Dean’s Welcome Message
Hi!
Welcome to the College of Arts and Letters, where in fields ranging from ancient history to big data, we are asking the deep questions and doing the hands-on work that make a fundamental difference in the world. In many ways and many places, we are at the heart of San Diego State University, and we’re excited to have you with us.
We are a purposeful college, driven by the knowledge that the humanities and social sciences are vital to who we are and the best of what we might become. Indeed, today's greatest challenges — climate change, economic and health inequality, discrimination and political division — are not just technical or scientific. They’re also cultural, historical, and social. Meeting these challenges thus demands that we seek understanding rather than simply information, and that we learn about the diverse languages, literatures, places, and communities that make life real for people in San Diego, the borders we touch, and our wider global communities.
In CAL, you will work together with a passionate and thoughtful community of more than 500 faculty, all of whom are committed to discovery, creativity, and your growth. Our faculty include recipients of Fulbright and Mellon fellowships and grants from the National Science Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities, winners of SDSU’s highest honor for teaching excellence, and award-winning published poets and authors. These faculty know that learning happens inside and outside the classroom, so don’t feel like you need to check your own experiences or ideas at the door.
You’ll also be supported by more than 55 staff who work in areas such as student advising, course scheduling, communications, and financial planning. Though diverse in their roles, our staff share a professionalism, expertise, and dedication to both their work and your development that is unparalleled. Their knowledge of how things work and how to get things done make them an exceptional resource for you (and for me!).
Welcoming you into this community also means asking something of you. As you move through CAL and SDSU, we hope you will nurture an openness to unfamiliar ideas, a willingness to collaborate across boundaries, and commitment to the welfare of others as much as your own. We ask the same thing of ourselves, knowing all the while that understanding and honoring these values can be a difficult thing. But meeting that challenge head on is exactly what a liberal arts education is meant to do.
Most importantly, we invite you to reach out when you need assistance. Let us know what questions, hopes, and concerns you might have, and push us to think through them with you. And don’t feel like we come together on only “big things.” Feel free simply to say hello, find out what we do, or even ask — if you see me on campus with them — if you can pet one of my dogs Lucy or Theo. The answer to that, as it will be for many things, is a definite yes.
Welcome to CAL.
— Todd Butler, Dean, College of Arts and Letters
