2011 - 2012 Social Science Program (SSCI)

Objectives | Requirements | Academic Major | Academic Minor | Composite Teaching Major

Faculty: Kristjane Nordmeyer, Mark Rubinfeld, Gretchen Siegler, Chuck Tripp, Michael Zarkin

Program Goals

To improve one's critical, analytical, and interdisciplinary thinking in the social sciences.
To become effective researchers and to learn how to communicate one's results.
To become logical synthesizers of information through improved reading, writing, and presentation skills.
To become effective problem solvers through collaboration and teamwork.
To develop global consciousness, social responsibility, and ethical awareness.

Objectives

Social Science offers an academic major and a composite teaching major leading to a Bachelor of Science degree, as well as an academic minor. The curriculum objective of this program is to provide students with a strong interdisciplinary background supplying the conceptual tools needed to analyze, evaluate, criticize, and comprehend behavioral, social, and cultural patterns. The Social Science majors and minor share coursework from anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, and justice studies.

Requirements

Students must maintain a cumulative 2.5 GPA in courses required for the social science academic major and minor and the composite teaching major. Students choosing a double major or minor within Social Science may not apply electives to more than one major or minor. Only classes listed as "required classes" for both majors/minors may be applied to both.

Students taking the social science academic major have a choice between two tracks:

Track 1: Intend to go on to graduate school immediately after graduation
Track 2: Intend to go into the workforce immediately after graduation

For course prerequisites, please refer to the course description.

Academic Major Liberal Education Courses

Liberal Education Courses

Credit Hours

The following courses, which fulfill LE requirements, are required for the Social Science major.

ANTH 160 Introduction to Anthropology, LE
or
ANTH 252 Cultural Anthropology, LE

ECON 105 Introduction to Economics as a Social Science, LE
JUST 101 Introduction to Justice Studies, LE
(JUST 101 only required for Track 2)

MATH 150 Elementary Statistics, LE
(MATH 150 only required for Track 1, but recommended for Track 2)

PLSC 101 Introduction to Political Science, LE
or
PLSC 121 American National Government, LE

PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE
SOC 105 Introduction to Sociology, LE

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Academic Major Track 1

Requirement Description		Credit Hours
I.	Foreign Language Requirement	8
	Social Science majors must complete eight credit hours in a single foreign language.	8
II.	Lower Division Social Science & Related Courses	24
	ANTH 160 Introduction to Anthropology, LE (4) or ANTH 252 Cultural Anthropology, LE (4) ECON 105 Intro. to Economics as a Social Science, LE MATH 150 Elementary Statistics, LE PLSC 101 Introduction to Political Science, LE (4) or PLSC 121 American National Government, LE (4) PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE SOC 105 Introduction to Sociology, LE	4 4 4 4 4 4
III.	Additional Social Science Coursework	24
	Take one of the following courses (should be taken in the junior year): JUST 301 Criminology Theories (4) PLSC 367 Contemporary Political Philosophy (4) PSYC 252 Personality Theories (4) SOC 313 Social Theory (4) ANTH 390 Qualitative Research Methods (4) or SOC 390 Social Research Methods (4) (must be taken in first semester of senior year) SSCI 470 Senior Thesis Seminar (with permission of program chair; must be taken in second semester of senior year) Additional Social Science coursework (12) (Of the 12 credits, students must take a minimum of 4 credits each in three of the following five fields: ANTH, JUST, PLSC, PSYC or SOC. Coursework must be numbered 300 or above.)	4 4 4 12
TOTAL HOURS FOR THE ACADEMIC MAJOR		56

Recommended Plan of Study for Track 1 Social Sciences

	Fall Semester	Spring Semester
Freshman Year	ANTH 160 or 252 ECON 105 PLSC 121 or 101 PSYC 105 SOC 105 Language I and Language II
Sophomore Year
Junior Year	MATH 150	JUST 301 or PLSC 367 or PSYC 252 or SOC 313
Senior Year	SOC 390	SSCI 470

Academic Major Track 2

Requirement Description		Credit Hours
I.	Foreign Language Requirement	8
	Social Science majors must complete eight credit hours in a single foreign language.	8
II.	Lower Division Social Science & Related Courses	24
	ANTH 160 Introduction to Anthropology, LE (4) or ANTH 252 Cultural Anthropology, LE (4) ECON 105 Intro. to Economics as a Social Science, LE JUST 101 Introduction to Justice Studies, LE PLSC 101 Introduction to Political Science, LE (4) or PLSC 121 American National Government, LE (4) PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE SOC 105 Introduction to Sociology, LE	4 4 4 4 4 4
III.	Upper Division Social Science Courses	24
	SSCI 301 Portfolio Workshop (must begin attending workshop in first semester of junior year, but register for course in last semester of senior year) SSCI 441 Practicum (must be taken in second semester of senior year) Additional Social Science coursework Take a minimum of 4 credits in each of the following five fields: ANTH, JUST, PLSC, PSYC and SOC. Coursework must be numbered 300 or above.	1 3 20
TOTAL HOURS FOR THE ACADEMIC MAJOR		56

Recommended Plan of Study for Track 2 Social Sciences

	Fall Semester	Spring Semester
Freshman Year	ECON 105 JUST 101 PLSC 101 or 121 PSYC 105 SOC 105 Language I and Language II
Sophomore Year
Junior Year	Begin Portfolio Workshop Attendance	ANTH 160 or 252
Senior Year		SSCI 301 SSCI 441

Academic Minor

Requirement Description		Credit Hours
I.	Required Courses	16
	Choose one course from at least four of the following five disciplines: ANTH 160 Introduction to Anthropology, LE (4) or ANTH 252 Cultural Anthropology, LE (4) JUST 101 Introduction to Justice Studies PLSC 101 Introduction to Political Science, LE (4) or PLSC 121 American National Government, LE (4) PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE (4) SOC 105 Introduction to Sociology, LE (4)
II.	Electives	8
	Additional Social Science coursework (must be numbered 300 or above)	8
TOTAL HOURS FOR THE ACADEMIC MINOR		24

Composite Teaching Major

The social science composite teaching major is an interdisciplinary major consisting of coursework from political science, psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, and justice studies.

Liberal Education Courses	Credit Hours
Five of the six following courses, which fulfill LE requirements, are required for the Social Science Teaching major. ANTH 160 Introduction to Anthropology, LE ECON 105 Introduction to Economics as a Social Science, LE JUST 101 Introduction to Justice Studies, LE PLSC 121 American National Government, LE PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE SOC 105 Introduction to Sociology, LE	4 4 4 4 4 4

Requirement Description		Credit Hours
I.	Foreign Language Requirement	8
	Social Science Teaching majors must complete eight credit hours in a single foreign language.	8
II.	Lower Division Social Science Courses	20
	Choose five of these six courses: ANTH 160 Introduction to Anthropology, LE (4) ECON 105 Introduction to Economics as a Social Science, LE (4) JUST 101 Introduction to Justice Studies, LE (4) PLSC 121 American National Government, LE (4) PSYC 105 Introduction to Psychology, LE (4) SOC 105 Introduction to Sociology, LE (4)
III.	Electives	16
	Social Science coursework (from at least four of the five disciplines: ANTH, JUST, PSYC, PLSC, SOC. Coursework must be numbered 300 or above.
IV.	Teaching Minor in History	21-22
	In addition to the Composite Teaching Major, a teaching minor in History is required. Specific course selection should be made in consultation with the education faculty.
TOTAL HOURS FOR THE COMPOSITE TEACHING MAJOR		65-66