Description

Sociology is the scientific study of social groups, individual-group relations, and interactions between individuals, groups, and societies. Sociologists examine how group processes shape individual behavior and attitudes, how individual interaction creates social groups, and how broader institutional structures and societal patterns both constrain and change individuals and groups. Sociologists bring these concerns to the study of individuals, small groups, families, communities, formal organizations, and nations. They focus on the entire range of social processes, including human development and socialization processes, group solidarity and intergroup conflict, social deviance and crime, educational and occupational achievement, discrimination, immigration, health and illness, and development across the life course.

This report documents the multiple ways in which UMass/Boston’s Department of Sociology purveys and practices the intellectual perspective and research skills of sociology. First we describe our department's general mission and its more specific goals and objectives. We then document the structure of our program, the students we have served, and the faculty resources we use. We point out our contributions to the education of our students, the scholarship of our discipline, and the quality of life in our community. We conclude by evaluating the quality of our work and presenting plans for the future.

Description of Program

The Department of Sociology’s focus is on the core values of UMass Boston’s academic and urban mission. Our undergraduate majors and certificate programs, our graduate program, our scholarship, and our many service activities each reflect our commitment to that mission.

Program identity

The Department of Sociology offers three undergraduate majors, one undergraduate certificate, one master’s degree program, and one graduate certificate:

· Sociology (Bachelor of Arts)

· Social Psychology (BA joint major offered with the Department of Psychology)

· Criminal Justice (BA offered in collaboration with CPCS)

· Alcohol and Substance Abuse Studies certificate (with courses in Psychology and Counseling Psychology)

· Graduate Program in Applied Sociology (Master of Arts)

· Forensic Services Graduate Certificate (with contributions from UMass Boston Department of Psychology, Department of Counseling Psychology, and UMass Worcester Department of Psychiatry).

We also contribute cross-listed undergraduate courses to the Asian American Studies Program (4 courses), the Women’s Studies Program (one course), and the Africana Studies major (2 courses). The Department offers undergraduate minors in both sociology and criminal justice. At the graduate level, our Forensics Services Certificate Program provides the core substantive courses for the new Master’s degree in Forensic Services offered by the Department of Counseling Psychology in the College of Education. Students in the Graduate Program in Applied Sociology have the option of concentrating in dispute resolution or gerontology by taking courses offered by those graduate programs.

Mission

We seek to enrich the field of sociology with our scholarship, increase our students’ mastery of sociology through our teaching, and improve our urban environment by public service. Our department is distinguished by its commitment to excellence along each of these three dimensions and by the applied, urban focus of our work.

As sociologists, our central mission is developing and applying sociological knowledge and helping students achieve mastery of our discipline. Mastery of the discipline requires firm grounding in three areas: theories that explain social phenomena across diverse times, places, and social units; research methods for investigating social processes; and substantive knowledge based on empirical research about particular social issues. Sociological theories, research methods, and substantive knowledge can be used to inform social policy, evaluate social programs and increase self-awareness. Sociological insights often lead across disciplinary boundaries to synergistic combinations with the insights of psychologists, economists, political scientists, anthropologists, and historians. The intellectual perspective and technical skills of sociology are thus means students can use to become more informed, critical, and productive participants in the social world of the twenty-first century.

Each of the more specific programs we offer emphasizes dimensions of our overall mission. The Social Psychology Joint Major focuses students on sociological knowledge concerning the influence of social processes on individuals. The Criminal Justice major focuses on the knowledge needed to understand the sources of crime and the operations of the criminal justice system. It gives particular attention to knowledge application and to skills needed by criminal justice professionals. Courses included in the Alcohol and Substance Abuse undergraduate certificate program provide many students with insights into social influences on their personal experiences and with a foundation for careers in substance abuse agencies. Our focus at the graduate level is on applying sociological knowledge to social problems in urban communities and to generating new knowledge about these problems.

Our departmental mission parallels that of the University of Massachusetts Boston. UMass Boston seeks to serve as a national model of an urban public university that achieves

the proper balance among groundbreaking research, outstanding teaching, and effective service; among the discovery, production and application of new knowledge; and between the enhancement and the demonstration of student learning outcomes (Imagining a New Century: The Year 2000 Strategic Plan, 1997:4).

As we will demonstrate, sociology faculty are leaders in research, teaching, and service. Their leadership role is due in no small part to service that applies as well as generates new knowledge and to teaching activities that enhance student learning outcomes.

The University’s strategic priorities were identified by the Faculty Council (February, 1993):

1. sustaining a superior faculty dedicated to teaching excellence;

2. providing innovative and interdisciplinary programs that can respond in a timely manner to societal issues and problems;

3. meeting the needs of both traditional and nontraditional students; promoting diversity among students, faculty, and staff; conducting educational, scholarly, and service activities that contribute to meeting the needs of a diverse society;

4. nurturing both pure and applied research to advance knowledge and to create a better society for all;

5. devoting a high proportion of research and public service activities to the cultural, social, and economic development of the Commonwealth and the global community; dedicating itself especially to understanding and improving the environment and the well-being of citizens of this region.

The Department of Sociology endorses each of these priorities. This Self Study identifies the key contributions our faculty have made to teaching excellence, celebrating diversity, developing innovative and interdisciplinary programs, nurturing pure and applied research, and responding to regional needs.

Goals, Objectives, Rationale

The general goals and specific objectives that have guided our program in recent years have strengthened our contributions to the University’s mission and to implementing our common strategic priorities. Some goals and objectives are based on recommendations of an American Sociological Association Task Force on the sociology major, developed in conjunction with the Association of American Colleges’ National Review of Arts and Sciences Majors (1990). We list these goals and objectives separately for undergraduate and graduate education and for research and service, but we stress that they can only be understood as an integrated whole and in light of our broader mission.

Undergraduate Education

Goal A: To improve understanding of sociological theory, methods, and substance.

