Known for most of its history as the College of Liberal Arts, some of the disciplines within this college are those originally offered by tiny Blount College in 1794. President Brown Ayres reorganized the institution into colleges in the spring of 1905, but the term college did not denote the independence of a separately administered unit. The dean of the College of Liberal Arts was in charge of all students and academic programs.
In 1913 President Morgan decided that administrative responsibilities needed to be divided. Deans of Engineering, Agriculture, Law, Medicine, and Dentistry joined its dean, James D. Hoskins. The name of the college was changed to Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 1994.