Faculty research in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts is as diverse as the college itself, offering broad opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students to augment their classroom studies while working alongside faculty to add to the body of knowledge in their respective fields.

Research topics range from psychological studies on ethnically mixed work groups, memory development, and mother/child conflicts to the archaeology of the Maya region and the Greater Southwest to an investigation of the effect of music on the brain to a look at San Antonio as a transnational city.

In 2010, COLFA received 11% of total university grant submissions (over $1.5 million in funding). Major federal funding for research comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). COLFA is also funded by non-profit, state, and private foundations such as the Leakey Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the UT System, and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).