Democracy and Society

Rapidly expanding digital communications, accelerating technological innovations, and the growing complexities of an increasingly diverse global society are leading to new challenges and opportunities for societies and governments. In the age of misinformation, historic polarization, and inequality, scholarship and education in the humanities, social sciences, and related professional disciplines are increasingly important for societies, individuals, and democracies to thrive.

UB is home to world class programs in the humanities, social sciences, law, education, management, social work, and urban planning, with recognized strength in public/election law and interdisciplinary legal and social sciences research. Faculty in these areas are supported by a variety of research institutes and centers, including the Humanities Institute and the renowned Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. In addition, faculty at UB are supported by the university’s extensive libraries, which hold more than four million volumes and provide access to a wide array of digital information resources.

Through the Advancing Top 25 faculty hiring initiative, UB will continue building our strength and impact in disciplines that enable democracies and sustainable, equitable societies to flourish. Specific areas of interest include civil procedure; finance; health and science communication; health law; management sciences and systems; minority health and health disparities; modernist literature; ontology; statistics; quantitative sociology of education; and urbanism and/or land development economics.