The first years of the 21^st century witnessed the emergence of a cluster of new HASS programs.  The age of global societies and technological advances found an academic home in a university and a school which has always honored Rensselaer's underlying creed: apply learning to the common purposes of life.  As each and every one of us inside and outside the university can testify, those purposes have become much more complex, our lives are drawn on a much broader canvas, requiring that Schools such as ours change what we were doing to address challenging times.  For HASS, preparing our graduates to apply what they have learned means that at the core of our programs is the idea that we are educating young people to solve problems.  These can be as diverse as a expanding uses of the digital interface, or an ethical dilemma associated with make or break issues like global warming.  We want our graduates to enter the world ready to make a difference and to earn their own way.

As Rensselaer has developed into a top tier technological university, the prominence HASS has gained is expressed by the increase in HASS undergraduate majors and the commitment made by the university to HASS. In 1993, just fifteen years ago, 54 students were enrolled in HASS majors, while today, in October 2008, over 570 are enrolled in either an HASS major or dual major.  Has the community or the mix of our programs changed?  The answer is yes and no.  Yes, because we have added multidisciplinary programs.  Yes, because in 2007 our undergraduates were enrolled in over 70 different dual major programs where an HASS major was paired with one from another Rensselaer School.  No, because we have made a commitment to focus simultaneously on the strength of our departmental major programs.  While student choice in selecting and combining majors is a particularly valuable educational strategy for today's world, these choices, of necessity, are grounded in core HASS disciplines.