Academic Units

Anthropology is the comparative study of human cultures. Our faculty conduct research all over the world. We train students in ethnographic methods, social analysis, critical thinking skills, and cross-cultural understanding

Faculty head: Christine Walley

The Center for International Studies (CIS) aims to support and promote international research and education at MIT. The Center has traditionally been aligned with the social sciences while working with MIT’s premier science and engineering scholars whenever possible. We produce research that creatively addresses global issues, while helping to educate the next generation of global citizens.

Faculty head: Evan Lieberman

CMS/W’s studio and workshop curriculum combines approaches from the humanities, arts, social sciences, and science communication to teach its graduates how to work and interact with contemporary media. Students learn both theory and practice, and can specialize in areas including creative writing, game development, and filmmaking.

Faculty head: Seth Mnookin

Our faculty’s award-winning research and mentorship has established MIT Economics as a leading center for economic research and education worldwide. Our programs develop practitioners who seek solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges through innovative research.

Faculty head: Jon Gruber

Study a language to open up the world. Global Languages offers classes in nine major world languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Faculty head: Per Urlaub

We seek to give MIT students an educational experience that makes them active members of their local communities and equips them to respond meaningfully to the national and international crises of our time. Through our diverse undergraduate curriculum, support for training of graduate students, and publication of prize-winning works, we work to complement MIT’s orientation towards the future with a sense of responsibility for a past that is always present.

Faculty head: Malick Ghachem

We study the cognitive principles that account for human linguistic abilities. To this end, we look at possible sound structures, word and sentence structures, the computation of meaning, and the sharing of meaning with others in discourse – as well as how language develops in the child, how it changes over time, and how it is processed by speakers and listeners.

Faculty head: Danny Fox

Literature at MIT embraces an expansive vision of literary study. We are linked by a common interest in questions about a broad array of forms, including but not limited to narrative, aesthetics, genre, and media, all of which range from the ancient world to the 21st century.

Faculty co-heads: Sandy Alexandre and Stephanie Frampton

The Music program welcomes all students, regardless of major, who wish to take subjects in music history and culture, composition and theory, music technology, and performance. Through the study and creative practice of classical, jazz, popular, and world musics, the program offers students an experience that is intensely rich and uniquely MIT.

Faculty head: Jay Scheib

Philosophy at MIT is broad in scope, with particular strength in ethics, epistemology, language, mind, metaphysics, and social philosophy, along with the philosophy of action, science, and more. We offer multiple pathways for undergraduate study and have a highly-regarded PhD program, noted for its collaborative ethos.

Faculty head: Kieran Setiya

Our department is one of the world’s leading centers for the study of politics. Our subjects include traditional subfields and also incorporate computer science, history, and economics. We prepare students to be rigorous analytical thinkers, effective communicators, and engaged citizens.

Faculty head: David Singer

MIT President Jerome Wiesner founded the STS program in the 1970s amidst protests over the Vietnam War and defense research. It was a time, like today, when many people questioned the work of scientists and engineers. STS scholars bring methods from the humanities and social sciences to contextualize science and technology.

Faculty head: Kate Brown

The program in Theater at MIT invites students to explore the performing arts as a diverse artistic practice within a rich continuum of traditions. Movement, Interactive Design, Acting, Playwriting, and Directing, are core to the curriculum. Our program engages the performing arts as a mode of inquiry into self and society that it may be a vehicle for the transformation of one or both.

Faculty head: Jay Scheib

Our mission is to educate MIT undergraduates on the importance of gender equity and promote a broad understanding of gender and its complex intersectionality. Our program has supported the community in this mission for over 30 years.

Interim faculty head: Sana Aiyar