College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Giving Day contributions of every size make a major difference! Support one of these projects or give to another area that helps the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences today. 

Ready! Set! Give! Once 50 donors give to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a $2,500 gift from Dean Stephanie Hartwell will be unlocked! 

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Annual Fund

The CLAS Annual Fund provides important flexibility, allowing Dean Stephanie Hartwell to respond to emerging needs and take advantage of evolving opportunities. Your generosity supports students and faculty in creating a vibrant learning environment. 

Recent examples of the key support that the annual fund provides: 

• Support for the Education Transition Coordination (ETC) program: The ETC program provides support for individuals leaving prison who want to pursue a degree. This "prison to college" pipeline clears a pathway for individuals released from prison into higher education institutions. The ETC team offers program participants help with securing housing, job searches, accessing health services and other resources in addition to pursuing college admission.
• Support for Peer Mentors: CLAS students who have excelled in introductory courses serve as mentors to students who are taking the same course for the first time. These mentors, known as STEM Learning Assistants, gain meaningful coaching experience as well as on-campus employment. Students who work with a STEM Learning Assistant achieve higher pass rates and experience increased success in future science courses.

Professor Gavin Lawes Endowed Scholarship

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Professor Lawes established himself as one of the world leaders in the field of condensed matter physics of novel magnetic materials, and his research program was highly successful. He was an outstanding mentor to graduate, undergraduate and high school students, mentoring 10 Ph.D. students during his 10 years at the university. Professor Lawes made tremendous contributions to the department, college, and university, as a young, energetic and highly dedicated faculty colleague as well as a compassionate human being. Tragically for someone so young, he was diagnosed with an advanced stage-4 brain cancer and passed away in 2015. The endowment was established by the Department of Physics and Astronomy to recognize his tremendous contributions to Wayne State and to encourage diversity among graduate students.

Philosophy Scholarships 

Department of Philosophy

The Philosophy Department's Scholarship Fund provides support for undergraduate students. This year the department is aiming to provide $6,000 in scholarships to students. As a small department, we are able to spread scholarship money out and make an impact on a lot of students. Your donation will help us continue to support our undergraduates.

Department of Urban Planning Internships 

Department of Urban Planning

Today only, your gift will be doubled when you choose to make a gift to the Department of Urban Planning Internships! An anonymous donor is matching donations dollar-for-dollar up to $500.

Our internship program provides a scholarship to students that is matched by a stipend given to them by their interning employers. We provide a $2,500 scholarship and the employer matches with a $2,500 stipend. Employers have included Detroit Future City, the Homeless Action of Detroit, and the City of Detroit. We would like to fund three internships in academic year 2023 - 2024, and our goal is to raise $7,500 for our matching share. Your donation today will help us support hands-on learning for our students!

Gallery Performance Fund

Museum of Anthropology

The Gallery Performance Fund augments the museum’s resources for providing engaging amenities at special events and for paying musicians and other performers – expenses that are usually outside the specifications of conventional sources of income for museum funding. It is the hope of the museum staff that this fund will enable us to both expand our audience and to provide delighting, free experiences for visitors that they can find nowhere else. The Gordon L. Grosscup Museum, located on the first floor of Old Main, is a resource that is available not only to the students and faculty of the university but to the surrounding community as well. Performances in our gallery will attract students, staff and the public to our space, including some who might not ordinarily visit an anthropology museum. Likewise, these unique opportunities will give our regular visitors a new opportunity to experience the gallery in a different way. The museum has, on recent occasions, hosted performers including a drummer, a cellist, and a string duo, and the success of these programs has confirmed how much energy these activities bring to Old Main and to our museum.

History Community Partnership Fund

Department of History

The History Community Partnership Fund supports experiential learning for history students, who participate in real-world projects with our community partners. These projects provide students with hands-on experience and practical skills that, combined with their Wayne State education, help them build meaningful careers after they graduate. We bring the students; our community partners bring their professional expertise – and your donation will help bring projects to life! In fall 2022, the History Community Partnership Fund supported student-curated exhibits at the Detroit Historical Museum. The museum’s curators mentored small groups of students in every stage of creating an exhibit, from selecting a topic to design and installation and planning the opening night reception. Going forward, the fund will support similar experiences.

Lab Coats for Chemistry Students

Department of Chemistry

Lab coats are essential to our program, and without them we would not be able to safely conduct the high-level research performed in our labs. You can make a difference in the lives of our students by helping us raise money to purchase lab coats for our undergraduate researchers.

Crockett/Lumumba Scholars (CLS) Program

The Crockett/Lumumba Scholars (CLS) program’s mission is to transform the Wayne State University, and ultimately society, by providing equitable access to a quality university education to students interested in African American Studies while also enhancing diversity on campus. 

Participating students can major in any of WSU's undergraduate programs and simultaneously take advantage of our resources throughout their time at the university. The support systems provided by the CLS program includes advising, peer and faculty mentoring, help navigating financial aid and securing scholarships, student success coaching seminars, tutoring, social activities, and community involvement. All students, regardless of major, are welcome to join, as our goal is to create an inclusive environment by providing access to educational and financial resources and a sense of community and family to help students achieve their personal, academic, and professional goals. Students who complete the program also will earn a minor in African American Studies.

The CLS program is designed to help students better understand themselves and their cultural inheritance while grounding them in the concept of “harambee,” a term and principle that emerged out of the Kenyan liberation struggle that means, “all pull together.” It is our belief that this collective focus, emphasis on community building and mentorship, culturally relevant education, and commitment to Black success and social justice on and off campus provides students with the best opportunity to succeed at Wayne State. We also hope to develop a generation of committed college graduates who can and will play a powerful role in Detroit and the CLS program in the near future.

The program is designed to reward students who participate in the program and remain in good academic standing (a grade point average of 2.75 or above). This includes a free study abroad experience in either Africa or Brazil in their senior year. But we need your support to launch this program and offer financial incentives. Let’s “all pull together” to ensure that Black students and those interested in African American Studies have the support they need to thrive during and after their time on campus for generations to come.

Public Health Annual Fund

Department of Public Health

Today only, donations to the Public Health Annual Fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $2,000 by Dr. Patricia Wren and Dr. Tricia Miranda-Hartsuff. 

The Public Health Annual Fund was created to support students engaged in mentored research and professional activities. Together, we can produce permanent, positive change. Building this fund will help us propel students forward and, through their efforts, improve health outcomes in our region and beyond. 

Achieve your charitable goals and create your WSU legacy with a gift in your estate plan. 

Wayne State faculty and staff can give via payroll deduction here.