Contemporary Issues in Social Science

Michael F. Andrews, PhD, Coordinator

Objectives

Contemporary society is marked by many changes and controversies about how major institutions can best respond to emergent problems.  Public engagement begins with moral awarensess, but the path to effective action runs through systematic analysis of aggregate human behavior.  Interdisciplinary social science courses take students beyond common sense to the point where value choices meet studies of general causation.  Students become involved in the definition of important issues, as well as in the actual practice of using empirical data to sort out alternative modes of action.