Objectives

1. to change the structure of the major to increase intellectual development (ASA, #3, #4);

2. to increase instructional effectiveness in large sections;

3. to increase student experience with computer-based analysis (ASA, #6);

4. to improve recognition of the intellectual connections among the social sciences (ASA, #5);

5. to give students repeated experiences in posing sociological questions and bringing data to bear on them (ASA, #6);

6. to improve the instructional effectiveness of faculty;

7. to utilize student course evaluations more effectively;

8. to improve procedures for recruitment and evaluation of part-time teaching faculty .

Rationale

Society and higher education in general and the University of Massachusetts Boston in particular have changed in ways that require some curricular adaptation. The increasing importance of quantitative analysis, the shift toward larger course sections, the focus on student learning outcomes, and the growth of interdisciplinary scholarship motivate several departmental objectives. Other objectives reflect sociologists’ increasing recognition of the need to shift from a “ferris wheel” curricular organization, in which introductory sociology serves as the only admission ticket for other courses, to a more sequential organization, in which students master foundation skills and knowledge before taking advanced courses. The rapid growth of in the number of majors in our programs, without concomitant expansion in full-time faculty, has necessitated more reliance on part-time faculty. As a result, we are focusing more attention on the evaluation of their teaching performance.

Goal B: To respond effectively to disciplinary and societal changes.

Objectives

1. to begin a liberal arts major in Criminal Justice;

2. to develop the social psychology joint major;

3. to develop a certificate program in alcohol and substance abuse studies;

4. to expose students to new developments in information technology (ASA, #6);

5. to explore distance learning possibilities.

Rationale

We have responded with new programs to the popularity of social psychology, the relevance of substance abuse studies to the lives and career interests of many students, and to a high level of expressed demand for criminal justice education. We have felt it important to guide the department to greater instruction in the use of new information technology and to take advantage of distance learning capabilities where required to serve our students and the larger community.

Goal C: To improve advising and career development for majors.

Objectives

1. to articulate and publicize the goals, structure, and rationale for our programs (ASA, #1);

2. to increase publicity of departmental activities;

3. to ensure regular advising of majors;

4. to assess student learning outcomes;

5. to assess the needs and interests of students and take them into account in departmental planning (ASA, #2, #13);

6. to strengthen students’ opportunities for career-relevant experience (ASA, #3);

7. to expand the proportion of students who go on to graduate school;

8. to develop a productive learning community involving students and faculty (ASA, #7).

Rationale

The large size and number of programs that we offer requires easily accessible information to guide students in curricular decisions. Improving program publicity and advising as well as surveying students about their interests all reflect the department’s commitment to meeting the needs of our students. We have also sought to ensure the long-term value of our programs by focusing attention on student learning outcomes, ensuring career relevant experiences, and encouraging applications to graduate school.

Goal D: To contribute to the general education of students.

Objectives

1. to contribute to the new University-wide General Education curriculum;

2. to add a capstone requirement.

Rationale

The Department supports the development of a rigorous and realistic approach to general education. We expect faculty to participate in GenEd work, to develop courses to meet GenEd requirements, and to modify the major to comport with GenEd structure.

Goal E: To increase understanding of social diversity and cross-cultural variation.

Objectives

1. to underscore the importance of race, class, and gender in sociological and criminological analysis (ASA, #9);

2. to increase students’ exposure to comparative and international materials (ASA, #10);

3. to recruit a more diverse faculty;

4. to add teaching strength in the areas of diversity and comparative studies.

Rationale

Sociology must keep pace with an increasingly diverse society and the ever more integrated community of nations. We seek to keep our curriculum current in these respects.

Graduate Education

Goal F: To increase the size of the graduate program.

Objectives

1. to improve recruitment of UMass Boston undergraduates;

2. to improve recruitment of undergraduates from other schools;

3. to develop an effective Web site;

4. to increase student financial support ;

5. to change the graduate curriculum to accommodate larger numbers;

6. to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the student body.

Rationale

Our Graduate Program in Applied Sociology has historically been small relative to some UMass Boston graduate MA programs, admitting 5-12 new students in most years. Although these numbers are comparable to those at many schools, they have forced us to limit the number of graduate courses and hence the opportunity of students to specialize in particular areas. Growing recognition by students and prospective employers of the value of graduate education, as well as pressure by university administrators to increase program size has encouraged us to attempt to recruit more students. We have long believed that many of our most talented undergraduate students were not recognizing the value of graduate school, and so we have focused our recruitment efforts on them. More effective publicity using the World Wide Web and more opportunities for student financial support have also been seen as ways to attract more students. The prospect of larger student numbers in turn has led us to make some changes in the curriculum.

Goal G: To expand the scope of the graduate curriculum.

Objectives

1. to add advanced courses in research methods and statistics;

2. to develop joint programming opportunities with other graduate programs ;

3. to provide alternative capstone experiences;

4. to learn from other graduate programs;

5. to begin a forensic services certificate program.

Rationale

Most graduate alumni have gone on to work as applied researchers. Our two-course sequence in methods and statistics provides an important foundation for this work but is insufficient to reach the requisite level of proficiency. We therefore have sought to strengthen our offerings in methods and statistics. We have also sought to increase the flexibility of our program by giving students more opportunities for concentrations and alternative means for fulfilling their capstone requirement. Learning about other sociology graduate programs has helped us to identify the consequences of different curricular designs. Most recently, the expertise of a new faculty member in forensics, the need expressed by several agencies for graduate forensics instruction, and the University’s desire to expand graduate offerings led us to develop a new forensics services program.

Goal H: To increase co-curricular activities with students.

Objectives

1. to develop a successful graduate student journal;

2. to revitalize the Graduate Sociology Club;

3. to increase graduate student involvement in faculty research;

4. to involve graduate students in professional associations;

5. to begin regular departmental seminars.

Rationale

Our graduate program has been most successful in preparing students for professional careers when students themselves have taken the initiative. In order to tap the potential of student-centered activities, we have encouraged graduate students to develop a scholarly journal, to maintain their graduate student club, and to participate in professional association meetings. We have also seen research and seminar participation with faculty as important tools for professional socialization.

Research and Scholarship

Goal I: To increase the research opportunities of sociology faculty.

Objectives

1. to increase the level of external grant support in the department;

2. to expand opportunities for scholarly collaborations with other units;

3. to strengthen research collaborations with local organizations;

4. to develop intra-departmental research collaborations.

