Welcome Message

Dean, School of Social Sciences

Welcome to the School of Social Sciences!

The social sciences seek to understand all aspects of human social behavior, including the behavior of individuals as well as the social dynamics of small groups, large organizations, and entire societies.

The School of Social Science offers first-rate training in an internationally oriented and multi-disciplinary setting. The distinguished nature and international orientation of our faculty is reflected in the fact that many of them hold doctoral degrees from the most eminent universities in the world such as Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. The School of Social Science is centered on Psychology, Sociology, and Political Science and offers a range of substantively-oriented courses as well as courses on general research methods.

Small seminar-based classes, rigorous training, and intellectual diversity prepare students for handling complex problems in new and innovative ways. The School of Social science also offers opportunities for students to engage in empirical research supervised by faculty members.

People often ask me how practical a social-science degree is, and they are surprised to learn that social-science majors go into a wide range of fields such as consulting, market research, human-resource management, government service, and international non-governmental organizations.

I welcome you all to SMU and to the School of Social Science!

Professor Peter Hedström
Dean
School of Social Sciences