Letter from the Chair

Our Department is committed to both defining sociology as a scholarly endeavor and as an activity in the service of humanity.  We are active participants in the "public sociology" movement that is reshaping the discipline.   Our goals as sociologists are to cultivate scholarship and teaching that are socially relevant, to promote critical thinking, and to contribute to the development of an educated and engaged citizenry. To this end, our department offers a unique program in sociology that:

• Includes concentrations in:
  • Social Inequalities & Social Change
  • Global Sociology
  • Gender, Family and Sexuality
  • Culture, Identity and the Sociology of Everyday Life
• Cultivates an integrated perspective on society in which the social, economic, political, and personal aspects of life are recognized as interlinking realms of human existence.
• Offers a curriculum that provides a rigorous training in critical thinking skills to prepare students for informed and active participation in society.
• Provides students with the opportunity to work with faculty whose areas of research are world-wide.

Every year more than 2200 students enroll in 40 to 50 courses offered by our department's faculty. These courses include foundational classes  in classic and contemporary social theory, qualitative and quantitative methods, and courses in each of our concentrations. We offer our program on both the Boca Raton and Davie campuses.    The department includes 15 faculty members, 25 graduate students (15 receive full-time assistantships and tuition scholarships), and over 350 undergraduate sociology majors.  The faculty in our department are scholar-educators who are highly committed to teaching and research excellence. 

We encourage you to visit us and discover firsthand the variety our unique program offers. Your questions, concerns, and feedback are most welcome. Please contact us at 561-297-3270 or by email us at sociology @fau.edu.

We look forward to meeting you.
Lynn Appleton, Chair