Anthropology/Sociology

Program Objectives

The Anthropology and Sociology program offers an interdisciplinary program leading to a degree in Anthropology and Sociology with concentrations in Anthropology or Sociology-Social Welfare. The program prepares students desiring careers in a field requiring direct social involvement, wishing to enter anthropology, sociology, or social work as a profession, or pursuing a broad liberal arts education designed to enhance their understanding of humans and their social and cultural environment. In all courses and program activities, faculty are firmly committed to the task of enhancing the learning and reasoning abilities of students and allowing them to see the problems and processes of contemporary America in the light of broader cross-cultural and social-comparative perspectives.

Learning Outcomes

Students receiving a BA or BS degree in Anthropology/ Sociology will be able to demonstrate the following:

Communication: Demonstrate a solid understanding of core concepts in anthropology and sociology through effective communication, including scholarly writing and public presentations.
Inquiry: Demonstrate and apply cross-cultural perspectives, rooted in inquiry-based knowledge, in the analysis of social, economic, and political issues.
Critical Thinking: Demonstrate effective skills in critical thinking, analytical and reflective writing, and appropriate discourse within the core disciplines.
Civic Engagement: Identify, analyze, and address real-world problems through scholarly and structured civic engagement.
Integrated Learning: Connect student experience in the curriculum and co-curriculum with larger communities.

Means of Assessment

Successful completion of required and elective course work (appropriate for each concentration), with at least a C- in every graded course counted toward the major, and a 2.00 GPA for all courses counted toward the major.
Successful completion of the University Writing Requirement in addition to writing-intensive courses in the major.
Successful completion of a statistics course utilizing computers and of writing projects requiring the use of computer and word processing, demonstrating computer literacy.
Successful completion of an appropriate senior paper, project, or practicum within one of the three concentrations, demonstrating the ability to research, practice, and/or analyze various topics within anthropology and/or sociology.
Successful completion of the ANTH/SOC Senior Seminar demonstrating an understanding of anthropological and sociological concepts, and the ability to display and apply this understanding in a public setting of one’s peers.

To ensure that students meet the above program outcomes, they demonstrate proficiencies by means of the following (depending on the course): research papers, essays, in-class exams (essays, short answers, objective questions), take-home exams, map quizzes, group projects, individual and group presentations, library skills assignments, critical autobiographies, and oral histories, production and analysis of surveys, development of formal research proposals, ethnographic observations and field-based research, reaction papers, summaries/analysis papers based on readings, quizzes, formal debates, book reviews, literature reviews, and class participation and preparedness. Each assignment is assessed by means of specific evaluative criteria.

Programs

Major(s)

Minor(s)

Anthropology/Sociology Minor

Four Year Plan(s)