Address Global Issues With Local Voices!

A Message From Brendan Mullan, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs

Social, behavioral, and economic science is the systematic study of society and of the relationships between individuals within a society. The social, behavioral, and economic sciences at MSU are organized into departments, schools, and centers to provide students with disciplinary and interdisciplinary opportunities to critically comprehend the challenges and opportunities faced by local, regional, national, and international communities. Some of the most accomplished scholars, teachers, and practitioners in the world will help you achieve this.

 

The Educational Dimension:

We provide a vibrant academic environment in which to acquire knowledge on the totality of the human condition, the human experience, and human accomplishments. The College of Social Science enables students to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to appreciate objective debate, to derive theory and concepts to solve problems, to use evidence, and to apply the scientific method for the improvement of the human condition.

 

The Civic Dimension:

We strive to encourage our students to employ conceptual and practical knowledge and learning skills to assess complex situations, to develop their own independent judgments, and to act on them on local, regional, national, and global scales. An awareness of civic responsibility and civic leadership is not innate, inherited, or imitated.  Civic leaders develop through an ongoing process of self-study, education, training, and experience.

 

The Responsibility Dimension:

We encourage students to utilize ethical reasoning in judging complex, multifaceted situations and to engage in reasoned, measured, principled response. We cultivate in our students an appreciation for the responsibilities and rewards of civic engagement and the creation of a more just society.

 

We emphasize education for the global age we live in and we challenge students to:   

• Know and engage in local and regional communities through internships, service learning, and community involvement programs.
• Know and engage in national communities through study away programs in Washington D.C., Hawaii, San Francisco and Alternative Spring Break programs.
• Know and engage in global communities through one or more of over 200 study abroad programs in 60 countries.

Address global issues with local voices!  Be knowledgeable and engage in knowledge sharing, have a critical and analytical mind, and solve problems for humans. That is the essence of social science education.