Department of Sociology

Do you ever wonder why people behave the way they do? Do you want a degree that's flexible enough to take you down a multitude of career paths? Studying sociology will help you understand how society and individuals function together while giving you the research, communication and analytical skills you need for any career path.

Choose Your Course of Study

In addition to traditional undergraduate and graduate degrees, we also offer an accelerated bachelor's and master's program. If you choose to pursue that course of study, you'll start working toward your master's degree while you're still an undergrad. After four years, you'll have both a bachelor's degree and 12 credits toward a master's degree.

Conduct Research

We have a rigorous approach to research. While you're here, you'll find plenty of opportunity to work with a faculty member on a research project, or create your own. Our engaged faculty are some of our best assets. They work hard to help you understand the topics they cover in class, to engage you in research and to help you on your career path after graduation. They've also won three separate grants in excess of $2,000,000 each to conduct interdisciplinary research on topics like the connection between virtue, happiness and meaning in society.

You can conduct your research in one of the best social psychology labs in the country. The state-of-the-art facilities draw sociologist from around that world. That means you'll have the chance to gain a diverse understanding of sociological perspectives without ever leaving campus.

Department News

Sociology professor featured in podcast

In a new podcast, Jennifer March Augustine discusses her research, "Mothers’ Out-of-Sequence Postsecondary Education and Their Health and Health Behaviors."

Paper published in Nature Communications

PhD student Jered Abernathy and faculty member Brent Simpson were involved in a large study with over 100 researchers across 57 different countries that addressed societal differences in beliefs about how to respond to those who violate social norms.

Research published in Journal of Family Issues

Assistant Professor Jaclyn Wong has published new research showing that childbearing plans don’t always influence women’s career plans – men’s career plans play a more direct role in shaping women’s career launches.

Research published in the journal Social Neworks

Assistant Professor Diego Leal has published new co-authored research on the definition of friendship among adolescents for eight racially diverse cohorts of sixth graders. The findings show that adolescents define friendship primarily in terms of norms for mutual behavior, and that there are systematic differences by gender.

Join Our Community

Our students are engaged both in and out of the classroom. You'll find welcoming student groups that focus on sociology. If exploration is more your style, there are many study abroad programs to choose from that allow you to earn credit while studying a different culture.

Always Asking Why?

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.