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Our Department offers the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Sociology. The MA is designed both for students preparing for a doctoral program and for students for whom the Master’s level is the final degree. The program provides training for middle-level research positions, for teaching in community colleges, and for various kinds of community service and action. Training centers on the field’s core, with special attention given to basic theory, methodology, and the major empirical findings in sociology. Directed by a two-person faculty committee, the student gains research experience while developing and executing the thesis research. The goal is to help the candidate become a master of the general area of the discipline, familiar with its method, theory and findings and prepared to become a professional specialist.
The PhD is designed to prepare individuals for professional careers in research and in college teaching. At this level, a deepened competence in theory and methods is expected, and, in addition, the student is encouraged to develop knowledge and skills to a higher level in one or more specialties, which may cross departmental lines in the form of minors. The program is sufficiently flexible to permit students to choose any relevant area in which the University faculty offers proper guidance. Examples include History, Geography, Criminal Justice, Psychology, or Education.