The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had its annual convocation to honor and welcome professors.

The event, which was in the Memorial Union on Wednesday night, opened when Beate Schmittmann, dean of the college, gave the state of the college address.

Schmittmann started off by acknowledging the record-breaking number of enrollment this year, and attendees learned more than 2,000 more students enrolled at Iowa State than Iowa this year.

Shmittmann also stated LAS is not growing nearly as fast as the university. 

The college has seen a 1.4 percent decrease in the number of graduate students in the college and only a 12.5 percent increase to the number of undergraduate students enrolled in the college.

The college makes up 23 to 24 percent of Iowa State’s entire population. 

Schmittmann hopes to increase these numbers and focus on growing the college.

Shmittmann said that although there is an unexpectedly large number of retirements and people leaving the faculty this year, 17 new hires have been made within the college to fill those positions.

“This is a terrific college. Let’s be aggressive, let’s be ambitious,” Schmittann said.

The address was immediately followed by the introduction of the new LAS staff, academic chairpersons and new faculty presented by Amy Slagell and Martin Spalding, associate deans in the college.

After the new staff had been recognized and welcomed, several awards for faculty members in the college were presented.

“We do have great people working in the college and we really want to make sure that, you know, we express our appreciation and our thanks and give them a moment of publicity and visibility for the things they do everyday,” Shmittann said.

Schmittmann hopes to improve research this year and make the college’s newest accomplishments more visible.

“We want to highlight the great people we already have and we want to continue to attract top people to the college and make sure they can be successful here,” Schmittmann said.

Slagell, the interim associate dean for the college of LAS, explained she is fascinated with the diverse perspectives and contributions everyone in the college has to offer.

“When we come together for this event we get reminded again about that diversity because you can spend time in your department and not think about it,” Slagell said.

Slagell said even though this year’s growth numbers may not be ideal for the college, she believes the future looks positive.

From the college of LAS, 12 members will receive university awards and will be recognized for their achievements at the university faculty and staff ceremony on Oct. 2.