About the Division of Social Science

aerial view of the charles river

Vision

To innovate and excel in creating and passing on social science knowledge, with the goal of enriching our understanding of human society and relationships and improving people’s lives.

Mission

Leveraging our distinctive faculty and other unparalleled assets to engage and powerfully respond to the challenges and opportunities of our times, including social injustice, inequality, threats to democratic institutions, global warming, and more.

Values

We are dedicated to inclusive excellence, which derives from our strong commitment to:

  • academic freedom and the pursuit of truth
  • reliance on reason and evidence as the basis for knowledge and social action
  • diversity in all its forms
  • a culture of trust, transparency, equity, and kindness

Strategy

  • Recruit the best scholars to Harvard and retain them by ensuring they have the resources and community they need to be productive and thrive.
  • Enable transformative learning experiences for our undergraduate and graduate students.
  • Leverage our research centers, museums, institutes, and archives to enable cutting-edge scholarship and teaching.
  • Promote multi-disciplinary initiatives designed to explore and respond to issues of broad societal import.
  • Diversify our faculty and staff, and ensure an inclusive, respectful, adaptive, and healthy workplace culture that supports all individuals in developing their skills and performing their best work.

(26 April 2022)


photo of small portion of LS Lowry painting of crowds of people at Lancashire Fair

People

Dean Lawrence Bobo is supported by the staff in the divisional dean’s office as well as partners in functional areas across the FAS.

Departments & Centers

The Division consists of ten departments and undergraduate degree programs (including the four most popular undergraduate concentrations at Harvard), as well as nearly two dozen research centers, museums, and institutes, with more than 250 affiliated faculty (including two Pulitzer winners, five Nobelists, and eleven of the twenty-five University Professors across Harvard).

picture of a map of the world with the area center names overlaid on top
colorful tetris-like building blocks fitting together

Strategic Planning | Academic Communities

As part of the three-year FAS Strategic Planning process, the Division of Social Science will be focused on fully optimizing and appropriately aligning the division’s departments and centers to support the core research and teaching mission of the FAS, both now and in the future.​