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College of Liberal Arts

SOCIAL SCIENCES   •    HUMANITIES   •   FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS   •   EDUCATION

Bring your imagination to life at the College of Liberal Arts (COLA) at the University of New Hampshire. Explore your passions and create your very own path from dozens of majors, minors and graduate programs in the social sciences, humanities, fine and performing arts and education. Immerse yourself in an engaged, innovative community of academic excellence with some of the world’s best faculty leading the way.

Think it sounds amazing? It is.


 

Find your Future in the College of Liberal Arts

In COLA, you will learn deeply and explore boldly within a collaborative, caring community of thinkers, creators and doers. You’ll connect the dots and put things into a larger context while developing skills that employers want — like critical thinking, complex problem solving and communication. You’ll learn to be creative, nimble and ready to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Get the Facts

Top 10%
best schools for communication, journalism and Music
College Factual
Top 15%
best schools for psychology, drama and theatre arts, and visual and performing arts
College Factual
Top 20%
best colleges for communication
niche
Top 25
Justice Studies, Music and neuroscience Programs by earnings one year out of college
GradReports
Top 100
history and sociology graduate programs
U.S. News and World Report
95%
Recent COLA alumni employed or enrolled in further education
First Destination Survey
63%
Recent COLA alumni who participated in at least one internship at UNH
First Destination Survey

Student Spotlights

  • Team image of 2024 UNH Mock Trial Team
    The nervous excitement was fizzing in Hamilton Smith Hall this past weekend, October 12th and 13th, as the UNH Justice Studies Annual Invitational Mock Trial Tournament was held.  Ten teams, including two from UNH, battled it out, each appearing in four competitive rounds over two days. Other schools represented were Colby College, West Point,…
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  • Molly Kent Student Fellow Headshot FY24
    English & Women's and Gender Studies Double Major
    COLA Student Fellow, Molly Kent, shares why she chose UNH, what she loves about the College of Liberal Arts, some of her favorite experiences, the most important lesson she's learned, and more.  What made you choose UNH?  I chose UNH because I was very interested in the programs, clubs, and organizations that were offered. I wasn’t sure what major I would end…
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  • photo of Bryson Badeau
    Secondary Theatre Education and Design & Theatre Technology Major
    Hometown: Dedham, Mass. What made you choose UNH? I was looking for schools that had a secondary theatre education major and when I visited UNH I fell in love with the campus! I found a place where I…
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  • photo of Nikki Harnett
    Sociology Major
    Hometown: Plymouth, Minn. What made you choose UNH? I play on the Women’s Ice Hockey team here at UNH, so recruitment was a big part of my choosing process. I stepped onto the UNH campus when I was 15, and it just felt like home…
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  • man with trombone
    Music Education Major
    Why did you choose UNH? I chose UNH because it was a school I felt very comfortable with. There was so much vibrant energy when I first visited UNH, and it helped me fall in love with the program. As well, I loved that I could get involved in anything and everything. It feels like there is a club for literally everything. How did you choose your…
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Alumni Spotlights

  • Lori Robinson among service colleagues
    English Major | Retired U.S. Military General
    Following in her father’s footsteps, General Lori Robinson ‘81 came to the University of New Hampshire and developed newfound confidence and lifelong connections. Watch Video.
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  • picture of Eric Thomson
    Philosophy Major | Bioinformatics Scientist at NIH
    Why did you major in philosophy? I majored in philosophy because it was the only discipline where we could explicitly tackle certain meta-level questions that don’t get addressed elsewhere. For instance, what is science and how do we differentiate it from other disciplines? Why is quantum mechanics so damn weird? How do conscious experiences relate to brain processes…
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  • headshot
    Communication: Media Practices Major | Content Coordinator, Vimeo
    I'm currently working as the content studio coordinator on the social team at Vimeo, a SaaS video company and platform based in NYC. (Well, we're a global company. But that's where our headquarters is located!) My job is to manage and execute the social media strategy for all of Vimeo's core and B2B social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest).
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  • headshot
    Geography Major | Aerospace Research Analyst
    What are you currently doing for work and how did you get to this point? I'm a research analyst at MinebeaMitsumi Aerospace. I perform research activities for one of the largest manufacturers of aerospace bearings in the world. These activities include compiling monthly reports for 9…
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  • Blair Rowlett
    Psychology and Justice Studies Majors | Director of the Mental Health Community Supervision Programs
    What were you doing 1 year out of college? One year out of college I was working as a correctional officer at the Strafford County House of Corrections. I had been working on campus while I attended classes, but when I graduated I had no prospective job offers in my field. I was aiming higher than I should have been and eventually came to the conclusion that I needed…
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Recent Stories

Tidal turbine platform beneath a bridge with Portsmouth in the background

External Funding for UNH Research Leaps to $252 Million

External Funding for UNH Research Leaps to $252 Million

FY24 grants across the disciplines innovate solutions for N.H. and beyond

Article
Close up view of voting booths

Election 2024: Should You Believe the Polls? We Ask a UNH Expert

Election 2024: Should You Believe the Polls? We Ask a UNH Expert

Andrew Smith lays out some key reasons to be skeptical of the data

Article
bridge washout in Vermont during Hurricane Irene

Could Storms Like Hurricanes Helene and Milton Eventually Impact New Hampshire?

Could Storms Like Hurricanes Helene and Milton Eventually Impact New Hampshire?

Not likely in the same form, but the climate changes making storms more powerful are threats to the region, UNH expert says

Article

Upcoming Events

  • Oct
    31
    Steven Hill: Failure of America’s Winner-Take-All Politics, and How to Fix It. 4 p.m. - 4 p.m., October 31 at 4 p.m. in room A-218 in the Paul Creative Arts Center Steven Hill, author of 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy, is a widely published columnist whose op-eds, articles and media interview have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, CNBC, C-SPAN, NPR, Democracy Now, BBC, The Atlantic, Politico, Guardian, Wired, The Nation, American Prospect, Le Monde, Die Zeit and more. How Democracies Die/Thrive is a semester-long progr a.m. tha...
  • Oct
    31
    HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE 7 p.m. - 7 p.m., A theatrical exploration of the New York Times best-selling book by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The play, devised by UNH students, will delve into the book’s ex a.m.ination of how we have arrived at this moment in our democracy. As stated in the Wall Street Journal’s review; “The authors argue, with good evidence, that democracies aren’t destroyed because of the impulses of a single man; they are, instead, degraded in the course of a partisan tit for tat dyn a.m.ic that deg...
  • Nov
    1
    Demistifying the Grant Process (Workshop and Lunch) 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., We want to help you get funding to do the work you love! We know that aspects of the process can be both time-consuming and complex to navigate, whether you’re a first time or experienced applicant. To continue supporting faculty in their efforts, we would like to invite you to  Demystifying the Grant Process (Workshop and Lunch) To participate, please identify and share a Request for Proposals (RFP) with us beforehand. This RFP could be for something you want to apply fo...
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