Social and Decision Sciences - History

History

The Department of Social Sciences grew out of the social science programs in the Margaret Morrison Carnegie College. The formal department was established in 1976, as part of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences under Dean John Patrick Crecine with approval from Heinz College Dean Otto Davis which previously housed the program. The department was staffed by political scientists, sociologists, and economists from within the Dietrich College and from the Heinz College and Tepper School of Business. In the 1980s, the department was led by Patrick D. Larkey and developed the undergraduate information systems program which became a huge success, eventually being spun off into an independent interdisciplinary program in the Dietrich College. In 1985, Robyn Dawes joined the department and began to re-focus it into its current form and expertise in behavioral decision-making and caused it to be renamed as the Department of Social and Decision Sciences.

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