History and Overview

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) stands at the heart of academic life at the University of Florida providing students with an intellectual foundation. The college offers an academic environment in which students learn to communicate effectively, to reason independently and to comprehend the traditions and institutions that have shaped the world. CLAS offers 40 majors in 22 departments, 3 academic programs and is home to 32 centers and institutes, including the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research and the Center for African Studies. The teaching faculty, nearly 700 strong, are active scholars working to create new knowledge through research. The main goals of the college are to prepare students as citizens and to empower them as leaders.

The college serves its students, the state and the nation in a number of important ways. Perhaps the most obvious is in the area of research, where faculty and students help expand the boundaries of knowledge through teaching and research in such areas as aging, child development, the family, literature, speech communication, history, women's studies, language, culture, biotechnology, environmental science, politics, high energy physics, space and religion.

World events demonstrate the importance of such ideas as freedom, democracy and human worth. These ideals and values remain central to the mission of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as it seeks to prepare students for an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Ever mindful of national and international concerns, the college endeavors to foster a healthy cultural, ethnic and racial diversity among students and faculty.

Special Features

Scholarships

Anderson Scholars

Each fall at a convocation ceremony, the college honors outstanding juniors, as Anderson Scholars. These students receive certificates of highest distinction, high distinction or distinction, based on maintaining a 4.0, 3.93 or 3.85 overall grade point average respectively, during their first two years at UF with a twelve-hour course load each semester.

Anderson Scholars are named in honor of James N. Anderson who served as the first dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1910-1930).

Dean's List

At the end of each fall and spring term, the dean recognizes the outstanding academic achievement of students who are enrolled full-time and earn a grade point average of 3.75. For students to be eligible for the Dean's List, their coursework for the semester may not include any elective S/U grades, grade changes, or dropped courses.

Honors

The college offers a variety of opportunities for independent and seminar honors work to those undergraduates who have demonstrated appropriate qualifications.

Superior students should take initiative in planning undergraduate and graduate programs. They should consult the honors coordinator in their department about requirements for the baccalaureate degree with honors, high honors or highest honors.

For graduation with honors, a student must attain a 3.5 overall junior/senior level average. Some majors have additional requirements. For graduation with high honors or highest honors, the student must attain an overall junior/senior level 3.5 GPA and, in addition, submit a thesis, a research project or other creative work. Upon evaluation by the department or other responsible group, the student will be recommended for high or highest honors. One copy of the thesis and an abstract must be delivered to the graduation coordinator in the Academic Advising Center (AAC) at least three days prior to graduation. Postbaccalaureate students are not eligible to receive honors recognition.

Pre-Health/Pre-Law Students

Students interested in attending professional school (medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine or law) after completing the bachelor's degree are encouraged to seek advising from the Office of Health and Legal Professions Advising. Contact 100 AAC to make an appointment with a pre-health or pre-law advisor. Handbooks are also available on the AAC web site.

Special Support Services

The Learning Services Center (LSC)

Career Advising

Internships

Students interested in academic credit for work experience in their major should consult their department regarding internship credit.

Research Experience

Teacher Preparation - Pathways to Teaching

Study Abroad

Students in the college are encouraged to participate in study abroad programs administered by the UF International Center. Scholarships are available. Students can meet requirements such as general education, CLAS distribution, foreign language, certain courses in the major, summer term enrollment and UF residency.

CLAS has many programs overseas for undergraduates for a semester, a summer or an academic year that provide a wide range of academic and cultural experiences.

Studying abroad, however, is more than academic. Students establish new friendships, become more fluent in a foreign language and learn about the history and traditions of the country in which they study.

Center for Written and Oral Communication

The William and Grace Dial Center for Written and Oral Communication offers a range of courses focusing on the communications skills students need for their majors and future careers. Students interested in business, education, law and medicine can develop oral communication skills essential to success in their professions.

Juniors and seniors also can improve their writing skills in Writing in the Discipline (ENC 3254), which focuses on writing in specific disciplines (history, communication science and disorders, neurobiological sciences, physical sciences, psychology and sociology). The course addresses the form, content and style of professional articles. It shows students how to prepare grant proposals, letters of application to graduate programs and potential employers and oral presentations of research.