General Information: Greeting from the Dean
Welcome
to the School of Social Sciences web page. It is our hope that you will
take a look at our academic programs, as well as the centers and institutes
that are housed under our auspices. The School of Social Sciences is
a dynamic and exciting entity and I am sure that once you get to know
us you will want to study with us. If you have any questions after you
have looked this over, please feel free to contact the chairs of the
departments or me directly.
We offer a variety of social sciences that can take you on an adventure in learning, from the study of the mind, to the study of the environment, to working for social change and justice. The majors that you can pick from are Anthropology, Counseling, Criminal Justice Administration, Environmental Studies and Planning, Geography, History, Liberal Studies (at Ukiah), Political Studies, Psychology, Sociology, and Women and Gender Studies.
I have been a social scientist for many years and I urge you to consider a professional life in one of the fields we offer. You will never regret studying and then working in the social sciences. It will give you a rewarding life and offers an opportunity to give back to your community, your family, and to yourself.
I look forward to meeting you.
Elaine Leeder
About the Dean:
Elaine Leeder is Professor of Sociology and Dean of the School of Social Sciences. She holds an M.S.W. from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work of Yeshiva University, a Masters of Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. She was a practicing psychotherapist from 1967 to 1992. From 1977 to 2001, she taught in the Sociology Department at Ithaca College and coordinated the social work minor at that institution. She currently teaches Introduction to Sociology and has taught courses on social change, family violence, and the treatment and prevention of family violence and social policy. She is the author of Inside and Out: Women, Prison, and Therapy (2007), The Family in Global Perspective, A Gendered Journey (2003), Treating Abuse in Families: A Feminist and Community Approach (1994) and The Gentle General: Rose Pesotta, Anarchist and Labor Organizer (1993), as well as articles on women's history, treatment of child abuse perpetrators, domestic violence, and spirituality. She has taught courses on the Holocaust to undergraduates at Sonoma State University and Ithaca College as well as to college professors at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Leeder has traveled around the world twice on Semester at Sea, and has visited many programs and universities throughout the globe in an effort to understand the diversity and complexity of family life.
