SSA & the University

The University of Chicago one of the world’s great intellectual communities. It is an environment of vigorous cross-disciplinary debate and open inquiry helps students acquire the intellectual tools to succeed in an increasingly complex and challenging world. A magnet for the world’s best scholars, teachers, and students, Chicago has made major contributions to knowledge and has created many new fields of study. Students are able to make use of the rich course offerings of other departments in the University. In addition to taking courses at SSA from faculty trained across multiple disciplines, students take courses in the departments and schools of law, business, public policy, anthropology, sociology, psychiatry and others. This is a university in which such a cross-walk between disciplines and departments is fluid, actively encouraged, and easily accomplished.

The University boasts one of the largest research libraries in the country, six professional graduate schools, two museums, a professional theater and art gallery, ministries of all faiths, and a remarkable diversity of community-service groups. All of the University’s riches are available to SSA students. The 211-acre campus—an official botanic garden—stretches along both sides of the Midway Plaisance, which was used for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and is now home to a skating rink, gardens, soccer fields, and intramural sports teams.

If you prefer an indoor workout, you can use the state-of-the-art Ratner Athletics Center with health-club facilities and an Olympic-size pool. Architecture buffs can explore the neo-Gothic buildings of the main quads and SSA’s own home, designed by Mies van der Rohe. The University and SSA regularly host inspiring and thought-provoking lectures, readings, and panels by activists, authors, politicians, and academics from around the world. The student groups at SSA, along with the numerous student organizations within the University, keep our School vibrant, informed, and involved.