Our History: The College of Arts and Sciences

Classes were free to residents of Cincinnati, but the university grew slowly until it moved up the hill to Burnet Woods in 1895. The new location allowed UC to create a real campus and expand its offerings. The Academic Department remained home to the liberal arts at the university until the formation of separate colleges in the early 1900s. President Charles Dabney created a College of Liberal Arts to house the classical departments, primarily ancient and modern languages, and the natural sciences.

President Dabney encouraged the faculty to provide service to the city, a tradition that had begun even before his arrival. In the 1890s, William O. Sproull, professor of Latin and Arabic, led the effort to teach off-campus classes—extension courses in languages and literature, taught at high schools and libraries. Historian Philip Van Ness Myers, one of UC’s best-known faculty, joined that effort and helped UC create a settlement house in Over-the-Rhine, where faculty and students could offer classes and lead enrichment activities for adults and children. Later, political science professor S. Gail Lowrie created the municipal library in city hall, making it easier for city employees and students to research urban problems and solutions.

Just as community engagement influenced teaching, so too research infused instruction. The college became home to internationally renowned researchers, including E. Lucy Braun, who earned her PhD in Botany from the college in 1914 and then stayed on faculty, to become the premier expert on North American forests. Her work on old-growth ecosystems established her scientific reputation, and her conservation activism ensured a lasting influence in the region. In 1927, Carl Blegen joined the recently created Department of Classics, and his work at Troy in Turkey and Pylos in Greece established UC as one of the world’s leading centers of classical archaeology. In the 1940s, George Rieveschl earned a PhD in Chemistry and then stayed to teach and research in that department. His work led to the synthesis of an antihistamine that took the commercial name Benadryl. Substantial gifts to the college – especially from Louis Taft Semple and Annie Sinton Taft – have helped sustain the college’s ongoing research mission.

Beyond demands for curricular change, A&S students and faculty have been engaged in campus and community activism. In the late 1960s, David Altman, a political science major, worked to democratize university governance; in the 1970s, Linda Sattem helped organize women fighting sexism and sexual assault. More recently, Ashley Nkadi, a Neuroscience major, co-founded the Irate8, a group that worked for social justice on campus and in the communities nearby.

The A&S traditions of community engagement, research and activism continue. These traditions come together in The Cincinnati Project, which connects UC scholars and students with community organizations. In addition, students work in a variety of internships, from digital scholarship to historic preservation, connecting them to the community and future careers. Faculty researchers also continue to tackle regional problems, from water pollution to community health. And students continue to influence curriculum, most evident in the development of new offerings in diversity, equity and inclusion. In other words, the traditional liberal arts education—steeped in community engagement, research, and activism—is alive and well in the College of Arts and Sciences.