Welcome from Antonio Cepeda-Benito, Dean of UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences

My dear College of Arts and Sciences friends:

It has been almost three years since I took the helm as Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. I am proud of what the faculty, students, staff, administrators, alumni, and friends of the College have accomplished together. Those accomplishments include:

• Empowering the Humanities Center to fulfill a new vision dedicated to demonstrating the relevance of the humanities and fine arts in the ongoing development of a just and democratic society.
• Working with the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and the Office of Capital Planning and Management, as well as the Provost, President, and UVM Foundation, to design and secure Board of Trustees’ approval for a $104-million renovation and new construction of more than 250 thousand square feet of state-of-the-art classrooms and teaching and research laboratories.
• Developing and implementing a strategic action plan that will continue to enhance our gains in 1) diversity (e.g., 50 percent of our most recent faculty hires were racially or ethnically diverse and over 50 percent were women, including the only woman currently in Chemistry); 2) the student academic experience (e.g., creation of eight new interdisciplinary and intercollege courses, a new minor in Music Technology and Business, and the 14 percent increase in the percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students); and 3) faculty support and success (e.g., increasing by over 200 percent the amount of award-based funding, and the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Training Program, a learning community of new assistant professors who develop important bonds as they learn the art and science of teaching).
• The College now has an External Board of Advisors, which in less than a year has grown to a tremendous lineup of 18 generous and engaged alumni and friends. This Board was instrumental in the decision to create an internship scholarship program, which already boasts a $45,000 fund (the largest of its nature at UVM). The Board was also an integral part of the decision to create an Internship Coordinator position, whose role will be to build, develop, and coordinate the CAS internship program.  Much of the coordinator’s work will be aimed at building capacity so that more students can take advantage of the meaningful internships they need to succeed.
• Students in the college also report greater satisfaction and academic engagement than in the past. According to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), from 2011 to 2014, in comparison to similar universities, more CAS students reported gains in such areas as exposure to effective teaching practices, active and collaborative learning, enriching educational experiences, reflective and integrative learning, and the quality and number of learning strategies.  These findings are validated by important improvements in our retention rates, which increased from 83 percent to 85 percent for those who started in 2012, and to nearly 86 percent for those who started in 2013. In addition, the two-year retention rate also increased from 75 percent to 76 percent.

I am excited about the opportunities ahead and know UVM will continue to reap all the benefits derived from a dedicated faculty and staff, talented students, and caring and competent leaders..

With respect and appreciation,