Welcome Back to CLAS!
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences welcomes its faculty and students back to campus for the start of the fall semester, as we kick off another productive year of scholarship in the university’s largest college.
We have 14 new faculty joining us this year, as well as several visiting professors. Our college will also be welcoming back nearly 13,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduates students.
While many students were away this summer studying abroad, conducting research, completing internships or just taking a break, CLAS has continued to distinguish itself as a top-notch academic institution.
- The Department of Astronomy opened the world’s largest telescope after seven years of construction in the Canary Islands.
- Political Science Associate Professor Leonardo Villalón was named the university’s first Carnegie Scholar by the Carnegie Corporation in support of his work studying Muslim democracies.
- Virginia Dixon-Wood, head of the UF Craniofacial Clinic, helped set up a speech disorder clinic in the Ukraine.
- Chemistry Professor Weihong Tan accepted an invitation from the National Institutes of Health to serve as a member of the Center for Scientific Review, Enabling Bioanalytical and Biophysical Technologies Study Section.
- Sociology and Women’s Studies Professor Milagros Peña published a groundbreaking book “Latina Activists Across Borders: Women’s Grassroots Organizing in Mexico and Texas,” through Duke University Press.
- Criminology Professor Richard Hollinger was presented the National Retail Federation's Ring of Excellence Award in recognition of his contributions to the field of loss prevention. (http://www.clas.ufl.edu/events/news/articles/20070705-hollinger.html)
But not all news in CLAS this summer was pleasant in nature. Shortly after spring commencement in May, the college mourned the death of beloved Spanish professor Álvaro Félix Bolaños, whose presence will continue to be missed on campus. May we keep his memory in our hearts and his family in our thoughts as we start this new academic year.
Many new projects are on the horizon which are sure to make this year an exciting one in CLAS. Construction will soon be complete on Pugh Hall, future home to the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, and the building will be formally dedicated in the spring. A new television series focused on the case files of C.A. Pound Lab Director Anthony Falsetti is set to premiere on Court TV.
Last but not least, a new undergraduate minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies is being offered to students beginning this fall that will further diversify the curriculum.
To stay up to date on these and other CLAS news items, please visit the college website, www.clas.ufl.edu, at least once a week. You may also advertise upcoming CLAS events on our calendar by submitting a request to http://www.clas.ufl.edu/events/submitevent.html.
Here’s to a great fall semester!