Webster University :: College of Arts and Sciences

Webster University has been accredited since 1925 by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association. www.ncacihe.org.

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LETTER FROM THE DEAN

David Carl Wilson

Webster University's College of Arts & Sciences is essential and distinctive. We are essential to Webster University in the way that every College of Arts & Sciences is essential to its university. You cannot have a university without one. Liberal arts and sciences professors commonly inquire for the sake of inquiry, teach the most broadly applicable skills, and provide support for every other aspect of the university.

What makes us essential to Webster, then, is not what makes us distinctive among Colleges of Arts & Sciences. What is it that makes us distinctive? We are global and we are engaged.

The College extends far beyond the friendly confines of St. Louis. We have some 35 sites offering A&S degrees across the US, Europe, and Asia. Faculty and students flow freely from campus to campus -- from Thailand to Vienna, from London to St. Louis–serving actively as both receivers and transmitters of eye-opening international cultures. Students who learn a second language (through our International Languages and Cultures Department), who study abroad, and who engage in an international field experience are awarded International Distinction on their diploma. Whether traveling or rooted, faculty members aim to provide a global perspective on every academic discipline. All of this makes us both geographically and intellectually global, and explains the name of our quarterly e-newsletter, Global Thinking.

We are also engaged in the real world to a remarkable degree. This engagement is enhanced by the many professionally-oriented programs within our college, programs that have strong ties to the liberal arts and sciences but use those ties to pull us all in the direction of lived life. These include Nursing, Counseling, Legal Studies, Patent Agency, Gerontology, and Nurse Anesthesia.

Engagement also marks our non-professional programs. Religious Studies, with special support from our Thailand campus, enrolls dozens of students in the onsite study of Engaged Buddhism. Philosophy offers a unique major in International Human Rights. Biology has programs that link directly to the needs of the regional BioBelt initiative. English provides an emphasis in Literature, Society, and Politics. International Relations prepares leaders of international non-governmental organizations. Political Science offers an emphasis in Public Law -- and History will soon do the same with Public History.

These two marks of distinction are part of the continuing legacy of the nuns who founded Webster University almost a century ago, even though the formal affiliation ended decades ago. The Sisters of Loretto were, from the start, paragons of commitment to taking education to those who need it -- thus inspiring us to become global -- and to making a difference in the world -- thus inspiring us to stay engaged.

Welcome to Webster University's essential and distinctive College of Arts & Sciences.

David Carl Wilson

©2005 Webster University College of Arts & Sciences
Office of the Dean • Webster Hall Rm 218 • 470 E. Lockwood Ave. St. Louis, MO 63119 • 314.968.7160