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News and Events | College of Arts and Sciences | ̽̽(title)

Recent headlines

10/01/2024

̽̽ Receives $1 Million Gift for Theatre Renewal Project

With the first production of the 2024-25 theatre/dance season— Spirits to Enforce—set to open this week, University of Vermont (̽̽)’s School of the Arts, located within the College of Arts and Sciences, is announcing a $1 million gift to launch much-needed upgrades to the Royall Tyler Theatre...

exterior shot of Royall Tyler Theatre on sunny day with blue sky

09/19/2024

How Invasive Species Are Adapting to Climate Change

Thanks to its famously cold weather, Vermont has so far escaped the effects of many invasive species that plague warmer parts of the globe. But that may be about to change as climate change leads to milder winters and some of those species begin to move farther north. Joaquin Nunez,...

man with brown hair and beard, wearing glasses and a brown plaid coat, standing by a tree on ̽̽ Green

09/17/2024

A Wave of Summer Humanities Research

When planning fun things to do on summer break, surfing may come to mind, but research? It doesn’t usually make the cut, but this past summer some ambitious students studying the humanities in ̽̽’s College of Arts and Sciences learned a way to do both, so to speak. The...

young woman in green turtleneck with shoulder-length brown hair smiling and standing in front of blurred forest background

09/11/2024

Library Interns Stretch Archival Knowledge Through Leahy Archive Work

Earlier this summer, four interns joined the archivists responsible for cataloging Senator Patrick Leahy’s collection of documents, papers, posters, recordings and more from his 48 years in office. The acquisition of Leahy’...

photograph of the three library interns, from left to right: Kathleen Messier, Melanie Mason, Katie DiPalma

08/12/2024

Spotlight on CAS Alums!

The alumni of ̽̽’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) are a hugely diverse group to be sure, but, as you’ll see below, there’s a common thread running through many of their stories: how a broad-based, liberal arts education provided a potent recipe for both professional success and personal...

man in blue jacket and red cap with video equipment works on a shoot in the forest

07/08/2024

̽̽ Launches Nationwide Effort to Grow Local News Reporting at Colleges Across the U.S.

The Center for Community News (CCN) at ̽̽ (̽̽) will dramatically expand efforts to grow partnerships between local news outlets and universities across the country, forging a path to sustainability...

07/01/2024

SWLC Faculty Members Win National Teaching Awards

It’s a noteworthy thing when a member of a college’s faculty wins a national teaching award—and even more remarkable when two do so in a single year! During the 2023-24 academic year, this feat was achieved by professors John...

Four people standing in a line at a conference; man second from left holds an award he has received

06/05/2024

A Degree in What?

Every year, students and families have hard conversations as they attempt to balance important considerations such as cost of attendance, campus life, and academic supports when choosing which college to attend. I’m confident that, in many of these conversations, the student’s choice of a major...

3 students participating in discussion in classroom

05/31/2024

The Virtues of Dirty Work

Mark Usher, the Lyman-Roberts Professor of Classical Languages and Literature, stands in ankle-deep mud wielding a flame-thrower. He turns the blazing propane toward the ground and burns a hole through a black sheet of plastic that stretches across a pasture on his farm in Shoreham, Vt. Then he...

Mark Usher stands with his legs apart, hands dirty as he digs through the dirt in a field

05/19/2024

The Katherine Anne Kelly Award: Tiffany Mai

The Katherine Anne Kelly Award is named after the Class of 2000 graduate who bravely battled serious medical challenges while engaging in ̽̽ student life. The award recognizes a graduating senior who best exemplifies Kate’s passion, energy, and integrity. This year’s award is given to...

Portrait of Tiffany Mai

05/19/2024

The Class of 1967 Award: Samantha Bjorklun

The Class of ’67 Award is presented to the senior student who has been active in student activities, has received university recognition in a varsity sport, and/or has been elected to an office in a recognized student activity. This year’s award goes to Samantha Bjorklun (she/her)....

Portrait of Samantha Bjorklun

05/19/2024

Keith M. Miser Leadership Award: Téa van Linde

The Keith M. Miser Leadership Award, named in honor of the former ̽̽ Dean of Students (1975-1988) is presented to a graduating senior in recognition of outstanding service to University of Vermont through campus leadership. The year’s award goes to Téa van Linde (she/her)....

portrait of Téa von Linde

05/18/2024

̽̽ Water Resource Institute Takes Aim at Global Crises

̽̽’s Board of Trustees approved during its annual May meeting Friday and Saturday the creation of a new research engine to leverage decades of research excellence in water science, environmental engineering, and socio-ecological systems. The...

Beverly Wemple and two other people working in a field

05/14/2024

CAS Class of 2024 Senior Spotlights

The Class of 2024 in ̽̽’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is bursting at the seams with smart, creative, motivated almost-grads, including these 11 remarkable seniors. They have all experienced the uncertainty of starting college in the midst of a pandemic, the lifelong bonds formed with...

