HPSS Concentration

Undergraduate students may choose to complement their studio major by electing an HPSS concentration. This individualized course of study lets you fully explore our course offerings and fulfill your Liberal Arts requirements in a way that is most meaningful for you.

Working across the disciplines HPSS encompasses requires intellectual curiosity, excellent communication skills, and the ability to bring together disparate methods of working. Completing an HPSS concentration gives you a platform for honing integral qualities both to creative work and success in everyday life.

Learning outcomes

Concentrators are able to:

  • approach issues critically, reflectively, and with regard to cultural, historical, and social context.
  • understand and interpret a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to research questions.
  • communicate orally, visually, and in written form in critically informed, and persuasive ways.
  • critically assess the value and trustworthiness of information and integrate or critique research findings in their own analytical work.
  • actively explore positionality, perspective, and self-reflection to become aware of cultural assumptions and social constructions.
  • apply disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge from HPSS classes to broaden and deepen their studio work and engagement as global citizens.
  • demonstrate informed understanding of a HPSS-related field or topic, based on a particular course of in-depth study in a concentration track.

Undergraduate concentration tracks

As an HPSS concentrator, you shape an individual course of study around one of the department’s nine established tracks, which build on faculty teaching and research strengths and represent a key intersection of one or more of the core disciplines in HPSS. In addition to the introductory HPSS course Topics in History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences (S101), each concentration track requires seven courses.

View concentration details