Liberal Arts and Sciences Institute

Dr. DeMond Miller, Sociology, Director

The Liberal Arts and Sciences Institute for Research and Community Service was founded at Rowan University in 1993 to enhance faculty research and focus on impactful community service. Together, with the academic departments, the Institute promotes a campus culture among faculty and students that revolves around civic responsibility. The LAS Institute aims to:

• Identify, encourage and facilitate research and impactful community service opportunities that draw upon the knowledge, skill and imagination of CHSS faculty.
• Provide professional services to assist in problem solving and fulfilling some specific training needs found in organizations and social service agencies throughout the state of New Jersey and the Delaware Valley Region.

To this end, we work hand and hand with community leaders to improve the quality of life for the residents in the state of New Jersey. The Institute is supported by Rowan University's second largest College, the faculty of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. These departments represent a wide range of professional expertise including departments and programs such as: Philosophy & Religion; Sociology & Anthropology; Foreign  Languages & Literatures; English; Political Science & Economics; Law & Justice Studies;  History; African Studies; American Studies; International Studies; Human Services, Liberal Studies; and, Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management. The LAS Institute can provide an umbrella to incubate innovation and community engagement within and beyond the college.

The Institute is the conduit that engages multiple stakeholders from the humanities and social sciences to conduct transformative research that mobilizes knowledge to benefit society in the following ways:
 
CHAMPIONS, HIGHLIGHTS, and PROMOTES the significance, importance, and relevance of the humanities’ role in enriching our lives beyond the college and the university.
 
With CHSS faculty research leaders, RESEARCHES, ADDRESSES and UNDERSTANDS complex issues (local, national and international) and provides opportunities for critical reflection and critique of the human condition as it relates to issues of well-being, social justice, institutional forces, ethics, emergency response, community engagement, and international cultures and histories.
 
LINKS CHSS faculty with the wider community by drawing upon knowledge, skills, expertise and the imagination of the faculty.