The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) is the
liberal arts and sciences school of the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of th ...
. Established in 1841, the college is home to both the University of Michigan Honors Program and Residential College.
History

The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts was originally designated the Literary Department and was the core of the University of Michigan. From 1841 to 1874, the faculty elected a president that communicated with the regents about department needs. In 1875,
Henry Simmons Frieze
Henry Simmons Frieze (September 15, 1817, in Boston – December 7, 1889) was an American educator and academic administrator. He was an instructor at Brown University and its University Grammar School, a professor at the University of Michi ...
became the first of the deans of LSA.
In March 2013 Helen Zell gave $50 million to LSA, the largest gift in LSA history, to support scholarships and stipends for Master's students in creative writing.
Deans
Faculty of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Source:
Residential College
The Residential College (RC) is a division of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Catherine Badgley is the current director of the RC.
Founded in 1967, the Residential College was designed to create a smaller liberal arts program with the resources of a larger university. The college was developed by a planning committee of faculty that included
Theodore Newcomb
Theodore Mead Newcomb (July 24, 1903 – December 28, 1984) was an American social psychologist, professor and author. Newcomb led the Bennington College Study, which looked at the influence of the college experience on social and political belie ...
,
Carl Cohen, and
Bradford Perkins.
Students in the RC take classes in LSA as well as specially designed RC courses, many of which are
seminar
A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some part ...
courses with fewer than fifteen students each. All RC students are required to live in the same
residence hall
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...
, East Quadrangle, for at least one year. Since the RC is a part of the LSA, all LSA academic requirements apply to its students. In addition to the usual
concentrations
In chemistry, concentration is the Abundance (chemistry), abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: ''mass concentration (chemistry), mass concentration'', ...
in LSA, RC students may choose to pursue five additional concentrations (RC website): "Arts and Ideas in the Humanities," "Creative Writing and Literature," "Drama," "Social Theory and Practice," and an option for an "Individualized Major."
A major requirement for RC participation is intensive language training, which consists of two eight-credit courses similar to
language immersion
Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in Bilingual education, bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including maths, science, or social studies. The languages ...
, and one four-credit readings course. Intensive Japanese at the RC has no reading courses, and the semi-immersion curriculum consists of two ten-credit courses. The other languages offered are Spanish, French, German, and Russian.
Notable alumni
*
Sam Apple
Sam Apple is a non-fiction writer.
Life
Sam Apple received an undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan. After Michigan, he studied writing at Columbia University in the Master of Fine Arts program.
Apple is the author of Ravenous: Ott ...
, non-fiction writer
*
Rebecca Blumenstein
Rebecca Blumenstein is an American journalist. She was named President - Editorial of NBC News on January 10, 2023. Prior to that, Blumenstein was one of the highest-ranking women in the newsroom at ''The New York Times''. She is the chair of the ...
, former ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' Deputy Managing Editor
*
Carmen Bugan
Carmen Bugan (born 1970) is a Romanian- American poet and writer. Her father was a critic of the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime; as a result of his persecution, the family migrated to the USA in 1989. Bugan studied at the University of Michigan (Ann Arb ...
, poet and writer
*
Nandi Comer
Nandi Comer is an American author and poet. She was appointed as the poet laureate of Michigan in 2023, becoming the state's first poet laureate since the 1950s.
Early life and education
Comer grew up in Detroit and graduated from the Communica ...
,
Poet Laureate of Michigan
This is a list of poets laureate of Michigan.
See also
* List of U.S. state poets laureate
References
External links
{{Global Poets Laureate, state=autocollapse
poets
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in ...
*
Dennis Foon
Dennis Foon (born 18 November 1951) is a Canadian playwright, producer, screenwriter and novelist.
He was co-founder and artistic director for 12 years of Green Thumb Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia. There he wrote and produced a body of ...
, playright and screenwriter
*
Matt Forbeck
Matt Forbeck (born August 4, 1968) is an American author and game designer from Beloit, Wisconsin.
Biography
Forbeck first became interested in role-playing games at age 13 when he started playing ''Dungeons & Dragons''. He earned a degree in cr ...
