College of Arts and Science

A student operating a large camera

From Fortune 500 CEOs and life-saving surgeons to inspiring educators and cultural explorers, Miami University’s College of Arts and Science (CAS) has been producing great leaders for decades. With your support, we will continue to empower new generations to shape the future.

We Will Empower Future Generations

For decades, the College of Arts and Science (CAS) at Miami University has produced great leaders—from CEOs and CMOs to life-saving surgeons, inspiring educators, cultural explorers, and beyond.

Through 60 majors, 9 co-majors, and dozens of minors in the humanities, languages, and physical, natural, and social sciences, CAS produces those who will. And in our ecosystem of success, critical thinkers, effective communicators, and creative problem solvers are born. With your help, we will continue to deepen this work and empower new generations to shape the future.

Key Initiatives

Through the strategic, sustainable initiatives of the For Love. For Honor. For Those Who Will. campaign, we will transform liberal arts education and expand the impact of CAS to a broader demographic and provide more meaningful, forward-thinking educational experiences with an emphasis on:

Experiential learning
Scholarships
Faculty Support
Programmatic Support

Our numbers speak for themselves:

96.4%
of law school applicants from CAS were accepted in 2020-2021 (compared to 78% national average)

94%
of 2019-2020 CAS graduates were employed or in graduate school by the following fall

60%
of medical school applicants from CAS have been accepted over the past four years (compared to 41.9% MD program national average)

An Ecosystem of Success

The College of Arts and Science at Miami is a greenhouse for success. Our supportive nature, teacher-scholar model, and liberal arts core serve as the ideal environment for students to flourish, thrive, and prepare for post-grad life.

CAS offers a unique combination of “big university” experience and the lived experience of “small school” one-on-one attention. This is why our alumni include the Chief Marketing Officer of Shake Shack and the former Chief Business Officer of Uber, and our students are finding the keys to curbing climate change and becoming leaders in medical research. CAS is an ecosystem of success with all of the resources and passion to push people forward.

Jay Livingston’s career has been an adventure since his graduation in 1994. At Bank of America, he rose from an Associate to Senior VP of Global Marketing. He then pivoted, becoming Chief Marketing Officer of Bark Box — a brand beloved by dog owners across the country. Today, he is CMO of Shake Shack, one of the most successful hospitality and food brands in the world.

Jay credits the ecosystem of success and curiosity fostered at Miami for the foundation he needed to explore his career with confidence. “I’d like you to consider what I regard as the most important part of [an] Arts and Science degree,” he says. “It’s the ‘and’ … The ‘and’ is your secret weapon. It’s the balance of creativity and data. It’s seeing the big picture while also having the skill set to get things done.”

Over the years, Livingston has been an active member of the Miami community as a donor and a mentor. He frequently interacts with CAS students, most recently returning as a commencement speaker—always emphasizing the importance of critical thinking, liberal arts education, and the openness required to build a rewarding career in a rapidly changing world.

“If I could put one statement on a billboard, it would say there’s no one way to do it,” he says. “The way to do it is the way that works for you.”

Jay Livingston ’94 Chief Marketing Officer of Shake Shack

For me, the journey is the goal. I’m a big believer in trying to live in the present and enjoy the journey. If you do the process, the goals take care of themselves.”
— Jay Livingston ’94

The Future of Liberal Arts

Students who study the liberal arts are not just driven to succeed in the world, they are driven to change it. But oftentimes, they don’t have clear pathways to do so. Gifted, passionate, and qualified graduates sometimes stumble early on, not knowing how to make the most of the transferable skills they gained through their Arts and Science education. Eventually, they find their way to meaningful careers, but we would like to mitigate that season of wandering so that Miami grads can make an impact and utilize their education as soon as they graduate.

Our most pressing initiatives for the Colleges of Arts and Science center around this goal, including:

Experiential learning: For these hands-on learning opportunities, we will build and launch The Center for Experiential Learning in the Liberal Arts. This new center will specifically help students learn how to transform their interests and passions into career opportunities and internships and provide educational networking opportunities with alumni and local businesses.
Scholarships: The Leadership Excellence Achievement Diversity Scholarship (LEADS) Institute will serve as an academic excellence and leadership accelerator for students from typically underrepresented populations. It will focus on the transition to college and success in college.
Faculty Support: Our faculty are integral to our success, and we want to invest in them. We will ensure they have the resources they need to successfully educate students in the classroom, the field, and the lab, while also funding broader research efforts.
Programmatic Support: We will redouble our efforts to prepare students for professional careers in medicine and law by continuing to invest in the success of the Sue J. Henry Center for Pre-Law Education and the Mallory Wilson Center for Health Education.

With your help, we will strengthen the foundational liberal arts core of CAS through support for faculty, students, and programs while creating a structure that will provide students with ongoing opportunities to have hands-on learning experiences from practitioners and professionals both inside and outside of the classroom. Together we will prepare a generation of confident graduates, ready to enter the working world and utilize the quality education that CAS has always provided.

Grace Stewart ’25, a Humanities and Social Science (HASS) Scholar

Grace Stewart is part of the new LEADS Institute and a shining example of the future of CAS grads.

Majoring in Sociology with a minor in Entrepreneurship, Grace is ambitious, intelligent, academically curious, and hard-working, demonstrated by her 3.8 GPA and her place on the Dean’s List both semesters last academic year. She is passionate about expanding her knowledge on social justice issues and advocating for mental health.

Grace is also highly involved at Miami, embarking upon multiple student leadership roles and taking every opportunity to promote greater equity and inclusion. She says, “I give back to my community by educating myself and others about what’s going on in society and by working with faculty and staff members at my university to provide resources necessary for students to thrive.”

It’s students like Grace who keep CAS moving forward and inspire us to be the best that we can be. And by investing in students like Grace, we invest in the future of the Liberal Arts.

I am incredibly passionate about mental and physical health. I also spend a great deal of time working to combat social issues, especially those that have sprouted from the racial inequities within our society. In the near future, I hope to work with victims of human trafficking and combat modern-day slavery.”
— Grace Stewart ’25

Grace Stewart ’25

And this is only the beginning.

The leaders and professionals who graduate from the College of Arts and Science create tangible, transformative impact every day.

In that spirit, we will continue to invest in CAS, empowering and equipping future graduates to continue the legacy while staying not only current, but ahead of the curve in this rapidly changing world.