Rationale

We seek to increase the level of grant-funded research in the department as well as make better use of opportunities for collaborative research. These changes will increase the department’s funding base and strengthen the visibility of our faculty.

Goal J: To increase student involvement in faculty research and scholarship.

Objectives

1. to develop joint graduate student – faculty research projects;

2. to place graduate assistants in campus research centers;

3. to use internships for external research collaborations;

4. to develop undergraduate research opportunities.

Rationale

Students learn the practice of research most effectively when they work on actual research projects with faculty mentors. We have sought to increase the frequency of these experiences and to take advantage of collaborative opportunities both on- and off-campus that can engage students in research.

Goal K: To enhance the department’s research reputation.

Objectives

1. to increase faculty involvement in meetings of professional associations;

2. to increase scholarly publications;

3. to publish research reports for external audiences;

4. to publicize faculty research on the Web;

5. to participate in national research forums.

Rationale

Greater visibility for faculty scholarship can improve recruitment of talented graduate students and create more opportunities for external funding. We also are committed to maximizing the professional success of our faculty, as an important aspect of our overall success as an academic department.

Service

Goal L: To rationalize the department’s structure and operations.

Objectives

1. to increase the role of departmental committees;

2. to adapt departmental management to our changing program structure;

3. to improve procedures for scheduling courses.

Rationale

Decentralizing departmental management through allocation of responsibilities to committees and their chairs allows the maximum use of faculty talent. We have had to give particular attention to the way in which we manage our criminal justice major, since it involves a close collaboration with the CPCS Criminal Justice program. The many requirements for the Criminal Justice major and lack of sufficient full-time faculty in some important areas has also focused our attention on scheduling procedures.

Goal M: To extend external service activities.

Objectives

1. to increase faculty participation in professional associations;

2. to involve students in professional associations;

3. to build research and training partnerships with community organizations.

Rationale

Faculty participation in professional associations has multiple benefits, including exposing faculty to trends in the discipline, increasing contacts for student recruitment, and improving research funding opportunities. Engaging students in professional associations can increase their socialization to the profession, expand their career possibilities, and enrich their relationships with department faculty. Many of these same benefits flow from faculty and student collaboration with community organizations.

Goal N: To increase the faculty’s contributions in university service.

Objectives

1. to provide campus leadership in professionally-relevant areas;

2. to increase fund-raising efforts;

3. to strengthen ties to centers and institutes.

Rationale

We seek to support achievement of the University’s larger mission, most importantly by encouraging faculty with unique skills that are relevant to institutional objectives to contribute their talents. We also have sought to contribute to successful fundraising campaigns in order to increase funding for departmental activities and to support the UMass Boston First Campaign. Our faculty have many contributions to make to the University’s centers and institutes and we encourage them to take advantage of opportunities to make these connections.

Curriculum

The Department of Sociology offers courses that span the range of sociological scholarship and practice. They range from courses introducing the sociological perspective to more advanced courses in research methods, social theory, and particular substantive social issues. Many of our majors complete internship courses in which they connect their academic knowledge to experiences in diverse work settings.

Many sociology courses fulfill extra-departmental functions. Many nonmajors take our introductory course and a course on particular social issues to fulfill the College of Arts and Sciences distribution requirement. We also offer special introductory courses that can be used to satisfy one of the Core requirements. Several sociology courses satisfy the College’s diversity requirement. Our undergraduate statistics course can be used as one of the two required math courses for liberal arts students.

Our graduate curriculum focuses on research methods and applying sociological knowledge, with concentrations in several substantive areas. We have revised both our undergraduate and graduate curricula in recent years.

Sociology major

The sociology major is designed around courses that introduce the substantive, methodological, and theoretical dimensions of the discipline. In AY98-99, our Curriculum Committee has restructured our major in response to guidelines recently developed by the American Sociological Association.

Structure & requirements

The Sociology major has had a relatively simple structure: thirty credits with three specific required courses.

· A total of thirty credits in Sociology (ten courses)

· The following required courses: SOC 101 - Introductory Sociology

SOC 341 - Sociological Theory

SOC 351 - Methods of Sociological Research

· At least one course at the 300 level or higher, in addition to SOC 341 and SOC 351

· The following limits on courses must be observed:

- Only one internship course (6 credits) may count toward the major.

- No more than three credits in mini-courses may count toward the major.

- Only one course within the major may be taken pass/fail.

- SOC 341 and SOC 351 may not be taken pass/fail.

- A maximum of 5 courses (15 credits) may be transferred from other institutions.

· Exception: All Sociology courses from UMass/Amherst will be accepted.

- SOC 341 and SOC 351 may be transferred in from 4-year institutions only.

- Once you matriculate at UMB, courses taken elsewhere need prior approval from your advisor and the department chair.

In AY98-99, the Department of Sociology agreed to make several changes in the requirements for sociology majors. These changes add more structure to our major, increasing the sequencing of courses and the integration of our curriculum. With these changes, we are adopting recommendations of an American Sociological Association Task Force on the sociology major, which was in turn prompted by the Association of American Colleges’ National Review of Arts and Sciences Majors in 1990 (ASA, 1990).

The changes in our curriculum reflect a conceptualization of the sociology major in terms of four levels: (1) The introductory level, which serves as the foundation for all higher level courses. (2) An intermediate level, in which students complete at least 6 credits at the 200 level to provide a foundation in substantive sociological issues. They also are expected to take our research methods course (which we are reclassifying from the 300-level). (3) An advanced level, involving 300- and 400-level courses. (4) A senior capstone, in which students will apply the theoretical and methodological concepts they have studied to understanding substantive sociological issues. The capstone requirement will be satisfied by taking a 6-credit internship course (80% of our majors take an internship), a special senior seminar, or an independent study project. Each of these options is writing-intensive.

Special features

Sociology offers clusters of courses that help students to prepare for careers in several areas, in addition to criminal justice and alcohol and substance abuse. These course clusters include social services, public affairs/urban planning, business, international careers, law, and education. Although these clusters are not identified as special concentrations on student transcripts, students who focus their studies in this way can achieve greater proficiency in career-relevant areas.

