Social sciences provide an analytical approach to society’s problems. As a result, faculty and students in the social sciences often focus on complex and intersectional issues such as racism, international conflict and war, climate change, and poverty. Through an objective and empirical approach to these issues, the goal is to generate genuine passion and equip future leaders with the skills they need to address the world’s challenges. Explore majors, minors, concentrations, and academic programs in the social sciences.
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World-Class Faculty in the Social Sciences
Jo Weaver
Associate Professor, Global Studies and Director, Global Health Program
Lesley Jo Weaver is an academic expert in medical anthropology, global health, mental health, race, gender, chronic diseases, and food insecurity. She directs the Global Health Program at UO. Her research focuses, broadly, on the social production of health and illness. In India, Weaver’s National Science Foundation-supported research explores how the day-to-day management of type 2 diabetes shapes North Indian women’s abilities to participate in social roles considered appropriate for women of their age, class, and caste groups. In Brazil, Weaver’s work has examined how food insecurity influences physical and mental wellbeing.
Weaver co-hosts and co-produces the American Anthropological Association-sponsored podcast Speaking of Race, a longstanding program that explores the history and present-day reverberations of scientific racism around the world.
Mark Carey
Professor of Environmental Studies and Geography
Mark’s research focuses on the human dimensions of climate change and ice — from glaciers in the Andes to icebergs in the North Atlantic Ocean to glacial fjords in Greenland. The research centers on power, knowledge, and cultural narratives, with an objective to understand how knowledge systems, embedded storylines, social relations, and environmental injustices shape present-day environmental issues. The work is deeply interdisciplinary, and students in the Glacier Lab are central participants in these collaborations. Mark previously served as Director of the Environmental Studies Program.
Mark has two new interdisciplinary collaborative projects, one funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation on racial and climate justice in the Pacific Northwest (part of the Just Futures Institute) and another funded by NSF and the Navigating the New Arctic Program on “Global Changes, Local Impacts: Study of Glacial Fjords, Ecosystems and Communities in Greenland.”
Laura Pulido
Collins Professor of Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies and Geography
Laura is a qualitative social scientist who works at the intersection of geography and critical ethnic studies, especially Chicanx Studies. Her interest in these fields began as a young child fascinated by maps, landscapes, nature, and places. At the same time, everyday life taught her that we live in a racial, class and gender hierarchy that shapes our lives. Through her research and teaching she explores how these processes shape places and how places inform racial and economic processes. Most of her work explores the various ways in which racial inequality is actively produced, as well as the various means by which it is denied. She works together with graduate students in the Critical Race Lab.
She is the author of numerous books, including A People’s Guide to Los Angeles (with Laura Barraclough and Wendy Cheng, University of California, 2012).
School of Global Studies and Languages
At the School of Global Studies and Languages (GSL), UO students engage with diverse cultures, languages, histories, and lifeways across the world. Students of the social sciences, from Anthropology to Sociology, will broaden and deepen their education in their field by viewing it—and experiencing it—through a global lens. GSL prepares our graduates for life after college with an interdisciplinary curriculum, innovative language teaching, abundant learning opportunities outside the classroom, and paths of study that lead to many options for real-world careers.
Research in the Social Sciences
Research in the social sciences investigates human behavior and the motivations that influence it. Although some of our research occurs in the lab, much of it is conducted out in the field using a variety of methodological approaches, from exploratory to experimental. The results of our research often carry societal-level implications and may point to solutions for addressing local, national, or global challenges.
Explore Other Majors and Minors in the College of Arts and Sciences
Meet Our Dean
Welcome to the social sciences division of the College of Arts and Sciences. Within our community, we address some of the world’s problems—big or small—through interdisciplinary research and critical thinking. What drives us is a passion for exploring human behavior and society.
The social sciences provide the necessary foundation for any academic inquiry, from the creative arts to the natural sciences. Inside the classroom, we lead courses that are engaging and thought-provoking, inspiring students to become better citizens of our world and work toward a more inclusive future.
We also believe real-world experience offers some of the most impactful learning opportunities. From internships to study abroad trips that offer new cultural experiences, our students regularly engage in hands-on learning work that reaches across social, disciplinary, and geographic boundaries, allowing them to forge new connections and spark new ideas.
We look forward to changing the world with you.
