Letter of Welcome from the Dean
Welcome to the web site for School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts! Our school embraces many disciplines, including economics, management, cognitive science, history, political science, literature, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and the creative arts. Our faculty are among the very best scholars in the world in their respective disciplines and they have joined UC Merced to create exciting new programs that appeal to our leaders of the future.
In our school, you will encounter many different approaches to our understanding of human nature, and become prepared for a lifetime of learning in an ever-changing world. The areas covered in our school will prepare you for future careers in many fields, including business, law, media, psychology, social work, and government. In a world of rapid changes, one of the primary goals of education is to learn how to learn. The tools of the social sciences, humanities and the arts are at your disposal.
Many opportunities for growth await you. Your academic classes and labs will challenge and stimulate you. You will both broaden your horizons and share your ideas with fellow students from different disciplines. Our School offers undergraduate and graduate programs that allow flexible courses of study and opportunities for research at the intersections where the interesting questions lie.We encourage you to take classes outside your chosen focus area and to get involved in activities outside of the classroom. Experience shows that students who are involved in such activities and balance their academic work with out-of-the-classroom experiences are happier, better-adjusted, enjoy life more, and are better prepared for life after university.
At UC Merced you have a unique opportunity to get to know your professors and to work with them in research projects. Our school is still small and informal. It provides a rare opportunity to have the advantages of a world-class research university as well as the intimacy of a smaller institution.
It is my wish that many of you will fully-realize the unique possibilities and near limitless opportunities offered to those who wish to join us in laying the foundations of the first research university of the twenty-first century, and I whole-heartedly extend an invitation for you to join us at UC Merced.
Hans Bjornsson
Interim Dean
School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts