Mission Statement and Goals of the Sociology and Human Services Department

Mission Statement and Goals of the Sociology and Human Services Department Mission The mission of the Sociology and Human Services Department is to encourage students to actively expand their understanding of society and human behavior, improve their scholarly skills in research and writing, and increase their sense of social responsibility. Students and faculty achieve these goals by several methods: engagement with issues, attention to individual students, enthusiasm for the subject matter, and modeling scholarship.

Students planning to graduate in sociology enter our classrooms with a range of intellectual skills and knowledge, as is the case for many disciplines at LSSU. We challenge each student to set high expectations for his or her intellectual growth and lead each student to become an active agent in expanding his or her scholarly abilities and social knowledge. In addition to providing a solid grounding in the perspective and method of sociology, our mission is to develop in our students certain skills: critical thinking, communication, analysis, and research. The aim is to fully prepare them for successful careers in sociology, social work and related areas as well as graduate studies. We also prepare students to be active and informed citizens and members of their communities.

In our applied minors in social work and counseling, we provide students with entry level knowledge and skills in these helping professions through the use of experienced and knowledgeable instructors from community agencies who teach applied courses. Students are placed in internships with community agencies, local and throughout the State.

Most students come to our classrooms to fulfill General Education and service credit requirements. We welcome these opportunities to acquaint students from other disciplines with the sociological perspective. We help these students understand how human behavior is shaped by social structure and also how people’s actions reinforce or change social structure. We acquaint students with the perspective of other cultures and an understanding of the various ways diversity is part of social structure and a factor in social behavior.

To all of our classes we bring a commitment to excellent teaching, dedication to scholarship, and understanding of diversity.

Goals Through completing our program, Sociology majors gain:  an understanding of how membership in social groups shapes human behavior,  knowledge of how social systems and social relationships operate,  an understanding of the social nature of humans,  an ability to critically examine assertions regarding causes and consequences of human behavior and social structures, and policies based upon such assertions,  competence in writing and public speaking,  knowledge and skills necessary to design a sociological study, gather and analyze data, and write and present a formal report,  a sense of social responsibility in their roles in organizations and in local, national and global communities,  preparedness to enter careers in sociology, social work, and a wide variety of related areas, and  the knowledge base and scholarly abilities to succeed in graduate programs.

Goals for General Education Students  Social Science General Education students learn how social structures influence human behavior and learn to critically examine factors shaping social structure.  Cultural Diversity General Education students acquire knowledge of the perspective of a culture other than their own and an understanding of diversity as a dynamic in social organization and social behavior. Action To reach these goals, the Sociology major is designed to:  provide conceptual, theoretical and research tools to enable students to examine social structures and social behavior,  challenge students to examine their assumptions about human behavior and critically examine alternative sociological theories,  examine social processes through which people are both objects and subjects of social structures,  recognize and explore social responsibility of students to become a positive force in organizations and communities,  invite discussion and participation in welcoming and supportive environments,  encourage improvement of writing and oral presentation skills through assignment and assessment of various types of written work and presentations,  guide students in conducting independent research through two projects, sophomore study using ethnographic methods and a more extensive senior project using quantitative methods, and  create forums in which students present their work before audiences, in class, on campus, and at State or regional scholarly conventions.