College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Annual Awards Ceremony, 1991-92, 1991-1992, 2009-2010, 2012-2014 | University of Illinois Archives

The dean's office of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was formed in 1913, when the College of Literature and the Arts and the College of Science were combined.¹

The primary duties of the dean are that of chief executive officer of the college and agent of the college faculty for the execution of the college educational policy. Among his other duties, the dean calls and presides over faculty meetings, makes faculty appointments and promotions, prepares the budget, and oversees the registration of the students.²

Under the dean are the four schools (Life Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Chemical Sciences) and 75 fields of study which comprise the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.³ This includes the administration of the General Curriculum, which was formerly the Division of General Studies, and is for freshmen and sophomores who have not chosen a field of study yet.⁴

1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 27th Report, March 11, 1913, p. 200.

2. Faculty Handbook of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 1968-69, p. 10.

3. Undergraduate Programs, 1977-79, p. 313-14.

4. Board of Trustees Transactions, 54th Report, April 17, 1968, p. 996.