Welcome to the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences. Our College consists of more than 2,000 students, more than 120 faculty members, eight departments, a School of Communication, and several interdisciplinary programs. With this size and variety, we are able to combine the personal attention of a liberal arts college with the resources and opportunities of a comprehensive university.

Our main focus is on student achievement at the highest level, which we support primarily by creating unique opportunities for our students to work closely with faculty who are outstanding as both teachers and scholars. Our students regularly present their scholarship and receive recognition at professional conferences. This past year, for instance, two of our  History majors won awards—first place and second place—for  papers they presented at the Virginia regional conference of Alpha Phi Theta, the international History honor society. Two of our Psychology graduate students won the award for the best paper at the 29th annual Graduate Student Conference in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

At a recent meeting of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, RU students made twenty-four presentations, in disciplines including criminal justice, media studies, communications, English, and psychology. As part of our commitment to student scholarship, in the spring of 2010, we will host the Big South Undergraduate Research Symposium, where we will feature the best research by our students.

On the RU campus, our students and faculty have many opportunities to attend presentations and participate in discussions featuring the work of major scholars in their fields. For Radford University’s Centennial Celebration in 2010, our College has plans to host the Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, the Southeast Regional Counseling Psychology Conference, and an interdisciplinary symposium on “100 Years of American Presidents and Civil Rights.”

Our students also apply the skills they have developed in the classroom to various settings across the region, the state, and the world.  For instance, our Sociology students have recently received internships at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Virginia Tech Center for Survey Research, the Women’s Resource Center in Radford, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Our Media Studies students have recently completed internships in Washington, New York City, San Francisco, and London. Through these kinds of opportunities, our students graduate as engaged citizens prepared to serve their home communities and the global community.

As a new division within a comprehensive university, the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences has been designed to facilitate collaborations across disciplines. In addition to providing strong academic majors, we encourage our students to explore interdisciplinary programs like International Studies, Women’s Studies, Social Science, and Peace Studies. In this way, our students learn to address real-world problems with professional expertise and with a breadth of knowledge extending beyond the traditional disciplines.

We hope you will become a member of this vital academic community. Please take some time to explore the information available on this site about our programs, our faculty, our students, and our alumni.

Dr. Lynn M. Zoch
Interim Dean for College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences
Email: lzoch@radford.edu