Three popular internship courses help sociology majors link their academic work to practical concerns and prepare for careers: Seminar in Urban Social Services (Soc. 480b), Alcoholism Agency Experience (Soc. 469), and Internship in Law and Juvenile Justice (Soc. 462). Sociology majors can also enroll in the internship course required for criminal justice majors. Each internship carries six credits and only one internship may be used for the major.

The Honors Major in Sociology provides a more in-depth program of study and recognizes special achievement. Honors majors must have a 3.5 GPA in Sociology and a 3.0 college-wide average. They must write an honors paper, normally in conjunction with enrollment in Independent Study, and also are required to complete an eleventh course in sociology, selected from Field Work Methods, Social Statistcs, any 400-level social science course, or a graduate sociology course. Two faculty read each honors paper and honors students must present their final paper at an open meeting.

Seniors can gain experience in independent research by enrolling an Independent Study (Soc. 478). Enrollment is limited to students who have identified a faculty advisor for a project and secure approval of a formal research proposal from the Sociology Curriculum Committee. Papers written for 3 credits of Independent Study are expected to be 20-30 pages in length.

Students who have other primary majors can choose to minor in sociology. The Minor requirements provide a strong foundation in basic sociology.

Requirements for the Minor in Sociology

· A total of eighteen credits in Sociology (six courses)

· The following required courses:

SOC 101 - Introductory Sociology

SOC 341 - Sociological Theory

SOC 351 - Methods of Sociological Research

· The following limits on courses must be observed:

- Only one internship course (6 credits) may count toward the minor.

- No more than three credits in mini-courses may count toward the minor.

- Only one course within the minor may be taken pass/fail.

- SOC 341 and SOC 351 may not be taken pass/fail.

- A maximum of 5 courses (15 credits) may be transferred from other institutions.

· Exception: All Sociology courses from UMass/Amherst will be accepted.

- SOC 341 and SOC 351 may be transferred in from 4-year institutions only.

- Upon matriculation at UMB, courses taken elsewhere need prior approval from the advisor and the department chair.

Availability

The Department of Sociology offers many courses during extended day hours, including those required for the major. Additional sections are scheduled through Continuing Education at non-Harbor sites at night, and on the Harbor Friday nights and Saturday. We also have offered an extensive curriculum during the January Wintersession and throughout the summer.

Faculty retirements and the growing demands of the Criminal Justice major have reduced our ability to offer many elective courses, such as communication and opinion, sociology of education, complex organizations, political sociology, and juvenile delinquency.

Social Psychology major

The Social Psychology Joint Major is a collaborative program with the Department of Psychology. The Social Psych program is administered by co-directors in the two departments. It is a popular and rigorous major, requiring more coursework with more specific requirements than the sociology major.

Structure & requirements

· Majors are required to take a minimum of 12 courses (36 credits), as follows:

1) PSY 101 - Introduction to Psychology

2) SOC 101 - Introduction to Sociology

3) PSY 230 - Social Psychology or SOC 281 - Society and the Individual

4) SOC 341 - Sociological Theory

5) SOC 351 - Methods of Sociological Research

6) PSY 102 or PSY 270 or SOC 350 - Statistics

· The following limits apply:

· A maximum of three Sociology courses and three Psychology courses may be transferred from other colleges.

· One course within this major may be taken pass/fail.

· Either PSY 430 or SOC 480B may be included in the major, but not both.

7) Psychology, Group A. One of the following Psychology courses:

PSY 250 - Learning and Memory

PSY 255 - Perception

PSY 260 - Physiological Psychology

PSY 265 - Comparative Psychology

8) Psychology, Group B. One of the following Psychology courses:

PSY 200 - Personality

PSY 215 - Psychopathology

PSY 241 - Infancy and Child Development

9) and 10) Two of the following Psychology courses:

PSY 315 - Psychological Trauma: Individual and Society

PSY 333 - Group Dynamics

PSY 334 - Social Perception

PSY 335 - Social Attitudes and Public Opinion

PSY 338 - Community Psychology

PSY 341 - Family and Child Psychology

PSY 430 - Internship in Psychology

PSY 439 - Experimental Social Psychology

11) and 12) Two of the following Sociology courses:

SOC 300 - Communication and Opinion

SOC 316 - Family Violence in America

SOC 342 - Aging and Society

SOC 362 - Juvenile Delinquency

SOC 382 - Sociology of Gender

SOC 384 - Medical Sociology

SOC 386 - Sociology of Mental Health and Illness

SOC 475 - Socialization

SOC 480B - Seminar in Urban Social Service

Special features

Social Psychology joint majors can complete internship courses in either Sociology (Seminar in Urban Social Service) or Psychology (Internship in Psychology).

Availability

Required sociology courses in the Social Psychology Joint Major are offered evenings and during the summer and January winter sessions.

Criminal Justice major

The Criminal Justice Program in the College of Arts and Sciences prepares students for careers in law enforcement, public safety, courts, adult and juvenile probation, corrections, parole, and related careers in human services. Through a cooperative arrangement with the Criminal Justice Center in the College of Public and Community Service (CPCS), CAS Criminal Justice majors can take up to four of their core courses in the CPCS Criminal Justice curriculum.

Structure & requirements

The Criminal Justice program requires students to take 42 credits of course work including eight required courses in Sociology plus a supervised 6credit internship near the end of the program. The balance of a student's courses are selected from a range of electives in areas which may incorporate study in various departments in CAS (see list below).

Required Courses (30 credits)

Soc 101 Introduction to Sociology

Seven Core Courses (21 credits). (Each of the seven CAS core courses corresponds to a CPCS competency. CAS students may take up to four of the seven core courses in their CPCS versions.)

