Why A&S Now? The Liberal Arts Advantage

At the foundation of an Arts and Sciences education are the Liberal Arts Core competencies—the essential capacities that enable students to translate knowledge into action and address complex problems with precision and perception; ethics and integrity; critical and creative thinking; communication skills and information literacy.

These aren’t abstract skills. They’re the crucial proficiencies cited by employers and required to solve big problems. When you invest in A&S, you’re investing in both the education that prepares students with professional excellence and humanistic insight, and also in the research that generates knowledge while serving human flourishing. In doing so, you are investing in a world that is healthier, more hopeful and more humane.

Vision for 2030

We are at an exciting turning point. Building on the College’s traditional areas of distinctive excellence, faculty, staff, alumni and Syracuse University leadership have created a visionary five-year strategic plan that will help shape the world we want to see.

We’re inviting you to join us in this opportunity. Your investment today will be producing graduates by 2030 who are actively solving the world’s challenges and demonstrating what becomes possible when curiosity and compassion converge.

With a firm foundation in the liberal arts, this plan expands on A&S’ decades of research, scholarship and teaching excellence to include crucial work related to four interconnected pillars. At the same time, we’ll be developing students who are even more career-ready, ethically driven and confident in their place in the world.

Investment Priorities

Why Invest in A&S?

This is liberal arts education at its most powerful and relevant, preparing students for careers and lives of meaning and impact. Our graduates master disciplines while learning to think across them, developing technical expertise along with ethical clarity. At a time when many question the value of the liberal arts, Syracuse demonstrates their lasting influence by fusing scientific rigor with humanities-based thinking.

Our Investment Priorities

• Student Success Financial aid opening doors for brilliant students from all backgrounds.
  • Experiential learning opportunities—from internships developing therapeutic technologies to community engagement projects bridging cultural divides—transforming undergraduates from learners into innovators, allowing them to test ideas, fail safely and emerge as leaders.
  • Engaged Humanities Network expansion serving 400+ students through 35+ community partnerships.
• Faculty Excellence Recruiting and retaining world-class faculty.
  • Endowed chairs mentoring students and working at disciplinary intersections—pairing climate science with environmental communication, neuroscience with medical anthropology, quantum physics with philosophy.
  • Graduate fellowships attracting top doctoral students.
  • Curriculum development support for innovative interdisciplinary programs.
  • Strategic Pillar Fellows providing faculty leadership for each pillar, creating an ecosystem where cutting-edge science and human inquiry flourish side by side.
• Community Partnerships and Public Engagement Climate resiliency summits bringing scientists and storytellers together.
  • Writing and literacy programs—Veterans Writing Group, Prison Writing Group, Senior Citizen Writing Group—amplifying marginalized voices and honoring community knowledge.
  • Health fairs building trust across cultural differences.
  • Seed grants for faculty-community partnerships.
• Capital and Infrastructure Modernized clinical facilities supporting interprofessional collaboration and culturally responsive care.
  • Advanced research equipment from quantum computing to digital humanities platforms.
  • Co-located, flexible learning spaces where STEM and humanities students collaborate.
  • Innovation centers providing real-world experience with industry partnerships.

We encourage all donors to consider a gift to the College of Arts and Sciences Fund. This flexible, current-use fund enables immediate response to opportunities and needs, while also providing the fuel for innovation. Hill Society membership (annual gifts of $2,500+) identifies and celebrates leadership level-donors.

Your Investment Creates

• Leaders who think across disciplines and lead with cultural humility and ethical clarity.
• Groundbreaking research addressing critical challenges through multiple lenses and across disciplines.
• Stronger communities through partnerships honoring local knowledge, students learning by serving community needs, University expertise positioned as a resource, communities benefiting from actionable research.
• Proof of liberal arts education’s enduring power, purpose, wisdom and justice.

The next five years can be a turning point, demonstrating what becomes possible when the humanities and sciences work together as they must; when liberal arts education prepares students for career and personal success and satisfaction; and when the University serves the public good.