Education & Social and Behavioral Sciences

The College of Education & Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), the largest college at FSU, is home to five academic departments with ten academic programs, 1,000 undergraduate majors, and 800 graduate students.

FSU is proud to be the oldest public teachers college in the United States, and we carry on that tradition today with our up-to-date and innovative Department of Education, which offers undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate education programs leading to Initial and Professional educator licensure in Massachusetts. Accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and approved for licensure by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), our education program is ranked at the highest national level by the U.S. Department of Education (Title II first quartile). The department also offers one of the university’s newest programs, the major in Child and Family Studies, designed for students interested in working with young children and their families as teachers or administrators in pre-school, childcare, early intervention, or other community-based programs.

Our Social and Behavioral Science (SBS) programs offer students a variety of majors with a common interest in the diverse ways that people interact in and experience our major social institutions, such as the business world, politics, religion, families, schools, and economies. Students in our SBS programs have many opportunities for engaged learning through participation in internships, study abroad programs, and social justice and community service initiatives. They learn how to use data in their courses and in collaboration with faculty on independent scholarly research projects. Students in our SBS programs are prepared for careers in government, business, public safety, education, non-profit organizations, clinical settings, and non-governmental organizations.

Students in SBS may find themselves working on an archaeological dig in New Mexico; serving as an intern at one of the MetroWest region's top non-profit, governmental, or business worksites; using GIS to map inequality in local communities; participating in Moot Court and National Model United Nations competitions; taking undergraduate FSU courses in Northern Ireland; collaborating with faculty to present research at a national or regional conference, or participating in an undergraduate class taught at a local correctional facility through FSU’s Inside-Out Program.