School of Liberal Arts September 20 Newsletter

Brian T. Edwards
Dean and Herb Weil PhD Professor of the Humanities

Dear School of Liberal Arts Community,

This is a special fall at Tulane and of course for New Orleans. As we embark on the new academic year, we pause to remember all that was lost two decades ago during Hurricane Katrina and in its aftermath: the lives, the homes, and the institutions that were forever altered. Here at Tulane, there were large changes that followed in the wake of the devastation. Later that fall semester, President Scott Cowen would announce a series of structural changes that would lead to the creation of the School of Liberal Arts, which would formally launch in time for the start of the 2006-07 academic year. In the meantime, the 2005-06 academic year was spent “winding up the old and also about preparing for the new,” according to the School’s first interim dean, George Bernstein.

Nineteen years later, Tulane’s School of Liberal Arts is the home of 35 dynamic departments and programs, and more than 350 full-time faculty, teaching across a wide range of disciplines and interdisciplinary areas. Our faculty are producing important new research, making remarkable discoveries, creating innovative and inspiring art, and teaching the next generation of students during a period of political and technological transformation. You can read more about the department’s Summer 2025 accomplishments about some of their accomplishments from this past summer.

For me, the new academic year always brings optimism. Welcoming new students and new colleagues to the Tulane community is one of the great joys of serving as dean of the School of Liberal Arts. Summer after summer, we move from the celebrations that mark the passing of yet another remarkable cohort of graduates each May to the arrival of those who come to replenish our wellspring.

Read Dean Edwards’ Full Welcome Letter