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Dean's Message

Welcome to the College of Liberal Arts.  COLA has 15 departments offering courses and degree programs that span the humanities, social sciences and the arts.  The College of Liberal Arts is well known for its innovative programs that integrate traditional liberal arts disciplines with the technologies and sciences.   We have, moreover, programs with a service learning orientation that allow students to complete internships and coops, to benefit from experiential learning and to become involved in the local Rochester Community.  Our program in Urban and Community Studies is just one such example as are the coop programs that exist in the Departments of Communication and Science, Technology and Society/Public Policy.

The College of Liberal Arts is home to a distinguished faculty, many of whom are known nationally and internationally for their research.  However, unlike some academic institutions with research reputations, COLA faculty involve students in their research.  We like to think of ourselves as a student-centered research institution.  COLA is in the process of internationalizing our curriculum and we encourage all students to take advantage of study abroad opportunities in Dubrovnik and Dubai where we have RIT campuses.  We also encourage students to pursue international study through summer opportunities or through term length programs offered by RIT or other New York State institutions.  We strongly believe that today’s students must be prepared for global challenges and this is reflected in growing enrollments in our International Studies Program.

Many students come to college undecided about a major and so we have RIT Exploration as part of our college experience.  RIT Exploration both encourages and enables students to take courses in many academic areas  in which they have had minimal previous experience.  We believe that the college experience should be about discovery, challenge and developing life-long learning skills.  Our graduates often express how valuable their liberal arts experience at RIT has been in preparing  them for the challenges  they face later in life.

I invite you to review the numerous and diverse educational opportunities that exist in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts and to contact me or the department chairs responsible for programs that interest you. 

Robert Ulin, Ph.D.
Dean
Professor of Anthropology