Welcome to the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.  I would like to invite you to explore our various academic degree programs and acquaint yourself with the expertise of our diverse faculty.  We are a large department with award winning faculty members who have distinguished themselves in a variety of fields.

At the undergraduate level, our courses bring a sociological and anthropological lens to such issues as environment and society, race and discrimination, organization of the workplace, agrarian development, agribusiness and food, youth and homelessness, native peoples issues, women and the law, police and society, social movements in developing countries, semiotics and world religions, to mention only some of the issues covered in our undergraduate courses.

At the graduate level, we offer Master’s degrees as well as a new doctoral degree.  Specifically, we offer a long-standing Master’s of Arts in Sociology, with specialization in the areas of (1) global agro-food systems, communities and rural change; (2) work, gender and change in a global context and; (3) criminology and criminal justice.  A Master’s in Public Issues  Anthropology was recently established and is a joint venture with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Waterloo.  This program seeks to examine the interface between anthropological knowledge and issues that remain crucial to governance, public discourse and civil society.  In addition to these two programs, the Department counts on a relatively new joint  program with the Department of Political Science: the Master’s in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy.  It is also possible to obtain a Master’s in Sociology or a Master’s in Anthropology with an International Development Studies designation. This program combines training in sociology or anthropology with a broad range of social science perspectives on development. Our faculty have had research experience in such locations as Mexico, Papua New Guinea, India, Namibia, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras and Ireland.

At the doctoral level we now offer a PhD in Sociology with a unique focus on the fields of (1) global agro-food systems, communities and rural change; (2) work, gender and change in a global context.  Either of the two fields can be combined with the collaborative PhD program in International Development Studies.

Our programs offer a solid foundation for a wide variety of careers, from public service employment to development work oversees, as well as preparation for doctoral research and an academic career.  Consider joining us in the pursuit of knowledge and the acquisition of the critical analytical skills needed to understand our complex social world.

Tony Winson
Professor and Interim Chair