Sociology Department

Sociology Major, Minor and Concentrations

Roanoke College offers a major and minor in sociology, as well as concentrations in health care delivery, information analysis, anthropology, gender and women's studies and crime, deviance, and social control.

Learning Firsthand

Research
Conducting research through programs such as Summer Scholars, the Undergraduate Research Assistants Program (URAP) and independent study is excellent preparation for graduate study or a career in a research field. In fact, some research conducted by sociology students is graduate-level in nature.

Service Learning
Some sociology classes incorporate optional community service projects in lieu of traditional research papers. Students have the opportunity to become involved in the local community, to learn firsthand and combine traditional forms of learning, reading and writing with actually doing community service.

Grant Writing for Local Agencies
Senior sociology majors have the option to take a seminar course that involves students working in groups to write a fundable grant for a local nonprofit agency. Writing grants puts sociological skills into practice and is an active way for students to support social change and become involved in the local community.

Partnership with Earthbound
The sociology department has built a strong connection to and supports the student organization Earthbound, which is committed to environmental awareness including promoting recycling and energy conservation.

Washington Semester
Students live and work in the nation's capital. They take two one-unit academic courses and a two-unit internship in a non-profit organization, a government agency or the office of a member of Congress. Sociology students often work in agencies dedicated to helping vulnerable populations such as homeless and women's shelters and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Employment and Graduate Study Outcomes

Ninety-one percent of those who participated in the alumni survey indicated receiving job offers or an acceptance to graduate school within six months of graduation. Examples of recent graduate schools sociology graduates have attended include the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and the University of North Carolina.

Faculty Expertise

All of Roanoke's sociology faculty members have earned the highest degrees in their fields. The average class size is 17, ensuring that students receive one-on-one attention and develop strong working relationships with faculty.

Areas of expertise include political sociology, race and ethnicity, cultural sociology, juvenile interventions, comparative historical sociology, service learning, dating patterns, medical anthropology, community development, gender, medical sociology, environmental sociology, religion and domestic violence.