About Social Ecology

The School of Social Ecology is an interdisciplinary academic unit whose scholarly research and instruction is informed by and contributes to knowledge in the social, behavioral, legal and health sciences.

The School is comprised of three departments: Criminology, Law and Society; Planning, Policy, and Design; and Psychology and Social Behavior; offers 5 undergraduate and 9 graduate degrees; and currently has about 3,000 undergraduate majors, 250 graduate students, 72 faculty, and more than 13,000 alumni.

Social Ecology faculty apply scientific methods to the study of a wide array of recurring social, behavioral, and environmental problems and specialize in conducting research “with considerations of use” in society.  Among issues of long-standing interest in the School are crime and justice in society, social influences on human development over the life cycle, and the effects of the physical environment on health and human behavior.  While the field of ecology focuses on the relationships between organisms and their environments, social ecology is concerned with the relationships between human populations and their environments.

Social Ecology’s faculty is multidisciplinary, including psychologists with a variety of specialties (e.g., developmental, social, clinical, and health psychology); criminologists; sociologists; anthropologists; political scientists; lawyers; urban and regional planners and economists; and program evaluation experts.

The School’s research and teaching is distinguished by an emphasis on the integration of the concepts and perspectives of these multiple disciplines.  This focus is based on the School’s core belief that the analysis and amelioration of complex societal problems requires interdisciplinary efforts.

Many Social Ecology faculty are involved in developing policies and interventions directed toward improving the functioning of individuals, families and other groups, organizations, institutions, and communities.  Social Ecology undergraduate students benefit from the multidisciplinary instructional expertise of the School’s faculty in the classroom and are afforded opportunities to engage in field-based and laboratory-based learning, as well, through the School’s well established and highly regarded field studies program and its laboratories.

Graduate student work closely with the faculty in the classroom and in laboratories, as well as collaborating on important research projects that enhance their research skills while advancing knowledge and addressing important societal problems.