Description
The collection comprises publications from the University of California, Irvine School of Social Sciences and its departments,
including brochures, catalogs, course announcements, directories, manuals and other materials.
Background
The School of Social Sciences began as the Division of Social Sciences when the University of California, Irvine (UCI) was
founded in 1965. Its first dean, James G. March, was appointed in 1964. He created an interdisciplinary program free of individual
departments, enabling faculty to pursue scholarly interests beyond the constraints of departmental borders. Dean March referred
to his program as the "New Social Science," a mathematically oriented discipline that involved systematic observation, interpretation,
and quantitative analysis of human behavior. While many students worked toward a degree in social science, they also had the
option of majoring in traditional social science disciplines: anthropology, economics, geography, political science, psychology,
and sociology.