Annual Report 2024-2025
From the Dean
Student success, new programs, faculty scholarship, and community engagement drive the liberal arts at Towson University. Highlights of AY 24-25 include an undergraduate retention rate approaching 90%, more than 20 academic programs revisions, and more than one hundred peer-reviewed faculty publications. As external grant funding has become increasingly competitive, the college continued its strong output with more than 30 grants and contracts submitted worth nearly $1.3 million. Support of alumni and friends increased 15%, including a 39% increase in individual donors.
At Towson University, the liberal arts create vibrant thought and action spaces to ask big questions and seek equally big solutions to 21st-century problems. The interdisciplinarity of the College’s work was on display at the first undergraduate research conference, aptly titled CLASSIC (the College of Liberal Arts Student Scholarship and Inquiry Conference), which showcased four paper presentations, fifteen posters, and lively exchanges between dozens of attendees. Responding to the spread of AI in all aspects of life, the CLA faculty technology committee engaged in rich conversations about how to integrate this new tool in teaching and research.
Two rotating named professorships provide an opportunity for faculty to explore pedagogical innovation and expand scholarly output while engaging the community. In August 2024, Dr. Donn Worgs (Professor of Political Science) began his tenure as the Martha A. Mitten Professor to conduct research on youth engagement in Africa and the African Diaspora that includes innovative, interdisciplinary projects around youth activism in the Gambia, Kenya, and Baltimore. In Spring 2025, Dr. Benjamin Fisher (Professor of History) was selected to be the next Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor in Jewish Studies, Jewish Contemporary Thought, or Religious Studies at the graduate or undergraduate level. Dr. Fisher’s project, “Antisemitism Through the Ages: A Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Program,” will further the study of antisemitism through thematic courses, scholarship, and community outreach.
Building relationships with communities near and far has always been a mainstay of the College of Liberal Arts. For the second year in a row and for the fourth time since 2021, the University’s Baltimore-TU Partnerships (BTU) will recognize a liberal arts project, the Baltimore Community Archeology Lab, led by Dr. Katherine Sterner (Assistant Professor of Anthropology), with a 2025 BTU Partnership Award. Furthermore, under the leadership of the Department of English, the College facilitated a prestigious gift from the Patterson Family Foundation that provided $7,500 scholarships to ten undergraduate students “who have the motivation to remain well-read throughout their lifetime, for the betterment of their personal and professional growth.”
Thank you for your enduring support of liberal arts students, faculty, and programs as we work together in the building, on campus, and in communities to make the world a better place. Taken as a whole, the year’s achievements attest to the vitality of the liberal arts and the College’s support of learning, scholarship, and engagement for the public good in the Baltimore region, state of Maryland, and beyond
