Ducks Give is May 14. And We Need Your Help!
Ducks Give is the University of Oregon’s annual 24-hour fundraiser. On Thursday, May 14, your gifts — no matter how small — can support programs that benefit undergraduate and graduate students, including experiential learning and scholarships that are making a real impact to prepare them for careers after college.
Join Ducks from around the world to support current and future students. Let’s rise together on May 14!
Congratulations, Graduating Ducks!
You’ve put in the work and earned the diploma. Now let’s celebrate! On June 15, join your fellow CAS Ducks for this year’s CAS commencement ceremony. Head over to the 2026 CAS Commencement website where you can find ceremony details for each CAS ceremony, logistics and any other answers to all your questions about the big day.
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.
African Studies
Anthropology
Asian Studies
Black Studies
Climate Studies
Commerce and Society
Criminology
Economics
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
News from Social Sciences
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We Love Our Supporters
Gifts to the College of Arts and Sciences can help our students make the most of their college careers. To do this, CAS needs your support. Your contributions help us ensure that teaching, research, advising, mentoring, and support services are fully available to every student. Thank you!
World-Class Faculty in the Social Sciences
Ashley Cordes
Assistant Professor of Indigenous Media in Environmental Studies and Data Science
Ashely Cordes is an academic expert in Indigenous data sovereignty, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Her research explores how Indigenous communities can leverage technological utilities—such as cryptocurrency and AI—for Tribal economic independence, representational and data sovereignty, and preservation of knowledge systems.
Neil O'Brian
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Neil O’Brian is an academic expert in U.S. politics focusing on public opinion, political parties, and polarization. His recent work has focused on how people’s perceptions of politics and current events affect their political attitudes. He’s recently published the book The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars (University of Chicago Press).
O’Brian is the second UO researcher to receive an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. O’Brian is using the fellowship to further explore what he calls the “doctor’s project.” The start of this research began when he identified a partisan divide in the trust people have in their physicians; those on the political right expressed less trust in their doctors than those on the left. This is a recent phenomenon, as data showed no difference in trust in one’s doctor until a shift in 2020-21, during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. O’Brian argues the partisan divide over public health measures—such as masking and vaccines—led to less trust in the medicine industry.
Melissa Graboyes
Associate Professor of History, Global Health Program
Melissa Graboyes is a historian of modern Africa and a global health specialist whose research focuses primarily on medicine and science in the East African region.
Graboyes’ current research projects have been supported by major research funds. Her work on the history of malaria elimination on the African continent is funded by a five-year National Science Foundation CAREER award. A three-year collaborative research project on returning research results from social science disciplines to African participants—removing costly barriers to make findings more accessible—is funded with a three-year NSF award. She is also working on global health research at the local Eugene level through her project on aspects of care for people who inject drugs.
As a mentor, Graboyes works with undergraduate students in research groups. She leads the Global Health Research Group, which helps students gain skills and tools for conducting undergraduate research. The group consists of students interested in global health-related topics, as well as students majoring in a STEM field who are interested in ethics, history and the processes of science.
Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages
At the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages, 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.
2024-2025 Sponsored Research in Social Sciences
Between July 2024 and June 2025, researchers in CAS received $83 million to fund 199 research projects, including approximately $6 million for Social Sciences. The research projects, which span divisions and fields of study, represent CAS's commitment to curiosity, discovery, and innovation.
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
4:00 p.m.
The Department of History; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and the Knight Library present a screening of Singing for Justice, a film about Faith Petric, with co-director Estelle Freedman. Followed by a singalong!
Singing for Justice (2024) is the story of Petric (1915-2013), a political radical, musician, mother, worker and grandmother who united folk music and activism through almost a century of American social movements. Over her long and purposeful life, Petric inspired all to take responsibility for social change, women and elders to defy stereotypes, and everyone she met to sing along.
Freedman is the Edgar E. Robinson Professor in US History (Emerit) at Stanford University and co-founder of Stanford’s Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, where she is currently a Stanford Faculty Fellow. Freedman’s ten books on the histories of women, feminism, and sexuality include two prize-winning studies of prison reform–Their Sisters' Keepers and Maternal Justice; the surveys No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women and (with John D'Emilio) Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America; and the multi-award winning Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation. She is currently writing about narratives of sexual assault and harassment in 20th century women’s oral histories.
Free and open to the public.
5:00 p.m.
The Dawn is Too Far shares the untold stories of eight Iranian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area and shares the longer arc of history (beyond the 1979 revolution) that recounts events both in Iran and the US. The film features aspects of the Bay Area Iranian diaspora community and the way their lives and work were influenced by this region of California, but how they have contributed and helped shape it as well. The film offers a poetic and complex narrative that undermines the barrage of negative headlines that dominate our news media and features rare archival footage.
Persis Karim is the former director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University where she also taught in the Department of Humanities and Comparative and World Literature. She is the editor of three anthologies of Iranian diaspora literature, and has published numerous articles about Iranian diaspora literature and culture for academic journals, as well as poetry and essays in non-academic publications. The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life is her first film and reflects her interest in documenting and sharing the larger history and personal stories of those who are part of the global Iranian diaspora.
Made possible by the Department of Anthropology, SSWANA, and the Department of Art’s Center for Art Research.
7:00 p.m.
Please join the Department of History for the May pub lecture. Associate Professor Julie Weise will discuss "From Oregon to Qatar: A History of ‘Temporary’ Migrant Workers."
Free and open to everyone! Food and drink available for purchase.
The UO Department of History presents a series of talks with scholars about history, from the local to the global. Join us for stories, food, and conversation in a casual setting!
2:00–3:20 p.m.
Join the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies for a talk on “Feminist Futures in Pasifika: Student and Community-Led Pathways to Decolonization, Intersectional Racial Justice, and Healing” with Sarina Saturn, CHamoru and Indian scholar-activist.
This talk explores how Pasifika students, educators, and community leaders are building feminist futures through grassroots action, mutual aid, and healing-centered justice work. Drawing from transinstitutional and institutionless efforts, including the ADVANCE Journal: Individual and Institutional Transformation for Social Justice, QTPI Village, and Guma' Gela', the presentation highlights student- and community-led pathways to decolonization, reproductive justice, climate resilience, and collective care. Centering ancestral wisdom and intergenerational leadership, this presentation offers a vision of Pasifika futures rooted in liberation, relationality, and community healing.
Sarina Saturn, PhD (she/they), is a CHamoru and Indian scholar-activist, educator, psychologist, neuroscientist, former tenured professor, community scientist, and public scholar whose work bridges higher education, health equity, and social justice. She has taught across psychology, neuroscience, and health sciences while advancing inclusive learning environments grounded in trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and liberatory practice. Her scholarship and community work center decolonization, intersectional racial justice, collective healing, intergenerational leadership, and reverse and reciprocal mentorship, with longstanding engagement in BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, and feminist communities