Students majoring in sociology complete five required courses, three electives, and eight credits of capstone activities (internship or thesis). Students work closely with advisors in course selection and planning.
Program Requirements:
Required Courses
Generally, SOCI 101 should be completed no later than the sophomore year, SOCI 239 and 268 in the sophomore or junior year, and SOCI 325 and SOCI 330 in the junior or senior year.
Students choose any three electives from the list below:
Electives
Social Justice
Courses examine social inequalities and ways that groups and communities confront injustices.
Transnational Studies
Courses challenge inequities that result from colonial legacies, capitalism, and multiple forms of nationalism and neocolonialism
Health and Well-Being
Courses examine the social distribution of health, illness and health care as a consequence of unequal distribution of social resources.
Cultural Practices
Courses emphasize the importance of culture toward a fuller understanding of all of our lives.
Social Policy
Courses examine social issues and how Sociological theory and research contributes to the development of meaningful social policies to address those issues.
Capstone
Students may take one of the two following options:
Internship and Portfolio
Students may choose to complete an internship to fulfill the capstone requirement. Internships are completed in the spring semester of the student’s senior year. In the fall semester before the internship, each student works with the internship supervisor to design an 8-credit internship plan for the following semester. As part of this requirement, students also take the Internship seminar (SOCI 370). Students completing double majors who wish to do an internship will complete their internship through one of their departments.
Portfolio: All students completing their capstone through internships will also submit a portfolio to fulfill their requirements towards the major.
A portfolio includes:
- A paper from their first or second year of undergraduate study
- An outstanding paper, preferably from a sociology course taken in their third or fourth year
- A 5-page summative statement in which students reflect on majoring in sociology
Students present their portfolios publicly during the internship class.
OR
Thesis
Students may choose to do an independent research and writing project that culminates in a 40–50 page thesis written under the supervision of a faculty member in the department.
Students submit a proposal by the second semester of their junior year and take SOCI 350 (Independent Study) in the first semester of their senior year and SOCI 355 (Thesis) in the second semester of their senior year. An honors designation is granted to meritorious theses. All theses are presented at an event organized by the department.