, author and game designer
*
Wendy Goldberg
Wendy C. Goldberg (born 1973) is an American theatre director and the current Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Under Goldberg's tenure, The O'Neill was awarded the 2010 Regional Theatr ...
, theatre director
*
Dhani Jones
Dhani Makalani Jones (born February 22, 1978) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, earning All-Big ...
, former football linebacker
*
Laura Kasischke
Laura Kasischke is an American fiction writer and poet. She is best known for writing the novels ''Suspicious River'', ''The Life Before Her Eyes'' and '' White Bird in a Blizzard'', all of which have been adapted to film.
Life and work
She was ...
, author and poet
*
Kathy Kozachenko, the first openly LGBT candidate to successfully run for political office in the United States
*
Francis Lam
Francis Lam is an American food journalist, cookbook editor, and since 2017 the host of American Public Media's '' The Splendid Table''.
Early life and education
Lam was born to Chinese immigrant parents living in New Jersey and working in Man ...
, journalist and cook
*
Jenifer Levin, writer
*
Damian Rogers, poet and journalist
*
Matthew Rohrer
Matthew Rohrer (born 1970) is an American poet. He is the author of ten books of poetry.
Early life and education
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Rohrer was raised in Oklahoma. Rohrer has said that he was a diligent student who finished his work qu ...
, poet
*
Michelle Segar
Michelle L. Segar is an American behavioral sustainability scientist, author, and speaker. She is known for her research on how to create autonomous and sustained motivation for self-care behaviors (e.g., exercise, sleep, eating). This work in ...
, scientist and author
*
Sue Shink, state senator
*
Pauline Nalova Lyonga
Pauline Nalova Lyonga Egbe is a Cameroonian politician from the Fako division, South West region of Cameroon. She has been the minister of secondary education since the ministerial reshuffle of March 2, 2018.
Biography
Youth and education ...
, Cameroonian politician
*
Mazi Smith
Mazi Smith (born June 16, 2001) is an American professional football defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines and was selected by the Cowboys in the fir ...
,
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
defensive tackle
*
James Tobin
James Tobin (March 5, 1918 – March 11, 2002) was an American economist who served on the Council of Economic Advisers and consulted with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard University, Harvard and Yale Uni ...
, author and historian
*
David Turnley,
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning photographer
Notable faculty
*
Naomi André
Naomi André is an American scholar of music. She is the David G. Frey Distinguished Professor in Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also the first scholar-in-residence of the Seattle Opera and the Des Moines Metro Ope ...
, music scholar
*
Carl Cohen, philosopher
*
Angela D. Dillard
Angela Denise Dillard is the Earl Lewis Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies and associate dean for undergraduate education at the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and the Arts. She was an associate professor o ...
, scholar and author, RC director 2011-2014
*
Elizabeth Douvan, psychologist, RC director 1985-1988
*
Zelda Gamson, sociologist
*
Laura Kasischke
Laura Kasischke is an American fiction writer and poet. She is best known for writing the novels ''Suspicious River'', ''The Life Before Her Eyes'' and '' White Bird in a Blizzard'', all of which have been adapted to film.
Life and work
She was ...
, author and poet
*
Theodore Newcomb
Theodore Mead Newcomb (July 24, 1903 – December 28, 1984) was an American social psychologist, professor and author. Newcomb led the Bennington College Study, which looked at the influence of the college experience on social and political belie ...
, social psychologist
*
Bradford Perkins, historian
*
Aisha Sabatini Sloan, writer
*
Barbara Sloat
Barbara Sloat is an American biologist, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan.
Sloat's research focused on lysosomal enzymes, yeast cellular morphogenesis
Morphogenesis (from the Greek ''morphê'' shape and ''genesis'' creation ...
, biologist
*
Heather Ann Thompson
Heather Ann Thompson is an American historian, author, activist, professor, and speaker from Detroit, Michigan. Thompson won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for History, the 2016 Bancroft Prize, and five other awards for her work '' Blood in the Water: ...
, historian and author of ''
Blood in the Water''
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Literature, Science, and the Arts
Universities and colleges established in 1841
Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States
1841 establishments in Michigan
University of Michigan campus
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts