Wondering whether a degree in sociology might be right for you? Contact our office to ask questions or set up a conversation with one of our advisors.
Location: Behavioral and Social Sciences Building 210
Phone: 530-898-6384
Email: sociology@csuchico.edu
Our faculty are fantastic educators, earning average teaching evaluations of 4.5 out of 5. Each instructor has a unique teaching style, ensuring every student can find faculty whose style fits for their learning preferences.
Several of our faculty have won awards for teaching, including the Outstanding Teaching Award (Nandi Crosby), Outstanding Lecturer Award (Marianne Paiva), and two winners of the Exemplary Online Instruction Award (Chunyan Song and Liahna Gordon). They are also top-notch researchers winning such awards as the prestigious Lantis Fellowship (Nik Janos) and the campus Professional Achievement Award (Dana Williams).
We hear it over and over again: our sociology majors love this major: our courses, our professors, our classroom communities. Many even choose to take extra sociology electives because they love sociology so much. And our alumni tell us that the thing they miss most about college is having engaging conversations with other sociologists.
Our department counts diversity among its greatest strengths. Over two-thirds (68%) of our sociology majors are people of color, and our students span ethnicities, ages, socioeconomic classes, genders, physical abilities, and sexualities. This diversity results in rich, engaging dialogue in classes with students who bring a variety of perspectives and lived experiences to their study of sociology.
Our faculty are among the most diverse at Chico State-- 62% of our tenured/tenure track faculty are people of color. We also have faculty who are first generation college students, identify as LGBTQ+, have immigrated, are children of immigrants, are bilingual, have taken care of family members, have chronic illness, have learning disabilities.... Add to this that five of our lecturers received their BAs in sociology here in our department, so have literally sat in your seat! Whoever you are, you’ll find faculty who are caring, empathic, and who share similar identities and experiences as you.
Students can pursue sociology at Chico State in two equally-rigorous formats. Those who want a residential college experience attend on our beautiful campus in the charming town of Chico, while those who want to live outside the region attend as distance education sociology majors. Our on-campus majors enjoy a face-to-face learning environment, casual conversation with our faculty outside of class time, an informal cohort model, and access to activities and events on campus, as well as in the great outdoors that surrounds Chico.
Our distance education majors enjoy the flexibility to learn from high-quality instruction from anywhere in the world. Many of our distance education majors work full-time and/or care for their family members. Our distance education program offers students the balance between flexibility and structure to succeed in their educational pursuits.
Both programs are taught by the same award-winning faculty and offer a supportive, connected community.
We offer courses in three main modalities to meet students’ needs, schedules, and learning styles, thereby maximizing student success. On-campus classes provide a traditional classroom experience. Zoom courses allow students to choose to attend live or watch the recorded sessions later. Asynchronous courses have no meeting time, providing students flexibility to work through the week’s videos, readings, and assignments at their own pace.
Sociology provides the tools to understand complex social issues with nuance and insight and apply critical thinking to real-world issues. Our students learn highly marketable skills in conducting research, analyzing data, and expressing themselves verbally and in writing. We require a skills-based course to help build concrete competencies for their resumes.
Sociology graduates become social workers, therapists, public administrators, government officials, lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs, directors of nonprofits, and staff who work on college campuses in such areas as Student Life. Our required course "Maneuvering the Job Market with a Sociology Degree" helps students translate their skills into meaningful careers. Read Sociology Jobs and Salaries: Find the Right Career Path to learn more about careers for sociology majors.
We didn’t just jump on the online bandwagon in 2020 because of COVID—we have been at the forefront of distance learning for decades! We first offered a distance education program to students in our region in the 1970s, moving online way back in 2000, enabling us to reach students anywhere in the world. Since then, we’ve continued to innovate, using new technologies to meet the needs of our changing student body.
We are now on the cutting edge of integrating AI into classes and assignments on campus and across the CSU, teaching other faculty how to harness the best of what AI can offer to further develop students’ critical and creative thinking. In our capstone course, for example, AI helps students explore contradictions in their arguments, consider alternate perspectives, and anticipate real-world challenges to implementing policy solutions. We use an electronic reading platform that leverages the best features of social media to convert reading sociological texts into an interactive experience. And we are experimenting with technology to provide individualized learning paths that challenge students at their own level.
At a time when nationally there are fewer people going to college, many majors across the country are shrinking, yet our sociology program continues to grow. We graduated 198 students last year, ranking us #4 among all majors at Chico State by number of graduates. This growth reflects our vibrant community and the value of a sociology degree in today’s world.
Chico State has been recognized nationally for its excellence and affordability. In 2025, Money Magazine named Chico State one of the “Best Colleges in America” earning 4.5 out of 5 stars, measured by 26 different factors. Additionally, we placed #31 of 137 institutions in Washington Monthly’s Best Bang for the Buck Ratings: West. Our tuition and fees are $8900 per year for full-time students compared to a national average of $11,371, delivering an exceptional education at a fraction of the price.
Sociology at Chico State is more than a major. It’s a way to create change. Our students and alumni work in communities, schools, and organizations across the country, using sociological insights to strengthen communities and promote understanding across differences. You’ll graduate with skills, confidence, and a sense of purpose to make a meaningful impact wherever you go.
Wondering whether a degree in sociology might be right for you? Contact our office to ask questions or set up a conversation with one of our advisors.
Location: Behavioral and Social Sciences Building 210
Phone: 530-898-6384
Email: sociology@csuchico.edu