DASA Overview

-----Demography is the scientific study of human population. Because personal behavior "scales up" into population trends, and population trends "scale down" to impact individuals, demography touches all facets of life. This makes demography a versatile tool for analyzing a broad range of social and economic issues. Irvine's Concentration in Demographic and Social Analysis (DASA) offers graduate training in the practical research skills needed to address analytical problems confronting society, business, government, and the nonprofit sector.

-----DASA is a joint program of the School of Social Sciences and the School of Social Ecology. Its curricula and faculty are supported by resources from within both of these interdisciplinary Schools. General direction is provided by an external Board of Professional Advisors, composed of distinguished applied demographers.

-----According to independent evaluations (by the National Research Council, for example, or U.S. News and World Report), the Irvine campus ranks among the Nation's elite public universities. Founded in1965, its two-square-mile campus is situated among coastal foothills about mid-way between Los Angeles and San Diego. The surrounding city of Irvine is part of Orange County, the second most populous county in the State, totaling nearly 3 million inhabitants. County population has grown steadily (about 1.8% annually over the last decade), fueled by births and by domestic and international in-migration. In the most recent census, about 1/2 of county residents self-identified as White (but not Hispanic), another 1/3 as Hispanic, and 1/8 as Asian or Pacific Islander. The county labor force is similarly diverse, with conspicuous representation in information technology and tourism, and corresponding extremes of personal wealth and poverty. These county and regional patterns are reflected in DASA's faculty expertise, which includes (among many other subjects) immigration, households and families, social and economic inequalities, public health, housing, transportation, and the impacts of local and regional population growth.

----- When DASA admitted its first M.A. students in 1999, we created something unique: a graduate program that imparts the essentials of applied demography in just three academic quarters. Thus we seek highly qualified students who can make the most of an intense, one-year investment. In its brief history, DASA alumni have already used their training toward an impressive array of accomplishments: successful job searches, advancement in existing careers, and admission to doctoral programs in other disciplines such as gerontology, sociology, and epidemiology. I invite your participation and support.

Judith Treas , Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
DASA Graduate Director