Major Growth for UCF Social Sciences
The University of Central Florida’s Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science degree has seen a rapid increase of new students in the past year.
In 2016 over the spring, summer and fall, 19 students graduated with social sciences degrees. From fall of 2015 to fall of 2016, 32 more students enrolled in the program. 118 students have progressed through the curriculum since its beginning in the College of Sciences in 2007.
The degree program allows students to choose three separate social science minors from anthropology, communication, political science, psychology, sociology and women’s and gender studies for their course of study. The students can also choose even narrower tracks within some of the minors to focus on.
Coordinator and Professor Liz Grauerholz, Ph.D., thinks that the social sciences track is important for UCF students to know about because of all that it can offer them.
“The social sciences major offers students more flexibility in building their own college experience than nearly any other program on campus,” Grauerholz said. “For example, a student interested in healthcare could opt to minor in medical sociology, medical anthropology and psychology, and thereby gain a well-rounded and in-depth perspective on the topic.”
Social sciences was also chosen as the 20th major to be part of the UCF Online program starting in spring of 2017. UCF Online is a growing initiative to make degree programs available fully online for students that may not be able to attend traditional classes, meaning that the nine-year-old program could potentially have students from outside of the United States soon.
Another recent success for the major is that Pi Gamma Mu, the International Honor Society in Social Sciences, just approved UCF’s application to charter a university-wide chapter.
Grauerholz was appointed as the first coordinator of the social sciences program in fall of 2015. An advisory board composed of faculty and staff from all of the departments and school that the program includes was created, and the program started actively recruiting students from local community college campuses.
Grauerholz attributes the program’s growth to these new positions and efforts. She also believes that the university community is beginning to realize how advantageous the social sciences are for young professionals.
“The major contributes to UCF’s core goals,” Grauerholz said. “Our majors go on to contribute to our community and society in meaningful ways. By developing the ability to see and analyze social phenomena from multiple perspectives, our majors can think outside the box—a much needed skill needed in today’s ever-changing economy and world.”
For more information about the social sciences B.S. at UCF please visit their website: https://sciences.ucf.edu/socialsciences/