Overview

• LA&S enrolled 5,432 undergraduate students and 1,782 graduate students for the 2009-2010 academic year.
  
  
• Although the college has the largest number of undergraduates at DePaul, its class size averages just 26.5 students.
  
  
• LA&S has 337 full-time faculty members who teach in 34 undergraduate and 23 graduate degree programs primarily on the Lincoln Park Campus.
  
  
• Realizing a major commitment to science education, DePaul’s $40 million Andrew J. McGowan Science Building opened for classes in January 2009 at 1110 W. Belden Ave. on the Lincoln Park Campus. Encompassing nearly 130,000 square feet, McGowan South is the new home for the chemistry and environmental science programs and houses biology labs and lecture space. The state-of-the-art building has numerous environmentally friendly features, including rooftop greenhouses with high-reflectance materials, daylight harvesting and occupancy sensors, heat recovery systems, high-efficiency mechanical equipment and water-efficient landscaping. The building was awarded a Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2009.
  

Programs

• LA&S is committed to providing its students with a liberal education that balances in-depth study in certain areas with a breadth of experience in the various disciplines that form the core of human knowledge.
  
  
• Discover Chicago, a component of DePaul's successful first-year program, provides entering freshmen with an introduction to Chicago's many dimensions, including the city's people, history, architecture, and social and political paradigms. The city-as-laboratory/classroom approach to learning takes students into the neighborhoods, streets and institutions of Chicago. Courses have included such offerings as "Chicago in Sound," "The Animal Human Bond: People and Their Companion Animals in Chicago" and "Green Design/Bicycle Chicago."
  
  
• The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences houses several key academic centers, including the Humanities Center, Institute for Nature and Culture, Interdisciplinary Science Technology Center, Center for Latino Research, Center for Community Research and Center for Interreligious Engagement.
  
  
• Two centers new to LA&S as of fall 2008 are the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology (WCIT) and the Social Science Research Center (SSRC). WCIT is directed by Peter Casarella, professor of Catholic Studies; Greg Scott, associate professor of sociology, serves as interim director of SSRC.
  
  
• In the past year the LA&S graduate program in public service became the School of Public Service, a new master’s degree in public health (MPH) was launched and the master of social work program received its accreditation. The interdisciplinary MPH program is designed as a community health practice program, and is directed by Gary Harper, professor of psychology. Newly approved degree programs include a bachelor’s in environmental studies and four graduate degree programs in writing and publishing; writing, rhetoric and discourse; public administration; and leadership and policy studies. Two new departments also have been created: History of Art and Architecture and Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse.
  

Distinctions

• DePaul LA&S faculty members continue to distinguish themselves in the areas of research and teaching.  Leonard A. Jason, director of the Center for Community Research, received a $3.3 million National Institutes of Health grant to conduct a comparative study of aftercare programs for ex-offenders with a history of substance abuse. Dorothy Kozlowski, associate professor of biology, received a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study brain injuries of soldiers returning from Iraq.
  
  
• Three LA&S professors have been awarded Excellence in Teaching Awards: Matthew Dintzner, associate professor of chemistry; Elizabeth Millan-Zaibert, associate professor of philosophy; and Rose Spalding, professor of political science. Thomas Mockaitis, professor of history, received the annual Cortelyou-Lowery Award for Excellence in Teaching.
  
  
• Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Cuban-born author Achy Obejas is DePaul's Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Writer-in-Residence. Obejas began her five-year term in January 2007. Her fiction titles include: "Days of Awe" (2001), "Memory Mambo" (1996) and "We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?" (1994). Her latest book is a collection of poems titled “This Is What Happened in Our Other Life.” She teaches courses in English and Latin and Latino Studies.
  
  

About the Dean

• Charles "Chuck" S. Suchar has served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences since 2006. Prior to assuming the post, he served as interim dean for one year and associate dean of the college for 13 years. A professor of sociology, Suchar brings to the deanship an extensive background in teaching and academic administration marked by a special interest in program development at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has served DePaul for more than 30 years in key roles within and outside of LA&S.

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Web site