Departments & Programs
As you embark on your higher education journey, our diverse array of majors is designed to ignite your passion, fuel your curiosity, and prepare you for a future of impact. Explore the myriad of disciplines we offer, each crafted to provide a transformative learning experience that goes beyond the classroom.
Aerospace Studies
Our team of professionals provides quality education and relevant military training to prepare tomorrow’s Air and Space Force officers for the challenges of leadership.
African American Studies
Our scholarship, curriculum, and programming focuses on the histories, cultures, politics, and intellectual traditions of the African Diaspora with an especial focus on the continued importance of social justice.
American Indian Studies
Our curriculum is designed and taught by a distinguished and interdisciplinary faculty who collaborate with more than 20 different Native communities and countless community organizations.
Anthropology
Our faculty and students are committed to addressing fundamental questions at the heart of Anthropology as a field of intellectual inquiry. Their research covers a wide range of topics, including the nature of evolutionary processes, human development, emotions and the mind, culture, and communication strategies, health and illness, the evolution of socio-political complexity in historical and archaeological contexts, and the effects of unequal access to power in the modern world.
Archaeology
The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA is a premier research organization dedicated to the creation, dissemination, and conservation of archaeological knowledge and heritage. We are home to both the Interdepartmental Archaeology Program and the UCLA/Getty Program in Archaeological and Ethnographic Conservation.
Asian American Studies
Our faculty specializes in studying diverse Asian American communities, diasporas, and histories both in the United States and internationally. As an interdisciplinary unit, we also engage with fields such as anthropology, gender studies, geography, history, literature, political science, public health, sociology, social welfare, and theater.
César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies
Our mission is to train a new generation of scholars to research and analyze the life, history, and culture of Mexican-origin people within the U.S., as well as of other Latina/Latino and indigenous populations in the Americas.
Communication
We are an interdisciplinary group of scholars interested in communication at many levels of analysis, including digital and mass media, political communication, and interpersonal social interaction.
Conservation
The UCLA / Getty Conservation Program educates and trains students in the highest standard of conservation practice. Our programs prepare graduates for careers in the preservation of archaeological and cultural materials.
Economics
We are one of the top-ranked economics departments in the world. Our work covers a diversity of topics such as the origins and persistence of the Great Depression and its lessons for today’s economy, the relationship between education and health outcomes, cartels and antitrust policy, the economics of health care, and the impact of immigration on labor markets.
Gender Studies
We are an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the complex interaction of gender with other identity markers such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, and religion.
Geography
We offer undergraduate degrees (B.A.) in Geography and Environmental Studies, and graduate degrees (M.A., Ph.D.) in Geography. And, yes, geographers do make maps as well! In fact, we not only offer a minor in Geospatial Information Systems and Technologies (GIS&T), but also an online GIS certificate and a pioneering Master’s in GIS&T.
History
Our courses cover a wide range of periods and geographic contexts, from the ancient Mediterranean to twenty-first century Los Angeles, early modern China to the modern Caribbean, and colonial America to the Middle East. They delve into a wide variety of themes and issues, including global and regional history; the study of gender and sexuality; science and medicine; music and visual culture; diaspora and ethnicity; class and culture; war, violence, and peace.
Labor Studies
We are a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to advancing labor research and education for workplace justice. Through the work of its units – UCLA Labor Center, Human Resources Roundtable, and the Labor Occupational Safety and Health program – the Institute forms wide-ranging research agendas that carry UCLA into the Los Angeles community and beyond.
Master of Social Science
Our program prepares graduates for professional research careers. The unique MaSS curriculum combines rigorous academic training with the opportunity to conduct community-engaged research.
Military Science
We offer elective courses ranging from leadership and management to military law. Students who complete our Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program become officers in the U.S. Army, Army Reserves, or Army National Guard.
Naval Science
The NROTC unit is to develop midshipmen mentally, physically, and morally, to provide them with a basic professional background, and to instill in them the highest ideals of duty, honor, and loyalty.
Political Science
Our classes are consistently rated among the most popular on campus with a changing array of offerings that includes “Ethics and Governance,” “Trump’s Foreign Policy,” “Civil War and Mass Violence,” “Political Theory in Hollywood,” and “Economic Inequality in the US.”
Sociology
Located in Los Angeles, the city that the world watches to detect the shape of the future, UCLA is considered one of the world‘s preeminent sociology departments. We have the world’s leading group of scholars studying international migration and its legacies, as well as arguably the strongest program in the study of ethnicity and nationalism, domestically and internationally.
