The Social Science Research Center, or SSRC, is a strategic partner of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Founded more than 65 years ago, the SSRC promotes, enhances and facilitates social science research and related scholarly activities. The Center is organized with university-wide responsibilities and reports to the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and the Vice President for Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. The Center offers a superior research environment with an impressive array of research opportunities and options, state-of-the-art facilities, laboratories, and support units that enhance and expand both the scope and quality of social science research.

Research issues facing social scientists are now so profoundly complex that their solutions demand the combined resources of multiple disciplines, multiple professions and multiple institutions. From its origin, the SSRC has had a strong interdisciplinary emphasis. Scientists from a number of disciplines, both on campus and off, come together in the SSRC to work on common research problems. The SSRC also forms partnerships, strategic alliances, and collaborative agreements with entities such as state agencies, off-campus national-level research organizations, and professional groups.

The SSRC currently occupies over 20,000 square feet in the Mississippi Technology Center, located in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park.