Chicago State University College of Arts and Sciences

Mission and Vision Statement
Departments Art and Design African-American Studies Biological Sciences Chemistry and Physics Communications, Media,
Arts & Theatre Criminal Justice English Foreign Languages and Literatures Geography, Sociology, Economics, and Anthropology History, Philosophy, and Political Science Liberal Studies Mathematics and Computer Science Master of Social Work Music Psychology
Programs and Reports MBRS: Minority Biomedical Research Program Military Science Responses of Faculty to Survey Prelaw Education Pre-Med Program Contact Information

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Mission and Vision Statement

The College of Arts and Sciences provides the intellectual nucleus around which the academic life of the university revolves. The college emphasizes a curriculum that adheres to the philosophy that a liberal arts education is "not only schooling that imparts skills of numeracy, literacy and knowledge of historical, scientific and artistic traditions, but also education that communicates social and democratic values, fosters ethical conduct and critical thinking, and develops an awareness in students of their own individual natures and motivations" (Educational Leadership Project Report). Striving to help our students understand the impact of technology on society and the interdependence of all people, the aim of the college is to prepare students for a wide variety of career and post-graduate educational opportunities through a solid liberal arts foundation that will enable them to become well-informed citizens in an increasingly complex world.

The college follows the university model of success which emphasizes recruitment, retention and opportunity. Departments and programs offer precollege initiatives which are designed to complement K-12 curricula; to promote career awareness; to motivate students toward the pursuit of higher education; and to improve the quality of instruction and learning in general. Assessment is critical to determining the success of all activities and programs. In addition to activities at the department level, information about internships, careers and graduate schools is provided to students by college programs. As part of its commitment to academic excellence, the College also offers graduate programs in various disciplines.

The college's priorities lie in the economic and social advancement of its students and in their preparation for careers. Thus, the college's major resources are directed toward its undergraduate programs. A distribution of resources which emphasizes undergraduate programs is appropriate for a commuter institution, the bulk of whose students are first generation college students.

The vision and mission of the college are consistent with those of the university. Both statements stress the primacy of academic instruction and appropriate research activities and underscore service to an urban student body as well as to communities surrounding the institution.

Mission Statement

In addition to preparing students for careers requiring humanities, social science, natural science, mathematics, and engineering studies backgrounds, as well as secondary education and the preprofessional fields of medicine and law, the college provides developmental courses for all university students in the areas of mathematics and composition and furnishes the general education requirements for all students of the university's five colleges. The specific purposes of the college include the following:

To offer the general education component for all units of the university including an increasing emphasis on writing across the curriculum, critical thinking, and multicultural issues.

To offer undergraduate and graduate degree programs that serve a broad range of students including those from underrepresented groups.

To encourage research in the arts and sciences disciplines, especially as such research applies to the university's mission in the metropolitan area.

To provide service to the community and the university at large through the Neighborhood Assistance Center and a variety of outreach programs.

1998

The priorities of the college, as stated in the mission, focus on preparing students for economic and social advancement and the successful pursuit of a career. By providing precollege and retention programs and information about graduate school and careers, the likelihood of addressing these priorities is increased. Both graduate and undergraduate programs are offered in the college, but the majority of options are undergraduate. Because of the general education component, our clientele consists of the entire university as well as students majoring in our options. The liberal arts focus of the college serves to add breadth to all the university's majors. In light of a background of underpreparation for many of our students, these priorities are appropriate and consistent with the goals of our students. Through the energy of the faculty and administrators in the college, funding from grants has been obtained to augment appropriate resources and heightens our success at meeting our priorities.

College Organization.
The College of Arts and Sciences is composed of twelve departments and eighteen programs.

Departments/Programs Chairperson

Department	Location	Name
African American Studies	DH- 210	Mario Beatty
Art and Design	BHS- 600	Kay Lillian Dawson
Biological Sciences	SCI- 310	Floyd Banks
Chemistry & Physics	SCI- 309	Michael Mimnaugh
CMAT	DH- 116A	Christine List
Criminal Justice	HWH- 329	Emmett Bradbury
Engineering Studies	HWH -129	Terri Young
English	SCI- 320	Brenda Aghahowa
Foreign Languages & Lit	HWH -301A	Robert Chierico
GEAS	SCI- 321	Art Redman
HPPS	SCI- 116A	Bernard Rowan
Liberal Studies	SCI- 323	Janet Halpin
Math & Computer Sci.	HWH- 332	Rohan Attele
Music	HWH- 331	Mark Smith
Pre-Medical	SCI- 221	Lisa Abston
Psychology	HWH- 328	Ivy Dunn
Social Work	SCI- 315	Mikal Rasheed
Gwendolyn Brooks Ctr.	DH- 210A	Quraysh Lansana
Honors College	SUB- 255	Richard Milo
Military Sciences	SUB- 260I	Major Suoboda

*Anthropology, Philosophy & Theater are offered as minors only.

For several of these programs, options of study are available for students (e.g., options in the biological sciences include biology, environmental, microbial, premedical). Seven of these programs (art, biological science, chemistry, English, history, mathematics, and music) also include a secondary education option leading to certification to teach at the high school level. Graduate programs are available in six disciplines (biology, chemistry, English, geography, history, mathematics and psychology).

