Graduate Program

Please visit the links at the right for information about admission, our programs, and graduate opportunities in Sociology.

The Department of Sociology offers M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology. The master’s degree program emphasizes theory and methodology. Students in the doctoral program are expected to select one major area and one minor area from the areas of departmental specialization for intensive study and examination. There are five substantive areas for possible specialization: crime and conflict, sociology of the family, social stratification, health and illness, and community and environment. 

Proficiency in theory, methods (including statistics), and in the area of specialization, is determined by written examinations. Students may design, with the approval of advisors and the Graduate Committee, curricula suitable to their past experience and intellectual goals. In line with this flexibility, choice may include up to two courses from outside the Department. Selection of thesis and dissertation topics is limited only by the areas of expertise available among department faculty members.