Sociology/Anthropology Mission Statement

The Department of Sociology/Anthropology offers major concentrations in two separate disciplines. Anthropology and sociology have maintained a unique relationship as "sister" disciplines ever since their establishment in higher education at the turn of the century. While their closeness has been acknowledged since their inception, so has their autonomy. Both disciplines study the social and cultural institutions of entire societies through empirical research. The study of culture and human diversity is central to anthropology, which takes a "four-field" (sociocultural, archeological, physical evolutionary, and linguistic) approach to understanding what it is to be human. Its subject matter, located throughout the world in prehistoric, as well as non-state (so-called "tribal"), "third" and "fourth-world" developing societies, and the transnational relationshps between them and modern industrial/post-industrial societies. Sociology focuses on industrialized societies which have been, until recently, almost exclusively part of Western civilization. The impact of the industrial transformation on social institutions, cultural values, and human behavior has been its major concern.

We see the role of our joint department in the liberal arts context as two fold: first, to promote high levels of scholarly activity (broadly defined as: research, teaching, publication/communication, and service) among faculty and majors; and second, to use this scholarly activity to enhance our contributions to general education courses in social science, cultural diversity, and non-western perspectives that service both majors and non-majors alike. Several combined strengths of our department faculty in topical areas of scholarly activity include:

• gender and feminist analysis
• development studies
• plural identities in global and local context
• legal and social policy issues; and
• visual approaches to the study of culture.

For the major concentrations, we stress two interrelated goals: preparation for post-graduate training in sociology, anthropology, or allied disciplines; and skills preparation for job market entry. Our department has developed a combination of several programs, when taken together, mark us as unique:

• the requirement of a 30-40 page senior thesis and presentation on a panel at the departmental symposium
• the institution of the teaching assistantship program in the introductory ( 102) cultural anthropology course
• the development of 4 service learning courses with required internship components
• the integration of new technologies across the curriculum that involves each member of the department, and which ensures that each major graduates with skills in information technology and a critical understanding of its potential and limitations that are essential to active participation in the generation and aquisition of knowledge today.
• enhanced honors courses
• strong student organizations (Alpha Kappa Delta sociology honors society and the Anthropology Club).
  

With respect to our objectives for servicing non-majors, our department teaches a relatively large number of cultural diversity (sociology) and non-western perspectives (anthropology) courses. The nature of our disciplines involves us in a wide range of interdisciplinary programs at the college: African-American/African Studies, Asian Studies, Development Studies Environmental Studies, Family Studies, Hispanic/Latin American Studies, Social Policy, Urban Studies, and Women's Studies.