Sociology
Faculty
Chairperson: Stacy Lee Burns
Professor: James Faught
Associate Professors: Stacy Lee Burns, Peter Hoffman
Assistant Professors: Nadia Kim, Eric Magnuson, David Marple, Anna Muraco, Rebecca Sager
Objectives
As a department, our objectives are to foster the intellectual development of students and to promote lifetime learning experiences. We do this through teaching and applying the insights of sociological perspectives to achieve a critical understanding of social reality and the human condition.
Our curriculum is designed to explore relationships within society, the social and cultural influences on human behavior, dynamics of interaction, and social institutions and social change in a global context.
Sociology Student Learning Outcomes
Students majoring in Sociology should know:
- The processes and structures that establish the underlying regularities of social life
- How social life is continually reconstructed through opposition and deviance
- The significance of cultural differences in traditional and modern societies
- The origin and development of principal theoretical ideas that inform contemporary sociological inquiries
- The basic methodological and statistical strategies used in contemporary sociology;
Students majoring in Sociology should be able to:
- Recognize how social life is structured in ways that influence choices, opportunities, and action
- Demonstrate an ability to write and speak effectively about contemporary social issues
- Read, assess, and interpret the results of sociological research
- Successfully complete an independent research project that competently draws from current theoretical, methodological, and empirical research;
Students majoring in Sociology should value:
- A knowledge of the range of interests and goals expressed by groups and organizations in society
- The ways in which sociological research may be effectively employed by organizations and institutions
- The application of sociological knowledge in order to enhance the quality of life
- A reasoned participation in community life that is informed by grounded sociological knowledge.