Arts and Sciences

Dr. Pamela Riggs-Gelasco, Dean

The College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga offers General Education courses and undergraduate majors and minors through eighteen academic departments and an interdisciplinary Humanities program. Seven departments also offer master’s degrees, in the fields of Criminal Justice, English, Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Music, Psychology, and Public Administration. The Department of Military Science prepares students to qualify for commissions in the U.S. Army, the Army Reserve, the Army National Guard, the Nurse Corps, and the Chaplain Corps. The STEM Education program enables students to obtain secondary school teaching certification while completing a degree in mathematics, the natural sciences, computer science, or engineering.

The Cadek Conservatory and the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts serve pre-college education, the Conservatory by offering music instruction and the Southeast Center by providing innovative professional development in arts education and integration for preK-12 educators.

Specific programs in the College are accredited or certified by the following organizations:

Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
American Bar Association
American Chemical Society
National Association of Schools of Art and Design
National Association of Schools of Music
National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration
National Association of Schools of Theatre

Statement of Mission

Dedicated to the essential academic pursuits—instruction, scholarship, and public service—the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga pursues excellence in undergraduate education as its principal mission.

The College’s first priority is effective instruction within strong major and minor programs, programs through which students are educated for satisfying lives and successful careers. Consistent with this priority, the College seeks to achieve and maintain accreditation of all programs for which accreditation is desirable. Through its central role in the University’s General Education program, the College pursues a particular commitment to strengthen the intellectual skills of all students while developing their awareness of the fine arts, the humanities, and the sciences. In the University’s Honors Program, faculty of the College offer courses and activities designed specifically for highly qualified students.

The College supports fully the University’s efforts to provide wide access to higher education. Accordingly, it supports diverse opportunities for developmental and introductory study in fundamental disciplines and serves non-traditional students through non-traditional scheduling. The College takes an active role in the University’s efforts to recruit and retain those who have been historically under-represented in its disciplines.

A further priority is effective graduate programs offered in response to community needs. The College currently offers seven master’s programs and is committed to providing the resources necessary for their high quality. Where appropriate, the College will seek and maintain accreditation for these programs. The College remains alert for additional needs for graduate education in its region and will seek the resources required to meet those needs as they emerge.

Consistent with its commitment to effective teaching within both undergraduate and graduate programs, the College encourages its faculty to pursue scholarship, creative activity, and professional service. Such pursuits take many forms, including musical and dramatic performances, art exhibitions, work with public agencies, and the presentation and publication of research. Scholarship, creative activity, and professional service enable faculty members to remain current in their fields and to serve more fully both students and the general public. Faculty of the College support and participate in the development of library and technological resources in their respective fields of expertise. Moreover, in support of its scholarly and teaching mission, the College maintains a variety of museums and collections.

In recognition of its distinctive responsibility as a regional leader in higher education, the College pursues opportunities for cooperation with its educational partners: public and private schools, the community colleges, and four-year colleges. As part of its service to pre-college education, the College maintains a music conservatory and an outreach center providing innovative professional development in arts education and integration for preK-12 educators. The College seeks as well to develop additional educational opportunities for its region through more active and fruitful relationships with its partners in the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Board of Regents system.

As the academic heart of an emerging metropolitan institution, the College shares with the other Colleges at the University a dedication to Chattanooga and to Tennessee. To identify and, where possible, to respond to the developing educational needs of its community represents a consistent priority of the College. At the same time, the College pursues a particular conviction that regional educational needs are often best served by intellectual perspectives that search beyond local horizons. The College’s distinctive commitment to humane learning, to responsible and independent pursuit of the sciences, and to enlightened appreciation of the arts—in short, to academic and artistic freedom—embodies and expresses the most critical and enduring value of the University to which it belongs and the region which it serves.