Celebrating Our Success

May 11, 2012

On May 11, we will confer more than 800 baccalaureate, 128 master's and 49 doctoral degrees to men and women who have completed rigorous academic journeys within the College of Arts and Sciences. I congratulate our graduates, and I offer my thanks to the families and friends who have supported these students throughout their educational endeavors. I also commend our faculty, who have inspired and nurtured these students while challenging them to reach new goals.

Our students and faculty have amassed impressive accomplishments this year. Last month, three of our students were awarded the Goldwater Scholarship, one of the highest honors in the United States for undergraduate science scholars. Both undergraduate and graduate students have worked with faculty to conduct groundbreaking research in life sciences, psychology, social sciences and the humanities. Important projects like these, funded by state and federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, as well as by prestigious private foundations, will provide enduring insight into our health, our environment, and our society as we turn toward new challenges. Faculty also published more than 20 books this term, and their research appeared in hundreds of leading academic journals.

The college is physically expanding to meet our growing academic needs. Our Studio Art Complex opened this spring, bringingtogether painting, sculpture, glass and ceramics students in a central campus location for the first time. We broke ground in April on a new neurosciencebuilding that will become a hub for revolutionary collaborative research on how our brains function. A $7.5 million gift from the Macdonald Foundation willcreate an institute for biomedical nanotechnology on the medical campus that will allow our faculty and students to work alongside colleagues from the Miller School of Medicine and the College of Engineering to develop nanotechnology tools, improve nanomanufacturing, and develop nanomedical applications. Within these new facilities, our students and faculty will provide leadership and advance inquiry in both science and the arts.

We honor these successes, both individual andinstitutional. I thank you for your commitment to each other and to the college. Your dedication and support ensure that the College of Arts and Sciences is poised to continue its achievements.

 

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August 13, 2012 — Welcome to the College of Arts and Sciences

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March 19, 2011 — Committed to Diversity