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If you wish to teach social studies in Ohio public high schools, you can prepare to do so at Wright State University by first earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in social science education through the College of Liberal Arts. This degree helps give you the expertise in social studies so you can teach the entire range of social science courses offered in middle and high schools. When you graduate from Wright State with this strong foundation, you will enter the job market with a competitive advantage.
You will find this to be a challenging academic program integrating all social science disciplines. Your range of history and political science courses will allow you to teach history and American government classes and also courses in such disciplines as economics and geography.
As a social science education graduate, you will be able to:
Along with your social science education degree, you must also, separately, be accepted into and satisfy the requirements of the Adolescence to Young Adult: Integrated Social Studies (AYA: ISS) licensure program through a sequence of courses and field placements offered through the College of Health, Education, and Human Services (CHEH). Upon completion of the academic content and professional teaching requirements, you are eligible to apply for licensure in AYA: Integrated Social Studies from the Ohio Department of Education. If you are not accepted into the licensure program, you may still complete the SSE degree without licensure.
You must meet with a CEHS licensure advisor early in your bachelor’s degree program to learn how to apply for school placements, deadlines, admissions details, and other important information.
If you are a superior and highly motivated student, the Honors program in social science education will enable you to engage in an in-depth study of topics within SSE of interest to you, and to develop your scholarly abilities in this interdisciplinary field. Under the direction of a faculty tutor and with the approval of the program coordinator, you will complete an honors project over two semesters of your senior year that culminates in an honors thesis. For further information on eligibility requirements and enrollment, see the program coordinator.
Although a majority of our students follow the path to become a teacher, here in Ohio, or elsewhere in the U.S. or abroad, you should know there are other potential career paths awaiting you upon graduation.
A B.A. in Social Science Education is a terrific inter-disciplinary liberal arts degree, demonstrating powers of analysis and strong writing skills. Careers in many areas of local, state and federal government and law are obvious paths, but corporate America also increasingly seeks literate analysts to develop sales materials and manage growth. So, if you should change your mind about a career in education, the SSE degree can open many doors for you.
The Office of Partnerships and Field Experiences in the College of Health, Education, and Human Services coordinates field experience placements in area school districts. They will help you understand field experience expectations and help manage your courses and assessments.
 Aaron Osborn, a social science education major, embraces his family roots through the Native American Student Association at Wright State. |
 Lukas Wenrick, who graduated from Wright State in April with a degree in social science education, will attend the Harvard Graduate School of Education. |
View Bachelor of Arts in Social Science Education program information and degree requirements in the Academic Catalog.
Admission to the major includes a minimum undergraduate GPA of 2.5.
Review the college admission requirements and complete the admission application. Identify whether you will be majoring in social science education.
If you are a current student and wish to change majors, go to the WINGS Express major/minor change request form and change your major. If you are an undecided/exploratory student, talk to your advisor about majoring in social science education.
To contact the social science education program coordinator, email liberalarts@wright.edu.
Students who intend to seek AYA: Integrated Social Studies licensure in the state of Ohio should apply for admission to the Adolescence to Young Adult Education licensure program in the College of Health, Education, and Human Services. Students typically apply to the licensure program during their junior year.
Please review the licensure program admission requirements available on the Adolescence to Young Adult Education licensure program webpage.
The Social Science Education Newsletter is a communique specifically for Social Science Education majors with information about potential class options, stories from successful graduates and Wright State SSE instructors, contacts for advisors and professors you should be connecting with this term, and some fun extra things pertinent to our SSE Raiders!
Finding the right college means finding the right fit. See all that the College of Liberal Arts has to offer by visiting campus.
