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Welcome

I want to welcome you to the Sociology Department's Web site. We take a great deal of pride in offering an undergraduate-focused program that develops our students' skills and abilities. The Sociology faculty is committed to providing an engaging and rigorous curriculum that interests our majors, as well as students from across the University. If you want to learn more about either our major or general education offerings, please browse the catalog, come by our office in 615 Butte Hall, or call 898-6384 to make an appointment with an advisor.

Laurie Wermuth (Chair 2006-2009)

Sociology

Mission Statement

Goals and Objectives

Sociology is the study of group life. As a social science, it combines scientific and humanistic perspectives in the study of topics such as gender, crime, family patterns, race and ethnicity, wealth and inequality, and the environment.

Sociology is a liberal arts major for students planning careers in areas such as social research, social welfare, business, public administration, and education. It provides a useful background for those planning further education in the social sciences, social work, public administration, law, or business.

Misson Statement

The mission of the Sociology Program is to deliver a high quality undergraduate program in the study of social relations.  In delivering this program, our priorities include the development of critical thinking skills on issues of social inequality through a combination of research, sociological knowledge, observation and writing.  A further priority is to create within our students an appreciation of the craft of disciplined sociological inquiry. Our orientation is comprehensive, and as a result, we stress both practical application and theoretical creativity.  In the process of doing this, as a faculty, we also provide service to the needs of the university's GE objectives and program.

Goals & Objectives

Graduates will have the knowledge and skills to apply the “sociological perspective" to their own lives and to the social environment of which they are a part. They will possess what C. Wright Mills called the "sociological imagination," where they are able to see how their biography relates to the time in history in which they live. Socrates said, "the unexamined life is not worth living." The sociological perspective is crucial for "the examined life," a rich interior life in which one's relationships to others and to society are analyzed in this age of rapid social change.

Students will have the knowledge and ability to use sociological concepts creatively in analyzing and critically thinking about social phenomena. Graduates in sociology will have acquired an appreciation of the need for evidence, not only for public policy decisions, but for life decisions. Graduates will also have acquired sensitivity to people from various ethnic, religious, racial, economic backgrounds, and sexual identities, and will see how prejudice and discrimination are socially created attitudes and behaviors. They will be able to critically analyze the news of the day as well as changes in the global economy and other major social institutions.

Graduates will have facility with computers, writing and research skills and appreciate ethical considerations. They will also acquire skills necessary to gather, interpret, and analyze quantitative and qualitative data. These skills will allow them to participate in research projects, particularly those of survey research and program evaluation.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Develop students' critical thinking and communication skills.

2. Develop students' skills in how to design, execute, interpret, and evaluate quantitative and qualitative research.

3. Develop students' abilities to understand and critically interpret, apply, and synthesize sociological theory.

4. Develop students' abilities to understand and appreciate cultural diversity.

5. Develop students' abilities to understand the process and implications of globalization.

6. Develop students' understanding of the processes of social control and how they shape our social institutions and lives.

7. Develop students' understanding of the structural and interpersonal basis of social inequality.

8. Develop students' understanding of personal agency, social movements, and social change.

9. Develop students' understanding of social institutions in relationship to everyday lives.

10. Develop students' proficiencies in the uses of technology in online and library research.