Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

The Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (FASS) is a founding faculty at SFU. It's also the largest and most diverse. Annually, we teach some 12,000 undergraduate students and 774 graduate students. FASS is home to a range of highly-ranked areas of study with 315 continuing faculty members across 16 departments and schools, 10 programs and a language institute. 

Our efforts in the faculty are framed by two commitments: to help develop an engaged and informed citizenry; and to equip students with the knowledge and skill-sets needed to take advantage of wide-ranging work opportunities throughout their lifetime.

The 2016 QS ranking of academic institutions by subject ranks four of our areas of study in the top 25% worldwide: Economics and Econometrics (7th in Canada), English Language and Literature (9th in Canada), Psychology (11th in Canada) and Modern Languages (12th in Canada).

Faculty highlights

• Research chairs: two LEEF chairs, two Canada Research Chairs, two faculty members with CIHR grants and one Michael Smith Scholar
• Launched the first Women's Studies program in Canada in 1976
• Launched the first Cognitive Science program in Canada in 1986
• Notable alumni include Order of Canada recipients, Dr. Gloria Gutman and Anne Giardini; as well as Margaret Trudeau, Ujjal Dosanjh, David Usher and Daniel Igali (Canada's first and so far only Olympian in men's wrestling)