James Sellmann, Ph.D., has been the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences for five years.

His career at UOG began 23 years ago as an assistant professor of philosophy.

Since the age of 18, Sellmann has studied philosophy. This interest led him to pursue advanced degrees in, and eventually become an expert of comparative philosophy, with a focus in Chinese philosophy.

When asked about the UOG philosophy program and the potential value it offers, Sellmann said, “Philosophy is about rational argumentation and critical thinking and every profession requires good argumentative skills and good critical thinking skills.”

According to Sellmann, however, the study of philosophy and liberal arts in general have fallen victim to self-censorship, which has negatively impacted the college as a whole.

The benefits of such programs seamlessly go unnoticed due to a misconception of it lacking importance.

“We need to speak out and be more vocal with what you can do with a humanities degree,” Sellmann said.

While the various degree programs at UOG offer value to students, Sellmann believes there is not enough emphasis on overall happiness from a chosen degree path.  In other words, the development of a career path should include that of professional ethics, and this is an area where humanities excel.

“What they often find out is by midlife they have a crisis and they wonder why they did it all,” Sellmann said.  “They wonder what it’s all about and so they made money but they don’t know what to do with the money.”

He and CLASS have extension arms reaching from the ISLA Art Gallery all the way to theater with heavy expression on community involvement and the public.

Many of the events sponsored by CLASS give back to the community by way of ticket sales for events and shows, which also help fund schools on Guam.

The importance of our deans here at UOG goes further than we normally see.

When asked what a daily life was like, Sellmann best compared it to “drinking from a fire hose.”

This gives a vivid description of what it takes to run a college.