UChicago Social Sciences

Get ready for convocation by looking back at our archive of faculty remarks! Each year a member of the SSD faculty delivers an address at the diploma and hooding ceremony, offering congratulations, encouragement, and gratitude with our graduating students and future alumni.

Learn more:
https://ow.ly/keyQ50Z6pSa

Episode 5 of the second season of 'Dialogo' is out now, featuring Tara Schwegler (AB'93, AM'94 MAPSS, PhD'04 Anthropology), a corporate anthropologist and consultant specializing in research-driven leadership development.

Dialogo is the alumni podcast of the Division of the Social Sciences. Our hosts, Dean of Students Kelly Po***ck and Assoc. Prof. and Deputy Dean for Doctoral Education Paul Poast, sit down with alumni to discuss what led them to UChicago, their experiences as grad students in the social sciences, and the career paths they've been on since graduating.

Listen here (also available wherever you listen to podcasts!):
https://ow.ly/wbsy50Z1LM8

Interested in an MA in the Social Sciences, but missed our round one deadline? There's still time to apply! The round two deadline to apply to our CIR, MAPSS, and MACSS master's programs has been extended to June 30th.

Learn more about our programs and how to apply:
https://socialsciences.uchicago.edu/admissions

"Authoritarianism 101," an American Historical Association effort helmed by Prof. Mark Bradley, aims to bring historians into the conversation on democratic backsliding, creating modules designed for college, university, and high school teachers to drop into their existing courses or use to develop their own courses on authoritarianism.

30 historians were invited to participate and contribute modules to the project, including Prof. Mark Bradley and Assoc. Prof. Samuel Fury Childs Daly of the Department of History.

Learn more in our recent profile:
https://socialsciences.uchicago.edu/news/new-history-project-helps-educators-make-sense-democratic-backsliding

New research from Prof. James Evans and co-authors at the University of Pittsburgh finds that innovation may be stymied by an aging core of scientists.

"As scientists grow older, their science ages, too – the work to which they anchor, and draw inspiration and expectation," says Evans.

Learn more in our most recent research profile:
https://ow.ly/Lc5350YWglN

In her new book 'Sweet Home Feliciana,' Assoc. Prof. Rashauna Johnson weaves individual, regional, and world stories to explore Black history and how it’s shaped.

The book tells three stories — of family, region, and the world — that highlight histories of contested placemaking from the late eighteenth century to the earliest days of the twentieth. By focusing on a relatively small space over a relatively long time, 'Sweet Home Feliciana' uses granular details to build an account of the making and unmaking of power and privilege over generations.

Learn more in our most recent faculty book profile:
https://ow.ly/UjrN50YVf72

Dialogo S2 Episode 3 is out now, featuring Sarah Jones Weicksel (AM'09, PhD'17 History) and Julia Brookins (AM'03, PhD'13 History), Executive Director of and Senior Program Analyst for the American Historical Association, respectively.

Dialogo is the alumni podcast of the Division of the Social Sciences. Our hosts, Dean of Students Kelly Po***ck and Assoc. Prof. Paul Poast, sit down with alumni to discuss what led them to UChicago, their experiences as grad students in the social sciences, and the career paths they've been on since graduating.

Listen here (also available wherever you listen to podcasts!):
https://dialogo-uchicago-social-sciences.simplecast.com/episodes/sarah-jones-weicksel-am09-phd17-history-and-julia-brookins-am03-phd13-history

Has congress changed for the worse? Commenting in The Christian Science Monitor, Assoc. Prof. Ruth Bloch Rubin raises the possibility that new entrants to congress may not be those willing to take on the difficult legislative work necessary to keep the institution functioning.

Read more:

Congress is not the same, retiring lawmakers say. Can the institution still do its job? Legislators say fundraising and attention-getting are eroding norms of policymaking and consensus as the institution cedes its constitutional role.

Next week - Thursday, April 23!

The 2026 Allison Davis Lecture, hosted by the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, features Professor Mae Ngai of Columbia University presenting, "Once We Were Somebodies: Refugees, History, and the Human"

More info and registration:
https://ow.ly/A3Pz50YLm37