Soc 262 Criminology (3 cr) [Crime, Justice & Societyl

Soc 321 Race and Ethnic Relations (3 cr) [Issues in Race, Class, Gender, Culture & Crime]

Soc 351 Methods of Sociological Research (3 cr) [Researching Criminal Justice Issues]

Soc 363 Corrections (3 cr) [Correctional Institutions and Processes]

Soc 368 Alcoholism: Etiology and Epidemiology (3 cr) [Legal & Moral Dilemmas in Criminal Justice]

Soc 465 Police and Society (3 cr) [Innovations in Police Policy and Management]

Soc 467 Sociology of Law (3 cr) [Criminal Law]

Internship (6 credits)

Soc 461 Internship in Law and Criminal Justice

12 additional credits must be selected from among five areas; at least 2 courses--6 credits--must be selected from one area:

1. Substance Abuse and Crime

Soc 367 Drugs and Society (3 credits)

Soc 369 Alcohol and Substance Abuse: Treatment and Prevention (3 credits)

Soc 469 Alcohol and Other Drug Agency Experience (6 credits; requires 12-15

hours of fieldwork per week, plus 3 hours of class per week)

Wost 180B Women and Addiction(l credit)

2. Community and Social Problems

Anth 252 Urban Anthropology (3 credits)

Anth 258 Anthropology and Social Issues (3 credits)

PhilC108 Moral and Social Problems (3 credits)

Polsci 344 Problems of Urban Politics (3 credits)

Soc 160 Social Problems (3 credits)

Soc 316 Family Violence in America (3 credits)

Soc 367 Drugs and Society (3 credits)

Soc 464 Practicum in Corrections (6 credits)

3. Mental Health Law and Crime

Phil C265 Sanity and Madness (3 credits)

Psych 215 Abnormal Psychology (3 credits)

Soc 261 Social Deviance and Control (3 credits)

Soc 386 Sociology of Mental Health and Illness (3 credits)

4. Youth and Crime

Soc 201 Youth and Society (3 credits)

Soc 362 Juvenile Delinquency (3 credits)

Soc 462 Internship in Law and Juvenile Justice (6 credits)

Psych 241 Infancy and Child Development (3 credits)

Psych 344 Personality Development (3 credits)

5. Law and Public Policy

Polsci 329 American Constitutional Law and Theory (3 credits)

Polsci 332 Civil Liberties in the United States (3 credits)

Phil 290 Philosophy of Law (3 credits)

Phil 215 Philosophical Foundations of Public Policy (3 credits)

Wost 330 Women and Public Policy (3 credits)

Students interested in combining a major in Sociology with a major in Criminal Justice may double count two courses (Sec 10l-Introduction to Sociology and Soc 351-Methods of Sociological Research), making the second major easier to complete. Thus, a Criminal Justice major who wanted a second major in Sociology would take eight Sociology courses in addition to those used to satisfy the Criminal Justice Major requirements. These additional courses must include:

Soc 341 Elements of Sociological Theory

At least one other 300- or 400-level Sociology Course

Six other Sociology courses at any level

All other requirements for each major apply, as described above.

Major in Sociology, Minor in Criminal Justice

A 21-credit minor in Criminal Justice is also available. Students interested in combining a minor in Criminal Justice with a major in Sociology will be able to double count two courses, making the minor easier to complete. The following courses are required:

Soc 262 Criminology or CPCS Crime, Justice & Society

Soc 467 Sociology of Law or CPCS Criminal Law

Soc 465 Police & Society or Soc 363 Corrections

Soc 321 Race & Ethnic Relations or Soc 368 Alcoholism: Etiology & Epidemiology

CRJ minors must also take 3 electives (9 credits) chosen from the criminal justice courses. Any two of the sociology courses taken in the minor may also count toward the major in Sociology. Within the minor, up to two courses may be taken from among CPCS Criminal Justice courses.

Major in Criminal Justice, Minor in Sociology

Students interested in combining a minor in Sociology with a major in Criminal Justice may double count two courses(Soc I01-Introduction to Sociology and Soc 351-Methods of Sociological Research), making the minor easier to complete. A Criminal Justice major who wanted a minor in Sociology would thus take four other Sociology courses, including: Soc 341 Elements of Sociological Theory. Three other Sociology courses at any level. All other requirements for the major and minor would apply, as described above.

Special features

Every Criminal Justice major is required to complete an internship. Additional internship opportunities are available occasionally as electives (Internship in Law and Juvenile Justice and Practicum in Corrections). Student interns are placed in a variety of settings including: law enforcement and correctional agencies; public and private research units; policy-making and legislative bodies; court settings; probation and parole units; and a variety of human service agencies connected to the criminal justice system.

The Criminal Justice Program involves a unique curricular collaboration with the College of Community and Public Service. The Liberal Arts major was designed to parallel the existing offerings in the CPCS Criminal Justice program. Criminal Justice majors can take up to four courses offered in CPCS, where they are exposed to competency-based instruction and to an older student body that includes many professionals already employed in the field.

Availability

Many Criminal Justice courses are offered in extended, weekends, off-site, and during the summer and winter sessions. Due to a shortage of full-time faculty, several required courses are offered regularly by part-time faculty, including Police and Society, Sociology of Law, and Corrections.

The Criminal Justice Program has taken a leadership role in making its curriculum available to working professionals and to students outside of Boston. Courses are now offered for MBTA transit police at an MBTA building. In cooperation with Continuing Education, Criminal Justice has begun to offer courses at Quincy Junior College and it will soon offer evening courses at Boston College High School.

Alcohol and Substance Abuse Studies

The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Studies (ASAS) Program offers a flexible curriculum in alcohol, drug, and other addiction problems for degree-seeking and certificate students. Non-degree students must complete 18 semester hours for the ASAS certificate, while sociology majors must earn 24 semester hours in ASAS (some of which also count toward the sociology major). ASAS is administered through the Department of Sociology.

Core courses emphasize theory and research and provide opportunities to gain practical experience in the delivery of treatment, prevention, or educational services and in research and policy-oriented settings. Elective courses address a wide range of topics including the psychological and sociological aspects of alcohol and other drug use, substance abuse and the family, alcohol and crime, treatment and prevention, and counseling approaches. Components in many courses focus on special topics such as: HIV/AIDS; co-dependency; Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous and other self-help approaches; professional ethics; drug-involved offenders; substance abuse among the homeless; dual diagnoses; housing needs during after-care; employee assistance programs; traffic safety; drug testing; and legislation and policy-making. Depending on student needs and career objectives, enrollment in a limited number of courses emphasizing basic research, evaluation, counseling skills or theory is possible. Faculty advisors work with students to develop a curriculum suitable to their interests. All courses are selected from an approved list in Sociology, Psychology, and, with permission, the graduate program in Rehabilitation Counseling.

