About - University of Southern Indiana

We contain multitudes. Under one roof, we house several disciplines in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, but broadly speaking, there are some common themes to all of our degree programs.

Many, perhaps most of our classes run on a “relational” scale, i.e., a small to medium size. We like it that way because it fosters meaningful relationships, and the people that students meet in college—fellow students and faculty, peers and mentors—can be as important as the subjects they study.

Here in our college, students have a lot of creative room to design their degree credentials. In other words, our students don’t buy off the rack. They go bespoke. Most of our degree programs require 30-45 credit hours to complete. That leaves plenty of room to double major or add a minor or two. So, for example, a student can major in psychology or sociology and add a French minor or could major in art and get minors in social media and philosophy. Or major in criminal justice and minor in history. The combinations are endless. Why is this important? That kind of creative packaging will give students a tailor-made skill set for the workforce but also the kind of breadth of knowledge that will allow them to be nimble in a rapidly changing economy.

We offer many experiential opportunities, which often means “hands-on” or “practice-based.” Internships, for example, are popular in all of our programs. So are long form mentored research projects. Our art studios are first-rate facilities. Likewise, our Miller Language Learning Lab and our Archeology Lab. And many of the cool things we offer are open to any student: anyone, for example, can perform in a show; or sing in the choir; or join our mock trial team; or be part of our award-winning radio station, The Spin; or write for our newspaper, The Shield; or contribute to Fishhook, our student literary journal.

From here, our students go on to get jobs in all sectors of the economy. We have art graduates in commercial real estate development, English majors in e-commerce, psychology grads in energy, social workers in philanthropy, and political science majors in global finance and state government to provide just a few examples. Some of our students start their own small businesses and create jobs for others: at least four Main Street businesses in Evansville are owned by Liberal Arts graduates. A good percentage of our students go on to succeed in graduate, law, and medical school. Although our students can go anywhere, we know a lot of them choose to stay here in our region, and we’re proud of that.

Finally, it should be noted that around USI, we are sometimes referred to as “the fun college.” We are very pro-fun. We have a lot of creative energy here and a lot of ways to exercise it.

Vision

Linking formal inquiry with self-discovery, the College of Liberal Arts fosters knowledge, skills and values necessary for success in the ever-changing global community.

Mission

We strive to ignite intellectual curiosity and a passion for lifelong learning.

We aim for the understanding of self, society and ethics necessary for responsible and engaged citizenship, for integrity balanced with social awareness.

We foster both cultural enrichment and an appreciation of the human condition in all of its diversity.

We cultivate an awareness that truth is complex, multifaceted and unlikely to be found in one place.

2021-2025 College of Liberal Arts Strategic Plan

This plan provides an opportunity to further the University’s mission through improving student success, fostering impactful engagement, elevating the visibility and reputation of the university, and strengthening financial viability. Liberal Arts faculty, staff and administrators share in the responsibility of implementing the College of Liberal Arts Strategic Plan.

Letter from the Deans

The College of Liberal Arts has changed significantly as it has grown in faculty, staff, students, curricula, programs and facilities. Today the College houses the largest number of faculty, offers the greatest variety of majors and minors and produces more students with bachelor degrees than any other college at USI. We offer effective and rigorous programs in the arts and humanities, and social and behavioral sciences, all of which comprise the liberal arts today at universities.

We take great pride in our growth, maturation and the outstanding accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students and alumni. We are eager to showcase our achievements and to demonstrate the value of a liberal arts education in creating the next generation of critically-reflective thinkers and citizens who emerge from our classrooms as accomplished artists, social scientists, entrepreneurs, community leaders and professionals.

In 2021, we introduced a new College of Liberal Arts Strategic Plan. This strategic plan represents an important milestone in determining the direction of the College of Liberal Arts over the next five years. This plan will guide us as we strive to achieve our goals and realize our College mission and vision. With this plan, budget requests, experiential and engagement activities, and decision-making will be made in order to implement goal strategies.

Our new strategic plan is aligned closely with the mission, vision and goals of the University. It is also characterized by the distinctive values and aims of the College of Liberal Arts. This plan was designed to build on our strengths, to reflect upon them and to inform the implementation of strategies to ensure that we continue to provide excellence in instruction and leadership throughout the region. In this plan, we also seek innovation in our programs and curricula that will engage students in intellectual and creative inquiry in established as well as new and emerging areas of study. For this reason, the College will continue to develop new and innovative offerings with experiential learning and research opportunities and will strengthen its curricula and programs through sponsored events such as guest speakers, conferences and joint student and faculty colloquia. Furthermore, the College is committed to an inclusive educational community that will attract and develop highly qualified students, faculty and staff. Our ultimate objective is to improve continuously the experiences we offer to students, the USI community and the region.

The College of Liberal Arts is responsive to the broad perspectives of our many and diverse constituents (students, faculty, staff and alumni), and we strive continuously to provide the best experiences possible. We are committed to achieving our vision and goals as defined in our new Strategic Plan.

College of Liberal Arts Awards in Excellence