From the Dean’s Desk: June 2026

As we wrap up the 2025-2026 academic year and prepare to celebrate our graduates by welcoming their families and friends to campus, I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on our year together. 

When I began as dean of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS) in July 2025, I was immediately struck by our community’s extraordinary commitment to creativity, scholarship, mentorship, hands-on learning, and public engagement. In early conversations with our community, we discussed the need for rapid innovation in uncertain times, the necessity to strengthen undergraduate enrollment efforts, and the importance of better connecting a CAHSS education to future career possibilities. I asked our faculty, staff, and student leaders to work together to find unique approaches to meeting these goals. What I witnessed in response was the most creative approach to change I have seen in my career in higher education.  It has been a privilege to do this work with you all.  

That conviction has only grown stronger as the year unfolded. I began working with members of the CAHSS Student Leadership Council on our most critical goals in service to students. Hearing their personal journeys and dreams deepened my belief that our programs are preparing exactly the kind of skilled, intellectually agile, and compassionate leaders our world needs. Several of our June 2026 graduates captured this journey beautifully. First-generation student Alyssa Avila will use her journalism and Spanish majors to pursue a career in law. Grace Schroeder, who traded a dance career for psychology research, plans to pursue clinical and research psychology. Adeline Braun will put her degrees in economics and political science to work building a greener world. 

These student experiences reflect the dedication of our faculty across the college. CAHSS faculty continue to provide students with hands-on research and skills-building experience. Communication studies Professor Beth Suter’s Qualitative Inquiry in Communication course gave students firsthand experience in interview-based research, applicable across many career paths. In Professor Lisa Pasko’s 4D Fridays legal research practicum, students gained courtroom exposure that strengthens law school applications. Student researchers in Professor Pilyoung Kim’s BAIC Lab explored how interacting with AI chatbots affect young children's cognitive development. The director of the Lamont School of Music Brian Pertl shared how practicing deep listening can enhance focus, creativity, inspiration, and resilience not only in the arts but across all disciplines. 

Supporting all of this, we made significant curricular changes, most notably launching the 4D Fridays program, which embeds career-integrated coursework, internships, mentorship, and research directly into the academic week. We also created new degree paths to prepare students to navigate a transformed workforce.  Additionally, our departments took difficult but necessary steps to align our curriculum with enrollment realities, while preserving majors and deepening interdisciplinary opportunities.  

The work continues. Next year, CAHSS will launch four new units: the imp:ACT Institute, which will support interdisciplinary majors and programs across the college; the integrated communication and media arts unit; a unified global languages and cultures unit; and a more deeply integrated performing arts unit which will include the Lamont School of Music, theatre, and the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. We are actively working to support these transitions, integrate these units, and name the units, as needed, to reflect their focus. These exciting transitions reflect the steady leadership of our current unit heads, the creativity of faculty within and across these units, the strength of our associate deans, and the dedication of our staff.  

The closure of religious studies as a faculty appointment home in our college is a difficult development, and it is important for us to make space to acknowledge the weight of this moment together. I remain committed to preserving this important field of study at DU and to delivering its academic programs to students through the imp:ACT Institute. 

I close this year with deep appreciation for the DU alumni I have met, many of whom are becoming close friends as they demonstrate how a DU education shapes lives in lasting ways. Their engagement and support will propel CAHSS into a new era, one we can all be proud of. 

Looking ahead, I am more confident than ever in what this college is capable of, and more excited than ever to build it with you.  

Congratulations to all of our graduates. Enjoy this incredible milestone.  

I wish you all a wonderful summer. 

With gratitude, 

Sahara Byrne

Dean, College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences