Spring 2025 update
CLAS community,
As we approach the end of year four of our strategic plan, I am proud to report on the progress we’ve made in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Creativity and discovery are at the heart of our mission in CLAS, and we continue to invest in top-notch research and the infrastructure to make it possible. With our Grant Support Office now fully staffed, we are empowering our faculty to apply for and receive larger, more competitive grants, helping us break our previous record for new grant funding with $31 million awarded in FY24—a 28% increase from the previous year’s record of $24.2 million. We’ve strengthened research IT support, and are making more investment in CLAS facilities–like the future home of Dance and the new Health Sciences Academic Building, which will house Communication Sciences and Disorders and Health and Human Physiology. We’ve also started planning the renovation of the Iowa Advanced Technologies Laboratories as the future home of Computer Science, and are thrilled to have completed the renovation of Van Allen Hall as a revitalized hub for our renowned space science program.
With the aid of our campus partners and friends of CLAS, we are doing more than ever to help our students succeed and thrive. We’ve grown and developed academic advising, and with visionary donor support hired Emily Hurst as our first Student Care Manager to foster holistic student wellness. These ongoing efforts have helped us set new records for the college’s first-to-second year student retention at 90%, our transfer student retention rate at 87%, and the college’s four-year graduation rate at 61.5%. We’ve also reimagined and redesigned our support for graduate education, hiring Erika Christiansen in our new Graduate Affairs Manager role to mobilize our resources and support of graduate student success in CLAS.
Our success and progress as a college is enabled by collaboration, and we continue to build our capacity to work together across our departments and programs. By developing the next generation of faculty leaders, strengthening administrative structures and systems, and increasing budget transparency and financial literacy across the college, we are taking steps today that we are confident will improve our tomorrow.
At a time when that future may feel less certain than ever and the challenges facing higher education are significant, I am reassured knowing the foundation we've built together over the past four years has made CLAS stronger. Thank you for your role in our remarkable progress, and for your ongoing commitment to our mission.
Sara Sanders, PhD, MSW
Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
