HSS
California Institute of Technology
Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Humanities and Social Sciences at Caltech

Welcome to the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), one of six academic units at the California Institute of Technology.
Within HSS, the Humanities Faculty comprises elements of history, literature, philosophy, history of science, and various languages. The Social Science Faculty draws together an interdisciplinary group of scholars working across the fields of anthropology, economics, finance, law, political science, psychology, and neuroscience.

Division News

We are pleased to announce that Cindy Weinstein has agreed to accept the position of Executive Officer for the Humanities effective August 1, 2008.

Cindy joined the humanities faculty in 1989 after receiving her Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley. Cindy is a prominent specialist in 19th century American literature and has been a superb Institute and divisional citizen. She has served on many divisional committees as well as the Institute Faculty Board. She is well liked and respected by her colleagues within the division and the Institute at large.

We would like to thank Mac Pigman who has ably assisted four division chairs over the past six years as Executive Officer. He well deserves to return to his research as well as the heartfelt thanks of his colleagues.

Preston McAfee received an honorary doctorate in economics from Purdue University at their commencement this year. This is his second doctorate in economics from Purdue since he received his original Ph.D. there in 1980. Please help us congratulate Preston McAfee for this well deserved honor. [Posted June 20, 2008]

Charles Plott has been selected by the American Economic Association as one of their "Distinguished Fellows" for the year 2008. He is one of only three economists to be chosen for this honor. [Posted May 7, 2008]

Thomas R. Palfrey Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences: Caltech professor Thomas Palfrey is among the 190 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year. He joins an assembly that was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholars to provide practical solutions to pressing issues. [Posted May 1, 2008]

HSS Chair: - Jonathan N. Katz, professor of political science, is chair of the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, effective August 1, 2007. Known for his expertise in voting problems, he is codirector of the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project. He came to Caltech as an assistant professor in 1995, the same year he received his PhD from UC San Diego, becoming associate professor in 1998 and professor in 2003. [Posted Aug 28, 2007]

HSS Executive Officer for the Social Sciences: Jean-Laurent Rosenthal is our Executive Officer for the Social Sciences since September 1, 2007. Jean-Laurent has recently returned to Caltech - he received his Ph.D. in Social Sciences in 1988 - as a Professor of Economics after a number of years on the faculty of the economics department at UCLA. Jean-Laurent is an outstanding researcher who has made substantial contributions to the field of economic history. He has been the recipient of many prizes and fellowships over the course of his career. His dissertation was awarded Caltech's prestigious Clauser Doctoral Prize and he has been an NSF Young Investigator and Guggenheim Fellow. [Posted Aug 28, 2007]