Chapter I: Introduction to the College

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Mission Statement of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

To achieve pre-eminence in creating, preserving and applying knowledge and academic values, to enrich the lives of students, and to transform them into leaders and citizens who challenge the present and illuminate the future.

LSA Administration

Administration of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

LSA Student Academic Affairs Administration

Directors and Associate Directors within Student Academic Affairs

The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan is one of the nation's oldest and finest public institutions dedicated to the liberal arts. An academic powerhouse – our departments and programs rank among the top 10 in the nation – LSA excels in preparing students to assume leadership roles in a wide variety of future enterprises, whether they be academic or artistic, social or scientific, political or professional.

As many of our alumni will attest, a liberal arts education is the cornerstone for future success. Our students leave LSA well prepared to understand the value, benefits, and obligations of active citizenship in a global economy. They have developed strong analytical and communication skills, resulting in intellectual and emotional adaptability and flexibility of mind. They have gained knowledge, and have learned many of the ways it can be used to make our world a better place.

The liberal arts experience requires a rich distribution of academic disciplines and exposure to an array of courses in the natural and social sciences, in the arts, and in languages and cultures. Students are encouraged to understand broad contexts, learn discrete areas of expertise, and discover and develop new information through research. Most importantly, they are expected to be able to express what they have learned in traditional written form and through technological media.

The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts achieves these ambitious goals by offering unique strengths.

Interdisciplinarity

Key to the liberal arts tradition is interdisciplinarity, a quality for which the University of Michigan is internationally known and highly regarded. From our living-learning communities, to area studies, explorations in the arts, and cross-campus science collaborations, students are encouraged to reach across disciplinary boundaries to work with experts to solve the challenging problems of our day in new and exciting ways.

Undergraduate Research

The College's Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) is the nation's foremost program offering undergraduate students the opportunity to work alongside faculty researchers and to engage them in discovery-based learning from their earliest days on campus. UROP introduces new students to the intellectual excitement of discovery and fosters important skills endemic to the discipline of research. The program builds a sense of community for students within the larger academic world and serves as a base for their future intellectual and emotional development.

First-Year Seminars

The College's First-Year Seminar program introduces master teachers, tenured faculty from the upper divisions, to first-year students in an intimate and supportive classroom experience. The seminars, which feature small classes and provide an in-depth look at specific areas of expertise, fire the imagination, and shine a light on the possibilities for scholarship.

Resources and Support

No one is "just a number" in LSA. From the Sweetland Writing Center to the Language Resource Center, from the Science Learning Center to the Math Lab, from the Physics Help Room to the Newnan Academic Advising Center, the College goes to great lengths to provide resources to support you and ensure your success.

A Tradition of Excellence

With outstanding faculty, highly-ranked departments across the board, and a long tradition of instilling public ethics and a desire to 'do good' in the world at large, the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts is a leader in education, research and public service. Our students exemplify the highest ideals of the College. They are not only talented and dedicated scholars, they are high-minded young people, whose accomplishments, current and future, will further embellish our reputation.

 

 

Welcome to the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. We have every expectation that you will take full advantage of all that we have to offer and, in turn, reflect back to the world all that is best of the liberal arts experience.