ASAS core courses attract full- and part-time students from a wide variety of backgrounds, including those who have completed treatment or recovery programs. This diversity of personal, educational, and work-related experiences promotes dynamic classroom and learning environments.

Graduate Program in Applied Sociology

Structure & requirements

Candidates for the MA degree earn a minimum of 36 semester credits, at least 30 of which must be in courses offered in the program. Students must have an overall grade point average of 3.0 in order to graduate. Specific requirements include two courses in research methods, one in complex organizations or applied theory, two courses in social policy or social problems, and two courses in a substantive area: medical sociology, criminology, or social policy. Students must complete an internship requirement (although it may be waived given prior experience) as well as a capstone: a thesis, a comprehensive exam, or a research paper. Each capstone experience is graded by at least two faculty members (three committee members grade the thesis, although one may be an agency or other representative).

Special features

Several interdisciplinary concentrations are available. Students can concentrate in Dispute Resolution or Gerontology by completing at least two courses offered by these programs. With the permission of these other graduate programs, they can go on to earn graduate certificates in these areas. Students can also participate in their second year in the year-long Survey Research Practicum taught by professional staff at the Center for Survey Research.

Availability

All courses in the Graduate Program are offered in the extended day schedule (4:30 or later) one night per week for 2.5 hours. This approach maximizes the availability of the courses to working students.

Forensics Services Graduate Certificate Program

Forensics Services encompasses criminal investigation, psychological assessment and evaluation, law, and the workings of related social service systems. The Graduate Certificate Program in Forensic Services is designed to provide a strong grounding in behavioral sciences, while at the same time offering practical skills and competencies in mental health and criminal justice, thus enabling students to serve as effective professionals in a variety of social service settings. Candidates must complete five three-credit courses and a one-credit field experience. Four of the five courses are from the UMass Boston graduate programs in Applied Sociology, Clinical Psychology, and Counseling. The fifth is taught by faculty from the Department of Psychiatry at Umass Medical School. An advisory board with substantial community representation provides program guidance.

Advising system

Professor Estelle Disch serves as Advising Coordinator for the Department of Sociology. Our advising system now includes using advising holds to ensure student participation in advising and use of a central scheduling book in the department office to facilitate appointments. All full-time faculty must advise for at least eight hours during the advising period and complete a form that our secretary uses to lift the student’s advising hold. Our Sociology Handbook, compiled by Professor Disch, provides students with an accessible source of information and guidance about requirements and curricular options.

Co-curricular activities

The Department supports co-curricular activities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. These activities provide students with opportunities to develop supportive relations with both peers and faculty members, gain recognition for outstanding performance, and add greater depth to their academic experience.

Sociology majors with a GPA of 3.0 in Sociology and the college are eligible for admission to the international sociology honor society, Alpha Kappa Delta. New members are inducted in an annual department ceremony and are recognized in the University’s honors night. Each year, we host an alumni dinner, which has now become a senior/alumni dinner. Alumni review their post-UMass careers and meet our upcoming graduates. Feedback indicates that the experience is a valuable one for all in attendance. We also publish an annual departmental newsletter, which is used as a tool for communicating departmental activities to undergraduates and for recruiting new students to the program. We also encourage opportunities for our top students to be recognized. This spring one of our social psychology majors is presenting a research methods paper at the Massachusetts undergraduate research conference.

Our graduate students maintain an active club that is registered as an official campus student organization. In the last two years, the students have published two issues of a new, highly professional journal, which has drawn attention to the program and is used as a recruiting tool. Work on the journal serves to inform students about the research of their peers and itself provides a productive collegial learning experience. Several students active in the club worked at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society in Boston this year and joined the ESS as a result.

Graduate students also engage with faculty in extra-curricular activities. An introductory semester-long seminar introduces graduate students to all the sociology faculty and to university and community resources. Many students have participated in research projects as assistants to faculty and as interns at the Center for Survey Research and various public and non-profit organizations where faculty are engaged in research. Graduate students have presented scholarly papers at meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society, the American Sociological Association, the Academy for Criminal Justice Sciences, and others. Our Blackwell Fellowship program has provided several talented minority students an opportunity to work on research in collaboration with the UMass Boston Trotter Institute on African American Culture. An annual holiday party gives students an opportunity for informal socializing with faculty and for meeting program alumni.

Scheduling

We ensure in our course scheduling that all courses required for the sociology major are offered each semester on both MWF and TTh schedules during the day and at least once in the extended day program. We also include each required course in our summer schedule. At least six sections of the introductory course are offered each semester.

With ten required courses, the Criminal Justice major demands very systematic scheduling. The required criminal justice courses are offered at least once each term, with many additional sections offered through Continuing Education and in the summer session.

Schedules are developed for each academic year from a list of courses that must be offered to maintain each program and on the basis of faculty preferences. Our Curriculum Committee develops the entire schedule for state-funded courses, but it uses a schedule for graduate courses that is first formulated by the Graduate Program Director and a schedule for Criminal Justice offerings that is devised by the CRJ Program Director.

Description of Human and Material Resources

Full-time faculty

The Department of Sociology currently has 14 full-time members (see list). One is retiring this spring (Sharon Stichter) and we have hired one new Assistant Professor to begin this fall (Nancy Lopez), but her appointment in Sociology is only half-time (she also has a half-time appointment to the Gaston Institute). Criminology/criminal justice is one of two areas of greatest faculty strength: four faculty have primary commitments in this area, including both of our two junior faculty members (Deng and Hartwell; Garrett and Larson are senior). Two other faculty members have secondary interests in the area of criminal justice (Movahedi and Schutt). One criminal justice faculty member (Larson) is due to retire next fall. The sociology of mental health and related issues is another area of faculty strength, with six faculty members conducting research and/or teaching in this area (including one, Hartwell, who also teaches criminal justice courses and another, Movahedi, whose secondary area of expertise is criminology; others are Benson, Disch, Gore, Schutt). Other faculty teach and conduct research in the broad area of social policy and social diversity (Brill, Cordilia, Disch, Jacobs, Kronish, Stichter). Two of these faculty members focus on international and comparative issues (Cordilia and Stichter), but one of them retires this spring.

