The University of South Dakota

The Heart of Liberal Arts

Welcome to the College of Arts and Sciences - the heart of liberal arts education at The U, and the place where most undergraduates earn their degree.

We offer an impressive array of undergraduate majors, consistent with our mission as the designated liberal arts university of the state of South Dakota. We also offer a wide range of graduate degrees, consistent with our status as the state's leading graduate institution.

You'll receive an outstanding education because:

• We offer a first-rate liberal arts education in the humanities, social sciences and sciences, blending the rich intellectual history of the past with contemporary fields of study.
• Our faculty offer outstanding instruction, as measured by the National Survey of Student Engagement and exemplified by Belbas-Larson Teaching Awards and Professor of the Year honors on campus, and Carnegie Professor of the Year honors in South Dakota.
• Our faculty are on the cutting-edge of their academic disciplines, with our humanities and social science faculty publishing more than 30 books in recent years and our scientists more than doubling their external funding for scientific research.
• We dispense more than $350,000 annually to Arts and Sciences students in the form of scholarships, awards and prizes. 
• Our students are among the "best and brightest," demonstrated by the fact that virtually all of the many national scholarship winners at USD in recent years have an academic major in Arts and Sciences.