About the College

PSU’s Academic Heart

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) is the academic heart of Portland State University. As PSU’s largest and most diverse college, we are a vibrant community of 4,700+ undergraduates, 700+ graduate students, 300+ full-time faculty and 50+ staff spanning the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.

Explore Our Departments

WHO ARE OUR STUDENTS?

Students in CLAS represent a diverse community of learners.

Enrollment Breakdown

Transfer Students: 55%
First-Generation: 43%
Student Veterans: 2.5%
Students from Oregon: 83%
International Students: 2%
Men: 34%
Women: 62%
Non-Binary: 3%

Student Diversity*

White: 72%
Latino: 22%
Asian: 13%
Black or African American: 9%
American Indian or Alaskan Native: 5%
Multi-Ethnic: 9%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 2%
Other: 2%
*Duplicated counts include multi-racial and multi-ethnic students in every community they indicate

Find Your Program

80

Majors & Minors

25

Undergrad & Grad Certificates

40%

Total PSU classes taught in CLAS

29

Master’s Degrees

9

Doctoral Degrees

Degrees Awarded (2023-2024)

Bachelor's: 1,529
Master's: 204
Doctoral: 32
Post-baccalaureate Certificates: 28
Total: 1,793

Organizing for Impact

We’re home to two distinctive schools. The School of Gender, Race and Nations, whose programs and scholarship play a critical role in PSU becoming the premier Minority-Serving Institution in the Pacific Northwest, comprises Black Studies, Chicanx/Latinx Studies, Indigenous Nations Studies, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. The School of Earth, Environment and Society, launching this fall, joins together Anthropology, Complex Systems, Environmental Science and Management, Geography and Geology as an interdisciplinary hub of teaching and research.

Professor in research lab with large microscope

Research That Matters

Our college engages with some of the most important questions of our time with different perspectives and expertise. During the most recent fiscal year, we had nearly $19.7 million in research expenditures and 135 active projects across disciplines and funding sources, including three major NSF research and training grants that provide research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.

Research & Scholarship

People seated in round in community classroom in Vernier Science Center

Making Space

Our college has the largest footprint on campus, recently celebrating the opening of the Vernier Science Center. A dramatic transformation of PSU’s undergraduate science building, the capital project — with visioning and leadership from CLAS — centered Indigenous perspectives and the voices of students from communities often not heard, resulting in a building where all students can feel a sense of belonging.

Transforming STEM at PSU