The disciplines of sociology and anthropology provide the foundation for an integrated curriculum in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, which emphasizes social research skills and analytical strategies. The overall goal of the department is to provide students with a program that enables them to comprehend the diversity and similarities of societies and social practices from a broad range of cross-cultural and historical settings, allowing graduates a robust skillset that facilitates work in a diverse array of jobs for a variety of organizations.
Above: Austin Colburn addresses the fourth annual Southeast Asia Symposium on his research into Indonesian nationalism.
- SOAN majors present original research at professional conferences, such as the Pacific Sociological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology, thus gaining important experience and recognition within these professional settings. The stellar quality of SOAN student presentations has earned them many awards:
- Elena Becker, SFAA 2017, First Place Undergraduate Research Poster, "Impacts of Development Discourse on Appropriate Technology “Solutions.”
- Allison Nasson, PSA 2017, Distinguished Undergraduate Student Paper Award, “Donor-Friendly Victimhood: Narrative Construction as a Fundraising Strategy."
- Danya Axelrad-Hausman, PSA 2016, Distinguished Undergraduate Student Paper, “Responses to Environmentalism and Environmental Policy as Mechanisms of Exclusion.”
- SOAN students' training in quantitative and qualitative research methods provides them with strong research, analytical, and presentation skills valued across a wide range of professional fields. Those skills, combined with professional experience gained through internships and conference presentations, have prepared our alumni to pursue:
- Graduated degrees in education, law, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, public policy, public health, urban planning, digital media communications, and development studies.
- Careers as teachers, research analysts at policy think tanks, advocates at local non-profit organizations, disaster relief consultants for FEMA, social service providers, attorneys, human relations coordinators at local technology firms,
