Department website: http://www.msubillings.edu/cas/index.htm

Dr. Christine Shearer, Dean
LA 427, (406) 657-2177

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is a comprehensive college comprising eight departments and offering majors and/or minors in twenty different academic disciplines.  The College offers both the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in a variety of majors, and supports a wide range of minors.  Additionally, the College maintains a close relationship with the other colleges, including supporting the bulk of general education offerings, collaborating with the College of Education in supporting teacher education, and in supporting the Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies, an interdisciplinary degree completion program.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is comprised of the following academic departments:

• Department of Art
• Department of Communication and Theatre
• Department of English, Philosophy and Modern Languages
• Department of History
• Department of Mathematics
• Department of Music
• Department of Psychology
• Department of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies

Mission

The mission of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is to serve the educational needs of the people of Montana through:

• a General Education program providing a foundation of liberal education to all students;
• selected undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the arts, humanities, and social sciences;
• selected pre-professional programs; and
• various graduate, continuing education, and non-conventional learning opportunities consistent with the mission of the University.

Through these learning experiences, the College seeks to provide knowledge and cultivate skills to allow a student to select realistic future directions for study and/or employment.  These learning experiences should be of high quality and be consistent with the mission and resources of the University.  With its inherent diversity, the College serves as an intellectual and cultural resource for all students, faculty, and staff of the University, and for the larger community and region which it serves.

Advisement of Students

Upon receiving all application materials, students are fully or provisionally admitted to graduate programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.  With admission, students are assigned an advisor in the department that administers the degree program they have chosen.  Students then work with the assigned advisor to develop their DegreeWorks program of study and meet any admission requirements not initially met in order to be formally admitted to their program. Students are informed by letter from the Office of Graduate Studies on the status of their admission (provisional or regular) and the name and phone number of their advisor.