Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences Tel Aviv University
Introduction
About
Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University
The Social Sciences study the collective aspects of the human experience as revealed in culture and the many forms of social organization. Since its foundation in 1964, the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University has set its goal to further our understanding of social forms in general and of Israeli society in particular. Located in Israel's largest metropolitan area - its business and cultural center - the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University offers diverse and vibrant research and learning environment.
Supported by 17 Research Centers and Institutions the collective work of our faculty members has addressed such issues as Israeli and Jewish identity, the Israeli party system and voting behavior, Israeli family patterns and gender inequality, immigrant integration, the impact of immigration on economic development, Jewish-Arab relations, the impact of war and occupation on Israeli society and on individuals, social and economic inequality between Arabs and Jews and among Jews, the social impact of higher education expansion, and small countries in a globalizing world.
Comprising over 20 percent of Tel Aviv University's student enrollment the Faculty of Social Science is the most heterogeneous; with links to such diverse areas as neurosciences (cognitive and biopsychology), mathematics (economic theory), cultural studies (anthropology), and philosophy (political thought). Under the broad umbrella of social sciences scholars at Tel Aviv University study such varied topics as comparative political institutions; international relations; immigration and social rights; risk and decision making; markets and contracts; the effect of electronic media and its regulation; sustainable growth; work and organizations; stress and its regulation; perception and memory.
The 8 academic teaching units that comprise The Faculty of Social Sciences offer a wide array of study programs. The undergraduate program encourages students to engage in multidisciplinary studies. Most students enroll in double major programs within the social sciences, such as Political Science and Communication, or Psychology and Sociology, or combining social sciences and other disciplines, such as Psychology and Biology, Economics and Computer Sciences, or Communication and Far Eastern Studies.
At the graduate level, the Faculty of Social Sciences offers Master of Arts degrees in communication, conflict resolution, diplomacy, economics, labor studies, political science, psychology, public policy, security studies, social work, and sociology and anthropology. The research-oriented programs aim to prepare the next generation of academic leadership, instilling in them deep theoretical understanding and methodological expertise. Our executive programs advance the knowledge-base and the analytical skills of professionals in early and mid-career in areas such as public policy, human resource management, diplomacy and security studies, political communication and political leadership. International programs fully conducted in English now provide students from around the world the opportunity to complete a Master of Arts degree at Tel Aviv University in conflict resolution, and diplomacy and security studies.
With its leading position in Israeli academia and its disciplinary diversity, the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University offers scholars and students an unparalleled opportunity to study, investigate and seek solutions to problems of individuals and society in the twenty-first century.
From the Desk of the Dean
The Faculty of Social Sciences at the Tel Aviv University was inaugurated in 1964.
Since its inauguration, the Faculty has burgeoned and has developed both from the aspect of the numbers of students enrolled, the number of members of the academic and administrative staff, as well as from the aspect of the expansion of curriculum and fields of research. The name of the Faculty of Social Sciences attests to its uniqueness. It provides a high-level academic framework that trains students by combining teaching with research, with each of the curriculum subjects being tightly and directly linked to the environment in which we all live. Due to this, we view it as being our obligation to ensure that the students acquire in-depth theoretical knowledge and skills that will enable them to comprehend the complexity of social life and will gain experience in conducting high-level research that will link them to the fields of the endeavor of Israeli society.
This multifaceted approach is expressed by the fact that the staff of the Faculty is composed of top-class researchers, of prominent theoreticians recognized in Israel and around the world, as well as of key figures in the field who bring their extensive experience to the Faculty in the fields of Economics, Politics, Media and Defense.
The Faculty is diversified and the entire range of social science fields are represented. The Faculty runs 5 independent schools: The School of Economics, the School of Social Work, the School of Psychology Sciences, the School of Political Science, Governance and International Relations and the School of Social and Political Studies which incorporates the following Departments: Sociology and Anthropology, Communications, Labor Studies, Public Policy and the Conflicts Management and Mediation Program. Unique English Language curricula are offered by the various Schools of the Faculty, in Conflict Management and Mediation, Migration, Diplomacy and Defense studies as well as Political Communications studies, and the Program dealing with contending with stress, disaster, and trauma.
As part of the Bachelor's Degree studies, the Faculty encourages interdisciplinary studies and the majority of the students study bi-departmental spheres in the Faculty or in conjunction with other Faculties, such as Administration, Life Science, Humanities, Arts and Exact Sciences, while with respect to advanced degrees, the students study in one of the Departments and specialize in one of the leading fields of research, partly out of the aspiration to integrate into the academic world and partly out of a desire to implement the knowledge in professional practice.
The Faculty is proud of its undergraduates and graduates, whose high level of studies opened doors for them for continuation studies and employment at prestigious institutes in Israel and around the world.
The widespread research activities conducted at the Faculty is assisted by research centers and institutes and constitutes a basis for the various curricula through which we training the future generation of researchers and professionals in a range of social sciences.
Each year, the Faculty puts on a range of events - symposiums, conferences and advanced training at which students, as well as the general public, are offered the opportunity of studying and getting to know unique fields related to the social life and which are at the epicenter of the current public discourse.
In this supporting and accepting atmosphere, we aspire to continued growth and the development of a manner of fruitful cooperation between all the entities involved.
Prof. Tami Ronen Rosenbaum
Dean of the Faculty