Provost's Welcome Message

Porter College is a vibrant community of students, teachers, artists, scholars, counselors, and friends, living and learning together in the belief that a liberal arts education is a life-changing experience to which everyone is entitled.

Porter is especially dedicated to supporting achievement in the arts and humanities, but we share the mission of all the colleges at UC Santa Cruz, which is to nurture academic excellence in every field of study and to establish relationships of lasting consequence between students and the people who teach and advise them. We offer interdisciplinary education and academic mentoring. We foster connections between people from different backgrounds while enabling students to explore the curriculum in a setting that is socially engaged and academically rigorous. We also encourage personal and social responsibility by creating opportunities for students to share their learning with the community and to make contributions to the places where they live. The result, we hope, are graduates who are prepared to engage the complexities of life in a changing world with intellectual humility, curiosity about other minds, moral courage, resilience, and joy.

To live like that is the work not only of higher education but also of a lifetime. The college’s motto—ars longa, vita brevis—acknowledges this truth as it points to the difference between the brevity of each human life and the time it takes to learn how to do well whatever is worth doing. The motto also underscores the fact that how you choose to spend your time is the most meaningful decision that you can make. So let’s get started, together. What do you want to learn? Whom do you aspire to become? 

I warmly welcome you to Porter College.  

Soraya Murray

Provost, Porter College