"Will the future be humane and livable? What knowledge and values will guide and sustain us? MIT's SHASS faculty and students address some of largest, most consequential human questions of our time."
— Melissa Nobles, Kenan Sahin Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Undergraduate Studies
Undergrads, take a virtual tour of MIT's Humanities, Arts, and Social Science fields. Discover which options are the most meaningful for your goals.
Tour the Fields of Study
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100% of MIT undergraduates study the humanities, arts, and social sciences.
Discover why
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Mens et Manus in the History Workshop
"The past is an excellent laboratory," says Anne McCants, Professor of History. In a hands-on history class (21H.343), MIT students gain insights about human systems by building a handset printing press — the kind of press on which the documents of the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution were printed.
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“Humanity faces urgent challenges—challenges whose solutions depend on marrying advanced technical and scientific capabilities with a deep understanding of the world's political, cultural, and economic complexities.”
— L. Rafael Reif, President of MIT
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Shaping public policy in the nation's capital
With an education in the humanities, engineering, and political science, Samuel Rodarte Jr. '13 joined generations of alumni who have put their MIT skills to work in Washington, DC. "Laws are written here," says Rodarte. "One detail is changed and millions of lives are transformed."
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Impact: Making A Better World
Discover how MIT's social sciences, arts, and humanities help solve the political, cultural, and economic dimensions of major global issues.
Join us in making a better world
Research
MIT tackles the ethics of climate change
What moral questions do we need to address to meet goals such as the emissions reduction targets set by the Paris Agreement?
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“Employers want students who can lead, work in teams across cultures, and communicate — and much of that ability comes from studies in literature, the arts, the social sciences. The world needs creative problem-solvers who can take into account the human perspective.”
Cammy Abernathy '80, Dean of the College of Engineering, University of Florida
