School of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mission

The School of Social and Behavioral Sciences is comprised of the Department of Psychology; the Department of Sociology and Social Work; the Department of Criminal Justice; and the Department of History, Government and Public Policy. The mission of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences is to motivate, equip and develop students to become globally attuned, socially aware, and cosmopolitan in outlook; to integrate twenty-first century technology with human compassion; to bring about positive change in the world; to challenge, prepare and motivate students to excel and compete globally and nationally; and, to prepare students for graduate and professional studies in the global work force. We encourage a life-long passion for learning and a quest for knowledge by providing an environment that fosters academic excellence and unfettered inquiry. Moreover, our mission is to foster a creative learning environment and assist students through meaningful and relevant experiences.

Goals

The School of Social and Behavioral Sciences has several major goals. They are to:

• Emphasize to students the necessity for a world-view that values differences and diversity;
• Assist students in recognizing their own, as well as others’, intellectual and human potential;
• Strengthen student character by providing rigorous analytical, interpretive, and critical intellectual challenges;
• Attract and graduate outstanding students;
• Facilitate learning, informed by scholarship and research;
• Promote student intellectual and professional development through the use of published materials beyond textbooks and by harnessing the power of the World Wide Web and Inquiry Based Learning;
• Promote ethical and moral behaviors through instruction and by example; and,
• Promote critical thinking and creativity through structured inquiry.

Majors

• Criminal Justice
• History with concentrations in either Women’s History, American History, Africana History or Pre-Law
• Political Science with concentrations in either Pre-Law or International Relations
• Psychology
• Sociology

Minors

• Black Politics
• Criminal Justice
• History
• International Affairs
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Policy
• Social Work
• Sociology

Required Course for Majors and Minors in the Social Sciences

DIVSS 100 - Learning to Learn in the Social Sciences  

This course is designed to improve the overall academic performance of Social Science majors and minors. The course is designed to “enhance students’ skills in generating questions, reading for comprehension, developing test-taking strategies, writing research papers as well as analytical essays, scheduling coursework and writing to answer questions.” Skills taught and learned in this course are expected to be applied to other academic areas not only in the Social Sciences but in general education courses and courses offered in other departments on campus. The course is required of all majors and minors who did not attain a High School 2.5 cumulative GPA. The student must successfully complete the course with a “C” or better before he or she is allowed to take core courses in the major.