Campaign update June 2020: School of Arts and Sciences

$5 million committed

by two anonymous donors
to endow a professorship and department chair

Department of Education

received more than $4 million
from the estate of Edwin H. Liu, in memory of the late professor Nancy E. Taylor

$125,000 pledged

to the Suicide Prevention Lab
in the Department of Psychology

Building a better world by becoming better people

With 17 different programs encompassing 40 fields of study, the School of Arts and Sciences serves more students than any other school on campus. It began in 1896 as the School of Technological Sciences, eventually transforming in 1930 into the school that exists today. Encompassing a diverse array of subjects, from Irish studies to physics, economics to Semitics, faculty in the school have one aim: to answer enduring questions.

“We are interested in probing the mysteries of the universe, as well as the mystery of every person within it. The beauty of the remotest regions and of the smallest particles occupy us as much as the truth about history and the future toward which our society is moving,” said Interim Dean and Politics Professor David Walsh. “We are convinced that it is only those who take the time to contemplate reality as a whole that will be able to find their rightful place within it. In seeing the true, the good, and the beautiful, we become better able to draw them into the shared reality of our lives. By becoming better people, we can build a better world.”

To build that better world, the school needs to offer faculty and scholarship support and increase academic offerings. Priorities for the Campaign include adding a Center for Faith and Science and an Institute for K-12 Catholic Education, creating a new film studies program, gathering additional scholarship support, and adding two new endowed professorships. So far, the school is more than halfway to its overall Campaign goal of $35 million.

Thanks to Anthony, B.A. 1978, and Linda Galasso, one of those endowed professorships will become a reality. The couple has left a $3 million bequest to the University that will establish “The Galasso Family Endowed Chair in Physics in gratitude and memory of Drs. Hall and Carol Jo Crannell.”

Additionally, the School of Arts and Sciences is benefitting from a Templeton Religion Trust grant. This nearly $2.2 million award will support Professor Brandon Vaidyanathan, chair of the Department of Sociology, on his research project, “Global Research on the Aesthetic Dimensions of Science.” Through the project, Vaidyanathan will conduct international research on how scientists — particularly physicists and biologists — experience beauty, awe, and wonder, and how those experiences influence their own scientific understanding. The study will also examine the correlations between the subjects’ experiences of beauty and their religious or spiritual beliefs.

Nationally recognized faculty

National Science Board

Aaron Dominguez, provost and professor of physics, was nominated to a six-year term as a member of the National Science Board (NSB). Consisting of 25 members appointed by the president, the NSB is responsible for pursuing the goals and function of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award

Fifteen years after receiving a Fulbright grant as a student, Andrew Yeo, associate professor of politics, received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to conduct research in the Philippines. In addition to Yeo, three students in the School of Arts and Sciences received Fulbright grants.

Humboldt Research Award

Aaron Michael Butts, associate professor in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures and director of the Institute of Christian Oriental Research (ICOR), has been awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers.

ACLS Fellowships

Julia Young, associate professor of history, and Chelsea Steiber, associate professor of French and Francophone studies, were awarded individual fellowships by the American Council of Learned Societies. Stieber was awarded $40,000 and Young was awarded $63,000.

Medieval Academy of America

Katherine L. Jansen, professor of history, was among the six newly elected fellows by the Medieval Academy of America — the largest scholarly organization in the U.S. dedicated to promoting the study of the middle ages and a member organization of the American Council of Learned Societies.

American Society for Microbiology

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recognized Venigalla Rao, professor of biology, as part of National Public Health Week. To aid the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, the University offered royalty-free licenses to the vaccine delivery-related patents resulting from Rao's research.

ICOR acquires major Armenian collection

In January, the family of Professor Robert W. Thomson donated his library in Armenian studies to the Institute for the Study of Eastern Christianity and the Institute of Christian Oriental Research (ICOR).

Thomson’s library includes books, maps, prints, slides, audio materials, microfilms of manuscripts, music records, and compact discs, for a total of 3,127 items, as well as three large boxes of his papers.

Light the way with Arts and Sciences

The School of Arts and Sciences fosters the search for beauty and transcendence through a free investigation of profound questions.

School priorities

Light the Way: The Campaign for Catholic University continues until May 2022. Learn about the school's priorities for the Campaign.

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