Ever get a slightly dizzy feeling when a quick Internet query delivers search results numbering in the millions? You’re not alone. Information is now widely thought to double every 13 months. Some estimates clock the “knowledge half-life” at the even more astonishing rate of every 12 hours. Amid this ceaseless expansion, how do we distinguish between information, knowledge, and wisdom? Between solid reasoning and sketchy conjecture? How do we build on the understanding that humanity has accrued over thousands of years to address the urgent challenges that multiply as rapidly as those proliferating data points?
The quest for both timeless insights and up-to-the-minute discoveries is central to the College of Arts and Sciences—the largest academic unit and true heart of the University. In classrooms, studios, and labs, across dozens of academic disciplines, we engage students’ intellects and imaginations, spark a passion for lifelong learning, and shed light on productive new approaches to ever-more-complex problems.
This fall the College’s achievements and aspirations are spotlit by an ambitious new capital campaign—the University’s first in more than half a decade. Ever Brighter will empower brilliant contributions to the sciences, the arts, human health, global sustainability, societal equity, and more—all while increasing access to a superb education for students from all backgrounds.
Tracey P. Berkowitz, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee, is volunteer co-chair of the Ever Brighter campaign for the College of Arts and Sciences. “The vast majority of University of Miami students take one or more courses through the College, making it a key player in both the life of the U and the life journeys of nearly every ’Cane,” Berkowitz says.
“The Ever Brighter campaign offers countless opportunities to support the brightest students and best educators, advance leading-edge research, and enrich our community as we approach the 2025 Centennial.”
“Thanks to the outpouring of philanthropic support galvanized by our last campaign, the College has maintained a dynamic upward trajectory,” says Dean Leonidas G. Bachas. “We are now poised to take our boldest steps yet. As we prepare new generations of leaders, problem-solvers, and global thinkers, we will propel an array of ideas, insights, and initiatives to powerful real-world impact.
“We are already a great university. Now is the time to become an extraordinary university.”
Ever Brighter: Points of Focus
As the University’s Ever Brighter campaign progresses, the College of Arts and Sciences campaign pillars will support transformative accomplishments in the following key areas.
- Maximize access to the benefits of a liberal arts education through financial support and scholarships
- Address existential challenges to our region through environmental scholarship, sustainability studies, and partnerships with indigenous communities
- Engage global issues that span the humanities, social science, and public policy, such as refugee flows and threats to human rights worldwide
- Accelerate discovery in basic and applied science and mathematics to yield solutions for complex problems such as infectious disease transmission and environmental degradation
- Deepen our understanding of the human mind through advances in psychology, biology, neuroscience, and other disciplines
- Align, elevate, and amplify arts initiatives and activities across the University through artistic education, creation, conservation, presentation, and outreach
