Dear LSA Students,

It is my pleasure to be one of the thousands of people who will welcome you to the 2024-25 academic year! I hope you embrace the excitement of intellectual exploration as you jump into the start of the fall semester.

I am proud that LSA provides our students with a world-class liberal arts education. You will grapple with the pressing challenges of our time and the great questions of all time, alongside brilliant faculty and fellow students. And you will develop skills for a rewarding career and a life of purpose. The best part of this journey is that how you do it is entirely up to you—the courses you choose, the friends you make, the clubs you join, the majors and minors you explore—this is your educational path to build and enjoy. 

For me, too, this semester is a fresh start. I am returning to LSA as dean after holding a similar position at Georgetown University. Prior to that, I spent more than 25 years in LSA as a professor in the Departments of Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies and as an associate dean. I am thrilled to return to the place that has been my professional home for most of my career; there is nowhere else I’d rather be. 

My own liberal arts education transformed my life. I am the daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic and a native New Yorker. I was a first-generation college student, the first in my family to graduate from college. I believe so strongly in the value of a liberal arts education, and I believe in you. You belong at the University of Michigan and in LSA—no matter where you are from, no matter the journey you took to get here—and we are fortunate to have you as part of this community.

One opportunity I would like to share with you is LSA@Play, a series of fun events especially for LSA students. I hope you can bring a friend and join us at this Thursday’s LSA@Play Welcome Back Party, from noon-1:30 p.m., August 29 at Regents Plaza. I will be there, and look forward to seeing you!


Sincerely,

Rosario (Rosie) Ceballo, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
(she/her)