Smiling young woman in colorful jacket and hat with camera around neck with ocean in background

05/10/2024

Holding History in Her Hands: Inside the Fleming Museum with Zoe Alpert ’25

“Having a museum on campus gives us the opportunity for hands-on learning without having to travel the whole world,” says Zoe Alpert, ’25, “the world is all in one building!” While the collections at ̽̽’s Fleming Museum of Art are not exhaustive of world art, culture, and history, they provide...

̽̽ student Zoe Alpert stands in front of a museum case holding two ceramic figures.

05/09/2024

̽̽ Invests Matthias Brewer as Inaugural A. Paul and Arlene F. Krapcho Green and Gold Professor

Professor Matthias Brewer, PhD, chair of the Department of Chemistry, has been invested as the inaugural A. Paul and Arlene F. Krapcho Green and Gold Professor in Chemistry at ̽̽ (̽̽). ̽̽ leadership and special guests, including Mrs. Krapcho and other members of the...

Professor Brewer wearing medal and standing at podium, smiling

05/08/2024

A Pronounced Passion for Words

Before participants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee (a.k.a. the Bee) can spell a word, someone must pronounce it for them. For the past 21 years, that someone has been Jacques Bailly, Ph.D., associate professor in the Classics Program and graduate coordinator for the M.A. in Greek and Latin...

Jacques Bailly stands on stage in front of drum kit at Scripps National Spelling Bee holding sign reading "45 Jacques Rocky Mountain News" Denver Colorado"; he is standing next to a young female Bee contestant

05/06/2024

Taking Off: the “Covid Class” of 2024 Reflects on Challenges and Changes

Four years ago this month they were effectively grounded. Stuck at home, they prepared for a graduation ceremony like no other–or, for some of them, no ceremony at all. It was the start of the first “Covid Summer,” and for the high school classes of 2020, that meant graduating via Zoom, or while...

a composite photo featuring five portraits of students looking at the camera

05/06/2024

2024 CELO Awards Honor Dedication to Service Learning

On April 30, 2024, the Office of Community-Engaged Learning (CELO) held their annual awards ceremony recognizing the faculty members, students, and community partners who have gone above and beyond in their support of community-engaged...

Row of 4 people (2 students, 1 faculty member, 1 staff member) holding their 2024 CELO awards

04/29/2024

̽̽ College of Arts and Sciences Junior Wins Prestigious Fellowship

April 4, 2024 began like any other sunny, snow-slushy spring day for Zane Zupan ‘25—until, that is, they got the message that would, literally, change their life. That’s when Zupan was called into ̽̽ President Suresh Garimella’s office and told  that they had been named a...

̽̽ President Suresh Garimella, Truman Scholar Zane Zupan, and dean of the Honors College David Jenemann standing in front of the fireplace in President Garimella's offie

04/25/2024

Introducing the Planetary Health Initiative

Consider your breath. In that inrush of air you bring oxygen to your lungs, keeping you alive. It’s the same air that covers the whole planet—oxygen produced by green life. The intricate interplay that we call the environment is not scenery; it’s the fundamental health care system. ...

aerial view of ̽̽ campus, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondack Mountains beyond

04/23/2024

Student Spotlight on Health & Society major Kate Butcher!

Through ̽̽ there are a lot of study abroad programs—Kate is doing hers through the AIFS Abroad program  which is a third-party program (not through ̽̽). Kate is being hosted in Granada in Southern Spain, and her program requires her to attend...

Young woman smiling in front of the eiffel tower in paris, france

04/17/2024

Panel Highlights ̽̽ Collaborations with Abenaki

The College of Arts and Sciences at ̽̽ hosted a panel discussion on April 16 in the Silver Maple Room of the Davis Center to highlight the collaborations between the university and the four Vermont Abenaki tribes and other indigenous people. The event, titled “Highlighting...

A group of people seated at a panel discussion

04/17/2024

̽̽ PhD Students Lead International Team in Carbon Flux Research

Amelia (Mia) McReynolds is a third-year PhD student in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at ̽̽ (̽̽). As an ecologist studying fish population dynamics in the Great Lakes, McReynolds didn’t imagine research abroad would be a part of her graduate...

Researchers taking zooplankton samples at the LakeLab

04/16/2024

Coming Clean

In the introduction to his new book, A History of Hygiene in Modern France: The Threshold of Disgust (Bloomsbury; April 2024), Steve Zdatny, Ph.D., professor of history, notes that if we were...

Professor Steve Zdatny on left wearing blue jacket and white hat standing in front of shelves of hats; book cover showing historical French woman in white garb with book title "Steve Zdatny, A History of Hygiene in Modern France: The Threshold of Disgust"