LSA Victors Gift Campaign: Priorities for Linguistics

Our largest-ever fundraising campaign is ambitious, visionary, purposeful — worthy of the name “Victors.” The $400 million goal is built upon the cornerstone of the liberal arts: the idea that a powerful, pragmatic education can transform hearts and minds, can solve problems in a changing world, can yield ideas and innovation across every discipline. That’s why we are focused on raising money so that the best and brightest minds can have access to the College through robust scholarship support, no matter their financial circumstances. So too are we committed to helping every student acquire not just knowledge in the classroom, but experiences outside the academy including innovative entrepreneurial efforts and internships. We strive to support our faculty on the frontlines of research, and steward our planet, our community, our campus. To do all this, and so much more, the College needs you — because the world needs Victors.

Department of Linguistics

THE POWER

The Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan is one of the very few departments in the United States that captures the inherent breadth of the discipline by exploring the cognitive, social, cultural, and developmental aspects of language. Faculty and students investigate language structure, history, knowledge, behavior, and use. Faculty research aims to integrate these diverse approaches to language in ways that engender new modes of linguistic inquiry and new research domains.

THE OPPORTUNITIES

By virtue of language’s role in human interactions and activities, linguistics is situated at the intersection of the humanities and the social, biological, and behavioral sciences. Linguistics forms an important part of a strong liberal arts education because it trains students to develop skills in data analysis, analytic thinking, qualitative and quantitative reasoning, problem solving, and critical inquiry. Our undergraduates pursue careers that span the professions, including publishing and communications, computational fields, and teaching at a variety of levels. Our undergraduates are highly competitive for placement in top graduate programs in linguistics, psychology, law, speech and hearing sciences, anthropology, philosophy, and information technology. Our graduate students become professors at universities and colleges across the United States and throughout the world, bringing with them a commitment to the broad-based exploration of human language and to maintaining linguistics as a vital part of undergraduate education.

THE IMPACT

Gifts from alumni and friends enable the Department to compete with leading private universities for top faculty and students. Our capacity to attract and retain leading scholars, outstanding graduate students, and competitive undergraduates is linked to strengthening our standing both nationally and internationally. Support for the research of undergraduates is vital and enables them to complete projects, attend conferences, and work with high-profile scholars.