The Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences is the heart of the undergraduate program and grants the majority of Stanford University's degrees. The School has 27 departments and 20 interdisciplinary degree-granting programs. The School was officially created in 1948, from the merger of the Schools of Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. Those schools date from the mid-1920s when the university first organized individual departments into schools.

Departments

The school is divided into three divisions: Humanities and Arts, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.

Humanities and Arts

Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages

Natural Sciences

The current Biology department was formed by merging Botany, Zoology, Entomology, and Physiology to form Biological Sciences. The name of this department was changed to Biology in 2009.

Social Sciences

Stanford was set up with a Political Science department but that was almost immediately renamed Economics and Social Science. The forerunner of the current Political Science department was established in 1918. Sociology and Anthropology were originally one department established in 1948. They split in 1957. Anthropology itself was split into Anthropological Sciences and Cultural and Social Anthropology from 1999 to 2007 but merged again. Notable faculty in these departments other than those mentioned above include:

Core courses

At times Stanford has required undergraduate students to take core courses in various subjects in the humanities and sciences. Some of the core courses include

List of deans