The College of Arts and Sciences is UNCW’s largest academic unit.

With 25 departments and programs focused on the arts, humanities, mathematical and natural sciences, as well as social and behavioral sciences, the college is the intellectual hub of the university.

This semester, the college expanded its curriculum, launching three new degree programs that will attract students to the university and increase their post-graduate opportunities, as well as help meet the needs of our community. The college now offers a B.A. in digital arts, a M.S. in data science and a Ph.D. in psychology.
These programs will provide our students with specialized skill-sets that are in high-demand across our region.  

The B.A. in digital arts is an interdisciplinary program with courses in the departments of Art and Art History and Computer Science. Graduates of the program will be prepared to work in entertainment, graphic design and software and application development. Students can choose to concentrate in mobile application and web development or interactive graphics. We are excited to offer students the opportunity to pursue either a major or a minor in this rapidly expanding field.

Our new accelerated master’s degree in data science is another joint program that leverages the expertise of faculty from across the college. Offered by the departments of Computer Science and Mathematics and Statistics, the program emphasizes computational-based applications of traditional data analysis methods and current trends in data mining and machine learning. Data science is also a quickly growing field and graduates of
UNCW’s program will be well-trained to compete for highly sought-after positions here in our area and across the state.

The program was designed with input from the local and regional business communities, and its advisory board includes representatives from companies and organizations such as General Electric, PPD, Live Oak Bank, SAS, Trillium, Castle Branch, N.C. Biotechnology Center and others.

The addition of the Ph.D. program in psychology was a natural step for the college. Our excellent master’s program in psychology is internationally recognized. Students in the Ph.D. program specialize in a clinical health concentration, including applied behavior analysis and co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders.
The demand for psychologists has never been greater and from the beginning of their studies, UNCW students will be active in the community, providing services for individuals and families for a variety of issues.

The launch of all these programs is important to UNCW and to the larger community. The College of Arts and Sciences is building on existing strengths to ensure our graduates’ success, while creating a trained workforce to meet the needs of our region. The college is committed to addressing the concerns of our community through the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences, and we are excited to offer our students new ways to have a meaningful impact on our world.

Aswani Volety, Ph.D., is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a professor in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology. Volety earned a Ph.D. in marine science from the College of William & Mary, and a master’s and a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Andhra University. The College of Arts and Sciences is UNCW’s largest academic unit, employing over 450 full-time and 150 part-time faculty members and awarding approximately three quarters of the university’s academic credits. Volety serves as the chief academic, fiscal and administrative officer of the college, which is responsible for educating students across the arts, sciences, humanities and social sciences, and includes the UNCW Center for Marine Science. Volety is also the current president of the Southern Association of Marine Labs.To learn more about the UNCW College of Arts and Sciences, visit www.uncw.edu/cas. Questions and comments can be sent to [email protected].