Four full-time regularly teach research methods courses (Deng, Gore, Movahedi, Schutt), but we have only full-time faculty member (Jacobs) who offers our required course in social theory (which Larson also used to teach). Alcohol and substance abuse is a focus of two full-time faculty members (Garrett and Hartwell), although a sociologist in the College of Public and Community Service Criminal Justice Program also has taught regularly substance abuse courses.

All faculty are eligible to teach in the graduate program; there are eight who do so regularly (Benson, Gore, Hartwell, Jacobs, Kronish, Larson, Movahedi, Schutt). Professor Emeritus Dentler also usually teaches one graduate course per year and we have recently drawn on sociologists from other units to offer graduate courses (Cardarelli, Woody). All faculty who teach in the graduate program also regularly offer undergraduate courses (with the exception of Department Chair Schutt).

The normal courseload for full-time faculty at UMass Boston is three per semester. Several faculty teach courses that are cross-listed with other departments (Cordilia, Stichter), but few offer courses that are entirely outside of the department (Disch). Many faculty have course-load reductions for service obligations within the department (Garrett, Hartwell, Larson, Movahedi, Schutt) or outside it (Cordilia, Disch). Only one faculty member routinely has courseload reductions funded by research grants (Gore). In the Spring, 1999, 14 sociology faculty were teaching 32 sections (sections sections with more than 80 students are counted as two sections; 3 faculty members were teaching such large sections). One faculty member was on sabbatical and another had a pre-retirement courseload reduction of one. One faculty member was teaching a course outside of the department (that was open to sociology graduate students); one faculty member had a two-course load reduction paid for by a research grant, two faculty members had one-course load reductions for program administration, and the chair had a two-course load reduction.

Full-time Sociology Faculty and their Areas of Expertise

Full-time faculty positions in sociology declined markedly in the late 1980s, from 20 in 1987 to 13 in 1998 (figure 1). This decline was due to numerous retirements rather than a retrenchment policy, but the consequence is that we have had to rely on increasing numbers of part-time faculty in order to staff our courses. From the social science department with the largest faculty in 1987, we have become the next to smallest. As another result of our inability to replace our retired faculty members, we have very few junior faculty. In fact, there was never more than one junior faculty member in the department between 1986 and 1997, when the number of junior faculty rose to two. (Our new half-time tenure track sociologist will bring the number of junior faculty to 2.5, in Professor Deng’s tenure-decision year.)

Figure 1

Part-time faculty

Since the number of students studying majors offered by the Department of Sociology has grown without a proportionate rise in the number of full-time faculty positions, we have had to rely increasingly on part-time faculty. Eleven or twelve course sections were taught by part-time faculty in the Fall and Spring semesters, 1998-1999. Approximately one-third of student course hours were taught by part-time instructors (based on student course evaluation data).

Wherever possible and appropriate, we have invited sociologists in other units on campus to teach courses for us. We have given adjunct appointments to sociologists from the McCormack Institute, the Joyner Center, and the College of Public and Community Service in recognition of their willingness to teach one or two courses for us each semester.

The Department has not used graduate students to teach our state-funded courses, but between 5 and 10 graduate students work as teaching assistants each semester. These students grade papers and exams, provide tutoring, lead discussions, and give occasional lectures. Teaching assistants in research methods courses often have primary responsibility for assisting students with computer usage. All teaching assistants are funded by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research.

Professional and classified staff

The Department of Sociology employs no professional staff and only one full-time classified staff person. This level of regular staffing is inadequate for a department that offers courses approximately 14 hours four days per week, and eight hours on Friday (with additional Continuing Education courses on Friday evening and weekends). We have been able to provide a minimal level of student services by employing a half-time work-study student and using a graduate assistant in the main office on a part-time basis. We have also increased our support resources through arrangements with the CAS Criminal Justice major and the new graduate forensics program. The Criminal Justice program has also employed two graduate assistants in its office on a half-time basis. Both of these students are often available to relieve sociology staff when the main office would otherwise be unstaffed. State Police funding to the Forensics Program now also supports a part-time staff position. We have used this funding to change to full-time the employment of a recent Applied Sociology MA recipient working for the Criminal Justice program (who formerly was employed as a graduate assistant in that program). This provides more regular support to both the Criminal Justice and Forensics programs and allows effective coordination with the sociology office.

Physical resources

Research resources available to students through the Department of Sociology, Computing Services, and the Centers and Institutes can support the full range of research and scholarly activities required of sociology students. These resources include: computers for data processing, statistical calculations, word processing, graphical displays and e-mail; hardware for creating multimedia products and recording observations in the field; data archives for secondary analyses of unlimited social science research questions; and survey research facilities for administering phone and mailed surveys. All campus computers have high-speed internet access and are equipped with Web browsers.

UMass Boston students have access to a wide range of advanced computer resources for statistical calculation, document preparation, and multimedia applications. For graduate students, the Graduate Research Computer Lab offers 450 MhZ Dell PCs with advanced printers; a Write Once CD-ROM system; and Apple Quicktake digital cameras. Other campus labs offer more than 150 PCs (Pentium or 486) and 100 Power MACs. Installed lab software includes Microsoft Office Professional (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access), Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect, Netscape, Stata, and SPSS (Student version in most labs). The Department of Sociology maintains five Pentium-based PCs for graduate student use. One computer is in each of two offices used by graduate assistants, and two are in a separate room. The other computer used by graduate students is in a small storage room. Graduate students who work as assistants for the Criminal Justice Program also have access to a computer in that program’s office. As the number of graduate students has risen in the past two years, this level of computer support has proven to be very inadequate.