Bruce McGough
Divisional Associate Dean, Social Sciences
Happening at CAS
Welcome back, Ducks! Cheers to a great summer term. 🎉#UOCAS pic.twitter.com/xmTL3jke4A
— UO College of Arts and Sciences (@uocas) June 24, 2024
8:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
This half-day FREE event will be open to all students or trainees interested in pursuing postdoctoral training in the near future. The focus of this event is to highlight the unique experiences of being a postdoc at one of our four institutions in Milwaukee and Madison:
Medical College of Wisconsin Morgridge Institute for Research University of Wisconsin–Madison Versiti Blood Research InstituteEvent Details
Navigating the transition into a postdoc position Choosing and securing the right postdoc opportunity for you Exploring the Wisconsin postdoc experience Leveraging your postdoc experience to achieve your career goalsFind out more and register at https://wipostdocexpo.org/
noon
Meet with Counseling Services Rachel Barloon at Peterson 203 or click here: https://zoom.us/j/98335445813
Let’s Talk is a service that provides easy access to free, informal, and confidential one-on-one consultation with a Counseling Services staff member. See our website for six additional Let’s Talk days/times offered throughout the week.
Let’s Talk is especially helpful for students who:
Have a specific concern and would like to consult with someone about it. Would like on-the-spot consultation rather than ongoing counseling. Would like to consult with a CS staff member about what actual therapy looks like. Would like to meet with one of our CS identity-based specialists. Have a concern about a friend or family member and would like some ideas about what to do.How does Let’s Talk work?
Let’s Talk will be offered via Zoom and/or in satellite locations across campus. As a drop-in service, there is no need to schedule an appointment and no paperwork to be completed. Students are seen individually on a first-come, first-served basis at the times listed below. There may be a wait in the Zoom waiting room if the Let’s Talk staff member is meeting with another student. Please wait and we will be with you as soon as we can. Let’s Talk appointments are brief (usually between 15-30 minutes) and are meant to be used on an as-needed basis.
2:00–4:00 p.m.
Meet with Counseling Services Cecile Gadson, who specializes in working with Black and African American students, at the Black Cultural Center.
Let’s Talk is a service that provides easy access to free, informal, and confidential one-on-one consultation with a Counseling Services staff member. See our website for six additional Let’s Talk days/times offered throughout the week.
Let’s Talk is especially helpful for students who:
Have a specific concern and would like to consult with someone about it. Would like on-the-spot consultation rather than ongoing counseling. Would like to consult with a CS staff member about what actual therapy looks like. Would like to meet with one of our CS identity-based specialists. Have a concern about a friend or family member and would like some ideas about what to do.
How does Let’s Talk work?
Let’s Talk will be offered via Zoom and/or in satellite locations across campus. As a drop-in service, there is no need to schedule an appointment and no paperwork to be completed. Students are seen individually on a first-come, first-served basis at the times listed below. There may be a wait in the Zoom waiting room if the Let’s Talk staff member is meeting with another student. Please wait and we will be with you as soon as we can. Let’s Talk appointments are brief (usually between 15-30 minutes) and are meant to be used on an as-needed basis.
2:00–4:00 p.m.
Open and free to all faculty and staff at the University of Oregon with valid UO ID.
Best-selling author Shola Richards, founder and CEO of Go Together Global, is leading a worldwide movement to change the world based on how we treat each other at work. He has shared his transformative message with Fortune 50 companies, top universities, leading healthcare organizations, Silicon Valley, the motion picture industry, on the TEDx stage, and with Congress.
At this event, Richards will share insights from his three books—Go Together, Making Work Work, and Civil Unity—and provide the audience with tools, strategies, and information necessary to create a culture of equity, diversity, and belonging.
This keynote is ideal for individual contributors, leaders, and teams who are:
Ready to create a culture of equity, diversity and belonging, but don’t know where to begin. Concerned about the current climate of divisiveness in America, and its impact on marginalized communities’ mental health, safety and overall well-being. Unaware of how to effectively engage in difficult conversations with colleagues and others about bias and inequities.The audience will leave with:
Strategies to recognize bias, prejudice, and/or microaggressions in the workplace, and how to address it immediately and strategically. Powerful data that shows that diverse teams are better at making decisions, more attractive to potential clients, consistently outperform competitors (and more!) The education and the inspiration to stay committed to the ongoing work of equity, diversity and belonging.More about Shola
Shola Richards is an in-demand workplace civility expert and a prolific writer with a passionate worldwide following. His articles and wildly popular Monday morning "Go Together Movement" email series have impacted people in more than 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Complete Wellbeing India, Business Insider Australia, and in numerous other outlets all over the world who recognize him as an authority on workplace happiness and engagement.
He is also a father, husband, identical twin, and a self-professed “kindness extremist,” who says he will not rest until bullying and incivility are extinct from the American workplace.
Event sponsored by the Lundquist College of Business, School of Journalism and Communication, College of Design, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Law, School of Music and Dance, Clark Honors College, and the Central Business Services Office (Office of the Provost).