Department of Social Sciences

The Department of Social Sciences consists of History and Political Science and offers six majors: Criminal Justice; History; Political Science; Political Science Pre-Law; Social Studies; and Social Studies Education. Minors in Criminal Justice, History, National Security Studies, and Political Science are also offered.

Majors in the Department of Social Sciences are designed to enable students to develop an integrated perspective and an analytical understanding of the world and its various institutional components. Herein division majors are intended to foster discernment of present realities and trends, and greater understanding of global contemporary patterns from the perspective of biblical presuppositions and a biblical Christian worldview.

Students majoring in the Departments programs are encouraged to consider double-majoring, completing a second program (outside or within the Department) within a four-year period. Frequently selected combinations are noted under each major. Careful advising and course planning is necessary, in close consultation with academic advisors. In addition to meeting all requirements for both majors, students must be able to show that they meet the university requirement for a double major: a minimum of 30 credit hours of credit in each of two specific areas with a minimum of 51 unduplicated credit hours. Regarding minors, IWU requires that a minimum of 15 credit hours counting toward each minor be "unduplicated," that is, not needed to complete the student's other major(s) or minor(s).

Note that students majoring in History, Social Studies or Social Studies Education, or minoring in History, should complete HST-185 and HST-190 instead of HST-180. All other division students generally take HST-180 to meet the general education humanities history requirement. Any student may choose this substitution.

General Education Competencies

Please note that students for whom any department major is their second major will graduate with the degree designated by their first major (B.S. or A.B.) and will meet their intercultural experience and communication requirements as specified by their first major.

All other students, for whom a major in this department is their first major, are required to complete COM-100, Principles of Communication to meet their communication competency. They are also required to fulfill their intercultural experience requirement as follows: Political Science, Political Science Pre-Law, Social Studies Education and Social Studies majors are required to complete GEO-202.

General Education Degree Requirements

Students who have selected as their first major Political Science or Political Science Pre-Law will graduate with a B.S. To complete their B.S., students will be required to complete four credit hours of any lab science and three credit hours in math or CIS, which also count toward their general education requirements.

Students majoring in Social Studies Education or Social Studies will graduate with a B.S. They will be required to complete four credits hours of a lab science and three additional credit hours in math, which also count toward their general education requirements. In selecting these courses, students majoring in Social Studies Education need the approval of both the School of Teacher Education and the History and Political Science Department.

NOTE: Students majoring in history (as their first major) will have the option of choosing to graduate with a B.A. or a B.S. degree. The sole difference is the language requirement. This option is a common practice at Christian colleges, as well as state schools. Students thinking seriously about graduate work in history will be advised to study a foreign language, graduating with the B.A. Those students pursuing the B.A. in history will be required to satisfy the language proficiency requirement.

Advanced Placement

Students majoring in Economics, History, International Relations, Political Science, Political Science Pre-Law, Social Studies, or Social Studies Education can receive Advanced Placement Credit for courses as follows:

Advanced Credit Exam	Minimum Score	Semester Hours	IWU Equivalent
Comparative Government & Politics	4	3	POL232
Comparative Government & Politics	3	3	Elective
Human Geography	4	3	GEO202
Government & Politics - United States	4	3	POL100
Government & Politics - United States	3	3	Elective
History - European	3	3	Elective
History - United States	4	3	HIST211 or HIST212
History - United States	3	3	Elective
Macroeconomics	4	3	ECO213
Microeconomics	4	3	ECO212
Psychology	4	3	PSY150
Statistics	4	3	MAT112

  Elective - credit is not assigned to a specific course but does count toward the overall college degree as an elective.