Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires
The Faculty of Social Sciences (Facultad de Ciencias Sociales; FSoc), commonly and informally known as Sociales, is the social sciences faculty of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the largest university in Argentina. It was founded in 1988, and offers degrees on social work, sociology, labor relations, communication and political science, in addition to a number of post-graduate degrees.
The Faculty also counts with two research institutes: the Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani (IIGG) and the Instituto de Estudios de América Latina y el Caribe (IEALC), in addition to several research centers and observatories. Among the Faculty's regular publications are the Ciencias Sociales, Sociedad, and Sociales en Debate journals. As of 2011, it was the fifth-largest faculty in the university by number of students.[2]
It is housed in two separate buildings, one located on Marcelo T. de Alvear street, in the Recoleta barrio, and another on Santiago del Estero street, in Constitución. Since 2011, most graduate courses are taught at the Santiago del Estero building.
Research institutes and dependencies[edit]
The Faculty of Social Sciences counts with two research institutes: the Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani (IIGG) and the Instituto de Estudios de América Latina y el Caribe (IEALC), in addition to several research centers and observatories. The IIGG counts with over 260 researchers, 220 grant-holders, and 150 research interns. Over 150 financed researchc projects are carried out by the IIGG, making it one of the largest and most relevant research institutes in Latin America.[13] The Instituto de Estudios de América Latina y el Caribe (IEALC) centers its work on promoting, co-ordinating and developing a Latin American perspective on social studies pertaining to the region.[14]
The Faculty also operates a specialized library with contents pertaining to social sciences. The library's collection includes over 53,000 volumes, including reference works (encyclopedias, dictionaries, indexes, databases), theses, and journals. Many of these works are digitalized and form part of the library's digital catalogue.[15]
Political and institutional life[edit]
Like the rest of the University of Buenos Aires's faculties, the Faculty of Social Sciences operates under the principle of tripartite co-governance, wherein authorities are democratically elected and professors, students and graduates are represented in the faculty's governing bodies. The faculty is headed by a Dean (Spanish: decana or decano), who presides over the Directive Council (Consejo Directivo). The Directive Council is made up of eight representatives for the professors, four representatives of the student body, and four representatives of the faculty's graduates. Deans are elected by the Directive Council every four years, while elections to the council take place every two years.[16]
Administrative work is further carried out by appointed secretariats. Each of the graduate courses is also administered through democratically elected directors and Juntas de Carrera. Since 2022, the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences has been Dr. Ana Josefina Arias.[17]
Notable people[edit]
Notable alumni of the Faculty of Social Sciences include former Cabinet Chiefs Juan Manuel Abal Medina and Santiago Cafiero,[18][19] politicians Gladys González, Guadalupe Tagliaferri,[20] Daniel Arroyo,[21] Silvia Lospennato,[22] and Laura Alonso[23] (all licenciates in Political Science), as well as sociologists Alcira Argumedo,[24] Horacio González,[25] Hilda Herzer, and Nathalia González Seligra.[26]
Notable faculty at FSoc include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel,[27] Dora Barrancos,[28] Juan Carlos Portantiero (who served as dean from 1990 to 1998),[29] Atilio Borón,[30] Tomás Várnagy,[31] Pedro Brieger,[32] Christian Castillo,[33] Daniel Filmus, and Carla Carrizo.[34]