I am forging through this experience are priceless. I’m learning more than I thought possible, and it’s more rewarding than I ever thought it could be.”
33 Languages Taught in CLA Akkadian Arabic Chinese (Classical and Modern)
Coptic Dakota Dutch Finnish French German Greek (Classical and Modern)
Hebrew (Biblical and Modern)
Hindi/Urdu Hmong Icelandic (Old Norse and Modern)
Italian Japanese (Classical and Modern)
Finding Community Through Language
4 Rhodes Scholars since 2001 3 Truman Scholars since 2004 26 Fulbright grants since 2004 4 Beinecke Scholars since 2006
Students who choose to learn a less commonly taught language (think Dakota, Finnish, Swahili) become part of a community of learners—you are likely to share your classes with the same cohort of students each semester. It’s just one of the ways to engage in both a local and global community.
Korean Latin Norwegian Ojibwe Polish Portuguese Russian Sanskrit Somali Spanish Swahili Swedish
As Minnesota’s Land Grant university, CLA is committed to engaging with and learning from the communities outside of campus. Discoveries that improve people’s lives? Solutions for problems simple or complex? We take it to the streets. The Twin Cities is your classroom, all year long.
Our location in the center of the Twin Cities offers you countless opportunities to supplement your classroom experiences with internships at Fortune 500 companies, exposure to world-class arts, and engagement with nonprofits large and small. Fantastic business, residential, and entertainment areas are easy to find by foot, bike, or bus. In short, this is a fun place to live and go to school.
Taking Care of the Kids Be a Public Historian Students in Prof. Kevin Murphy’s public history course actually make history. Each year they work on projects in University-area neighborhoods that document our evolving communities and record our histories. Students not only gather and interpret information but also develop relationships with community partners to find common ground and help advance community goals. As one student described it, “It’s more tangible than the academic history I’ve studied before. You can really see parallels within your own community here.”
Each year the Global Studies Student Association raises money for a service trip abroad. In May 2012 they returned to an orphanage in Honduras where they’d previously contributed to construction of a water sanitation plant. This year they built furniture for the orphanage and purchased sports equipment and school supplies.
The CLA Career Services office is here with you all the way. Throughout your four years in CLA, we’ll help you find an internship, write your resume, practice interviewing, apply for graduate school, and chart your path to success after CLA. Our team of professional advisers will help you look at all the ways you can use your liberal arts education.
CLA grads are prepared for all life has to offer and make a difference in every field.
Jim Burke,
Dessa,
Dave Kapell,
Cheryl Strayed,
Sharon Vaughan, co-founder of the first domestic violence shelter in the U.S. (Sociology BA)
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. ©2012 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
Obama’s Commerce secretary, champion poverty-fighter (Economics BS)
Tim Larson,
author of Wild (English and Women’s Studies BA)
inventor of Magnetic Poetry (English BA)
Rebecca Blank,
producer of Cedar Rapids and The Descendants (Communication Studies BA)
philosophermusician (Philosophy BA)
president and CEO of Jostens (Journalism BA)
Santino Fontana, Broadway actor and Drama Desk winner (Acting BFA)
Michele Norris,
Host of NPR’s All Things Considered . (Journalism BA)
Visit & Apply: admissions.tc.umn.edu More: discovercla.umn.edu