UCLA Social Sciences

The UCLA Social Sciences College offers a variety of diverse departments and programs, such as aerospace studies, communication, economics, geography and more. UCLA Social Sciences is one of four colleges within the College of Letters and Sciences at UCLA. To learn more about all disciplines, news and staff within UCLA Social Sciences and the college, visit the website by clicking the link below. 

The social sciences college at UCLA has 19 departments and programs, including Asian American studies, conservation, gender studies and more. To view all departments and programs within the college, click the link below. 

Beyond UCLA’s Social Sciences departments and programs, the college also has many research centers and initiatives. According to the social sciences website, there are 16 different research centers, including the Center for Language, Interaction and Culture (CLIC), UCLA Voting Rights Project, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and more. The College of Social Sciences currently has five initiatives. One of their initiatives is the Hollywood Diversity Report — an annual report that examines the relationship between diversity and the bottom line in the entertainment industry. To learn more about research centers and initiatives in the UCLA Social Sciences College, click the link below.

The dean of the UCLA Social Sciences College is Abel Valenzuela Jr., who was appointed in May 2024. Valenzuela is a professor for urban planning, labor studies and Chicana/o and Central American studies. He has been a member of UCLA faculty since 1994, and at UCLA, previously chaired the Chicana/o and Central American studies, directed the Center for the Study of Urban Poverty and served as special advisor to the chancellor on immigration policy at UCLA. To learn more about the social sciences dean, click the link below. 

To explore all majors, minors and courses in the College of Letters and Sciences at UCLA, including those in the social sciences college, click the link below.