School of Humanities and Social Sciences

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS), sitting at the heart of a great urban college, educates students to be leaders of character, wisdom, and influence in an interdependent, global society through high quality humanities and social science programs. An SHSS education is not bound by our classrooms, because Brooklyn is a diverse educational laboratory, that enables our students to regularly apply their learning to real world challenges, bringing what they learn by experience into sharper focus in our classrooms. When you take classes in any of our 45 departments or programs you will work with world-class faculty who know that a humanities and social science education is important preparation for a changing world and a shifting economy. Therefore, SHSS students are intellectually ambitious and adaptable to change. Our students build critical thinking and analytical skills and the capacity to articulate evidence-based decisions that will be required of the jobs emerging in the 21st century. The work we do manifests what Michael S. Roth has written in Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters: "[a] reflexive, pragmatic liberal education is our best hope of preparing students to shape change and not be the victims of it."