Dean and Professor of English
As dean of the School of the Liberal Arts, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our dynamic and diverse intellectual community.
The liberal arts are at the heart of the university, encompassing both the traditional academic disciplines that have organized human inquiry for millennia and newer fields, which have emerged in response to a changing world. The liberal arts are therefore at the core of our attempt to understand what makes human existence meaningful and at the forefront of thought, allowing us to grapple with the fundamentals and the frontiers of knowledge.
The value of a Tulane liberal arts education is profound. We teach complex thinking through an approach that is fueled by a commitment to service, energized by interdisciplinary convergences, and enriched by global perspectives. At the same time as we look outward beyond the continent and hemisphere, we have a passionate commitment to our remarkable city and are engaged with place, cultural heritage, and the Gulf South. With countless possible opportunities and pathways to follow, we teach students how to think and how to learn. In this sense, a Tulane liberal arts degree is the very reason for pursuing a higher-level education, as it teaches us how to be in the world, how to understand it, and how we might contribute to an ever-changing present and unpredictable future.
The School of Liberal Arts is Tulane’s largest school, comprised of 16 departments and 19 interdisciplinary programs in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. On the undergraduate level, we offer 47 majors and 31 minors; our graduate programs include 13 PhD programs, 25 MA programs, and 5 MFA programs. We educate more than 2,500 majors and graduate students, and engage all Tulane students, who take our courses and service learning. So if you are at Tulane, you are likely to be a part of our school.
As students, parents, and members of the university and larger New Orleans community, we welcome you. The School of Liberal Arts not only offers dozens of programs and many hundreds of courses but we also invite you to public programs, performances, lectures, and exhibitions. Please visit—and for alums and families, please return often—and experience for yourself the exciting things happening at SLA!