Finally, three preprofessional programs (Engineering Studies, Prelaw, and Premedical Education) and two academic support programs (Reserve Officer Training Corp/R.O.T.C. and Project Fame/Upward Bound) are housed in the college. The Engineering Studies program prepares students for transfer to IIT, University of Illinois-Chicago, or other universities offering majors in engineering. Sixty students have completed the CSU engineering studies curriculum and are enrolled in engineering programs at other at other universities. The premedical students are also quite successful with 80%-90% of those applying to health professions schools being accepted each year.

Project Fame/Upward Bound is designed for high school students who show potential for success in college. Federal guidelines require that host institutions not use Project Fame/Upward Bound as a recruitment vehicle; nevertheless, several students from this program enter CSU annually.

In addition to providing general education courses for the university, various programs in the college provide support courses for programs in other colleges. For example, Biological Sciences offers courses for Nursing and Allied Health; Chemistry offers courses for Nursing; Mathematics and English offer courses for Business Administration.

College Highlights. Faculty and staff in the College of Arts and Sciences have been very successful in developing and offering activities in the areas of the 3-Point Model for Student Success.

The breadth of the precollege activities is a strength of the College. Departments and academic support units offer more than 40 such programs. These programs have succeeded in developing the pipeline to the university. For example, the increase in majors in the sciences and mathematics is a direct result of the precollege programs they offer. Fortunately, these programs are supported bor the most part by outside funding. Of the precollege programs supported by university, most of them (such as the Minority Law Recruitment Day, the Jazz Clinic, and Club Premed) are part of an academic program and bring substantial recognition to the department and the university as a whole.

Several activities which departments offer, such as the Child Safety Program, provide service to the community. Now that community service has become an important university-wide priority for the university, these activities will provide an important contribution to the university effort. In addition, the College serves as the lead for the Community Service Center (CSC) project. Conceived by Quality Education for Minorities in Washington, D.C. and supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this project links CSU with the Altgeld-Murray Housing Development. The Arts and Sciences precollege activities currently in place will be increasingly important for the project. The College also received a planning grant from the Bureau of Public Health Care (BP) to work with the community to address their concerns about reducing violence. White continuation funding for this project will not be available from the BPHC) co work with the community to address their concerns about reducing violence. While continuation funding or this project will not be available from the BPHC, faculty who worked on the project are committed to continue some aspects of training for community residents so that they can address their own problems.

Curricular improvement and retention activities in the College are conducted through the efforts of the faculty who work closely with the Office of Academic Support. Active grantsmanship (totaling almost $1.5 million not including the $1.6 million Greenhouse Project) in the departments of biological sciences, chemistry & physics, and mathematics & computer science have also provided invaluable support for programs, equipment, and computer laboratories which have led to curricular improvements in these programs. The Board of Higher Education has now approved the BA in African American Studies. This low-cost program provides an interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum permitting students to construct individualized programs of study integrating various academic and professional fields.

Every department is actively involved in the tutoring and mentoring of students both of which are coordinated with other university-wide retention activities. Faculty in the science and mathematics departments have been particularly successful in receiving funding for programs that provide retention support for students and scientific equipment. To name a few of these, The Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP) which is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, provides financial and academic support for students throughout the academic year and offers research opportunities in the summer. CSU is the lead institution for this grant which funds a partnership with five other universities in the Chicago area. The Biological Sciences Department, along with the Department of Chemistry & Physics, was one of the first recipients of a Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) grant. This grant also provides research opportunities for students during the academic year and the summer. An important component of this program is support for qualified with school students to work in faculty research laboratories during the summer.

Pivotal to these activities has been the opening of the Science Center Addition which includes a greenhouse. (This facility was the recent recipient of the Thomas H. Madigan Outstanding Achievement Award for new construction. This award for design was given by the State of Illinois Capital Development Board.) This facility also houses the new nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NM) which was acquired with funding rom the National Science Foundation. The research labs and equipment in this new addition provide the opportunity for faculty to work with students on research projects, thereby improving the training our students receive in the science.

Faculty have worked diligently with students in the area of Windows of Opportunity. Through mentoring, faculty have successfully encouraged students in their careers or to continue their education at the graduate level. Every department has an internship program which is coordinated with the Career Development Program. The growth in internship opportunities resulting from these programs as well as the pipeline programs with various universities have greatly contributed to students getting jobs after graduation or going on to graduate and professional schools. We have also been successful in developing pipeline programs for our students with the University of Iowa (for science students and supported by a grant the University of Iowa received from the Department of Education); the University of Minnesota for our students in international studies; and the Colleges of Osteopathic and Chiropractic Medicine for premedicine students. All of these programs provide opportunities for students during their junior and senior years at CSU as well as the possibility of matriculation into graduate programs at the institution after our students graduate.

The college makes important contributions to the university in a variety of other areas as well. The Gwendolyn Brooks Center was approved by the Board of Governors in 1992. This center is the repository of the works of the Illinois Poet Laureate and focuses on advancing the study of black literature and poetry. The Center is the sponsor of the annual Black Writers' Conference which attracts nationally and internationally renown writers. The Neighborhood Assistance Center is a Vital component of the Geograpy program. The Center provides assistance to a variety of environmental and social service community groups as well as state legislators. Each year the History program conducts the Model UN program and the Model OAS program was begun last year. These programs, which include both high school and university students, provide opportunities to gain greater understanding of how these organizations function.

Finally, faculty, staff and student accomplishments can be highlighted as a major factor in the success of the College. Faculty publications and conference attendance is an indication of their concern with their own development and desire to remain current in their disciplines. In addition, faculty worked with students on research projects, published articles with them, and took them to conferences. It is obvious that faculty are very much invested in their students.

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