[8] With dozens of faculty members, hundreds of graduate students, 109 undergraduate majors, and 161 minors, the school is the fourth largest at MIT.

All MIT undergraduates must take at least eight semesters of courses (approximately 25% of total classroom time) in SHASS as part of the General Institute Requirements for a diploma, and those minoring or majoring within the School undertake additional studies and projects.

[9] Writing in its first catalogue, MIT founder William Barton Rogers wrote that the institute's purpose was "to furnish such a general education, founded upon the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences, English and other Modern Languages, and Mental and Political Science, as shall form a fitting preparation for any of the departments of active life.

A report published in 1949, the Committee on Educational Survey,[13] recommended the establishment of a school that would grant humanities degrees.

Additionally: In 1971 a Commission on MIT Education began investigating General Institute Requirements in the humanities and social sciences.

Later, the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) program received institutional support for its growth and expansion.

Constructed in a completely renovated former warehouse, the facility consolidates the performance and design spaces of a new academic major in Theater Arts, which was established in 2015.

The building's 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) includes a two-story, 180-seat, multimedia-equipped performance space which can be reconfigured for each use; as well as a rehearsal studio, dressing rooms, and set and costume makerspaces.

[25] As of 2017[update], 4 Nobel Laureates, 7 MacArthur Fellows, and 4 Pulitzer Prize winners were members of the SHASS faculty.

In 2021, Zahra Hirji and Lisa Song of the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing won Seal Awards for consistent excellence in environmental journalism published by Bloomberg News and ProPublica, respectively.