Meet the team

Learn more about your Dean's Office team

Dean's Office staff
Dean team, pictured: Back row: Stefanie Givens (Director of Development), Jillian Baker (Assoc. Director of Development), Erin Stiles (Assist. Dean of Student Affairs), Cassie Isabelli (Interim Dean), Sharon Brush (Fiscal & Human Resources Officer), Daniel Enrique Pérez (Assoc. Dean of DEI), Chris Williams (Assoc. Dean of Faculty Affairs); Front row: Olivia Tull (MarCom Coordinator), Rachel Willis (Development AAIII)

Interim Dean Cassie speaking with students and facultyThe College of Liberal Arts encompasses the disciplines of the arts, humanities and social sciences, as well as housing the School of the Arts and the School of Social Research and Justice Studies. It also is a key partner in exciting interdisciplinary programs such as computational linguistics, bilingual media and journalism, cybersecurity and six dual majors with the College of Education. With the recent acquisition of the Lake Tahoe location (UNR@Lake Tahoe), we have gained two self-sustaining MFA programs, both complementing the existing high-residency, MFA programs: Creative Writing and Interdisciplinary Arts.

With a little under 3,000 undergraduate majors, 450 graduate students, 230 faculty members, and 40 staff members, the College of Liberal Arts plays a key role in the education of all students at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Guided by the College's strategic plan, as well as the University's strategic plan, we will continue to focus on educating and inspiring students to be engaged, flexible, and critically literate global citizens through programs taught by faculty who are ambitious, innovative, and community-engaged in their research and creative work in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. We will maintain our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, to student success, and to our focus on the Applied Liberal Arts curriculum.

Why Liberal Arts?

Why do you use the term Liberal in the name of our college? We actually get that question a lot. The real question here is: What is a liberal arts education? It is a field of study based on rational thinking that emphasizes the development of critical thinking and analytical skills, the ability to solve complex problems, and an understanding of ethics and morality, as well as a desire to continue to learn. Putting that into perspective, in a university setting the term liberal is not intended to apply a political perspective. A liberal arts degree compliments many STEM degrees and are often sought out by business CEOs for their future employees.

College of Liberal Arts Foundation Professors

The College of Liberal Arts at the University of Nevada, Reno has been honored with 25 Foundation Professors since the inception of the award. Learn more out about some of them and learn why this award is so meaningful.

Awards and Recognition

The College of Liberal Arts recognizes students, staff and faculty with annual awards, many of which are honored at our yearly Awards Ceremony.