These computational resources are complemented by extensive social science data archives and access to ongoing social science research projects. Through the Social and Demographic Research Institute at UMass Amherst, students have access to data obtained from Gallup polls, surveys of prison inmates, observations of plea bargaining, records of Massachusetts court cases, and over 150 other studies of national and local populations. Through the Center for Survey Research at UMass Boston, students can collaborate on survey research projects or, in some cases, obtain part-time employment. Ongoing faculty research provide opportunities for student thesis and honors projects.

Office space has become a source of concern in the last year. Graduate teaching assistants share office space with several part-time faculty. There is no storage space in which to archive materials from research projects or store student papers.

Library use

The University’s Healey Library provides on-line reference access to the social science journal literature through Soc Abstracts, PsychLit, Uncover, and other services. Other references databases are available on CD-ROM. In addition to its own holdings, the library is a member of the Boston Library Consortium, through which students can use academic libraries throughout the Boston area. The Healey Library supports all research and curricular areas in sociology, including criminal justice, social policy, health care, alcohol/substance abuse, complex organizations, and research methods. The serials collection includes 106 titles in sociology, 30 titles in criminal justice, and 86 in political science, with additional shared holdings in the Boston Library Consortium. The library provides an unmediated, networked document delivery service through which students can order any article without charge from the 17,000-title UnCover database. Other relevant resources include SocioFile, PsycLit, Ageline, Medline, Cinahl, Lexis-Nexis, Congressional Universe, Statistical Universe, ArticleFirst (for requests through Interlibrary Loan), and the full-text databases, ExpandedAcademicIndex, and Health Reference Center. The networked WorldCat database indexes the monograph holdings of 4,500 libraries and allows for e-mail requests through the Interlibrary Loan Department.

Student support

This year, about one in five of our graduate students is receiving an assistantship. Most graduate assistants receive stipends of $1000, in addition to tuition remission, for working 10 hours per week. When it can be afforded, graduate assistants are employed for 20 hours per week and receive a $2000 stipend. The Graduate Program Director assigns assistants to faculty based on faculty requests, student interests, and outside funding opportunities. The GPD maintains regular contact with the assistants and the faculty to whom they are assigned. He arranges meetings of faculty and assistants to discuss the work assigned in the rare instances when disagreements arise. The Office of Graduate Studies and Research funds all teaching assistantships. Research assistantships are funded by external sources, including research grants to faculty members and research contracts with local organizations.

Operating budget

The department’s operational budget for FY99 was 25,780. Most (most personnel expenses were not included in this amount, except for $4,568 for one part-time instructor and $875 for a work study student employee). Most of these funds are allocated for postage ($2,200) and telephone ($12,200) changes. We were allocated $4,250 for supplies and copying.

Our operational budget is supplemented by funds that are specially designated to enhance faculty scholarship and research and departmental service activities. Research Trust Fund allocations vary each year in proportion to overhead by faculty research grants. In recent years we have received between $5,000 and $10,000 in RTF funds. These are distributed solely to support faculty research projects, travel to present papers, and computer expenses (other intramural grants can also be used for these purposes), as indicated below.

FY97 RTF expenditures

Category Amount Recipient Description/Benefit

Travel: These expenditures supported professional presentations of research results.

$1399.06 Garrett Travel to present talk

740.00 Deng Travel to present paper

422.52 Schutt Travel to present paper

946.50 Disch Travel to present paper

850.00 Movahedi Travel to present paper

175.00 Boyd Travel to present paper (grad student)

500.00 Jacobs Travel to present paper

$5033.08

Computer-related Funds used for maintaining computer equipment used in research and scholarly writing.

2360.84 Gore Computer for research use

20.00 Soc. Monitor stand for dept. computer
145.00 Soc. Computer supplies

350.00 Schutt Statistical software upgrade
159.44 Soc. Printer supplies

109.28 Soc. Printer supplies

450.00 Soc. Printer maintenance contract

65.00 Schutt Printer RAM

30.00 Thornton Software
$3689.56

Research Data Collection Funds used for collection of research data.

$50.00 Disch Voicemail (research support)

527.48 Schutt Survey mailing (postage costs)
353.53 Bebo Research assistant

165.78 Schutt College supplies (survey costs)

1096.79

Total: $9819.43

Student Profile

Over the last decade, the number of students majoring in Sociology programs rose markedly, the mix of majors changed, and the number of graduate students grew. We use a spring 1999 student survey to describe orientations of students in the different majors.

Student Numbers

The number of undergraduate majors in the three sociology programs increased by 53% between the fall 1990 and spring 1999, from 334 to 512. While the number of sociology majors was relatively constant until 1997, varying between 250 and 300, the number of social psychology majors rose steadily after its inception in 1987 to 181 in the spring of 1999 (half of these students are counted for the sociology totals) (figure 2). The opening of the CAS Criminal Justice major in 1987 resulted in a dramatic increase in students in programs sponsored by the Department—after just two years, in spring, 1999, 181 students had declared criminal justice in CAS as their major. The number of Sociology majors declined to 240, the lowest point since 1989, as the number of criminal justice majors climbed.

Figure 2

During this same period, a vigorous new recruitment drive led to a 132% increase in the number of Applied Sociology graduate students, from 31 to 72. The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Studies certificate program contributed only a small number of students throughout the years studied. Overall, the number of students in the Department’s programs increased by 65%, from 361 in fall 1990 to 596 in spring 1999 (figure 3). The Forensics Services Graduate Certificate Program had just begun to accept students during this period.

Figure 3

While the number of students majoring in sociology programs remained relatively stable during most of the last decade and then dramatically increased, the number of full-time faculty did not increase at all. In 1987, the Department of Sociology had 20 full-time faculty, 30% of whom were lost to retirement or moves to other schools. In spring 1999, after two years of rapid growth, the department had only 13 full-time faculty. As a result, the ratio of majors and graduate students to full-time faculty rose from 12 in 1987 to 24 in 1990 and then 43 in 1999 (unlike later years, the 1987 major numbers do not include the small number of students who had declared sociology as a second major) (figure 4). Even these numbers understate the increase in the instructional burden, since the number of graduate students, requiring more intensive instruction, increased as a proportion of the total. This dramatic increase in the ratio of sociology majors to full-time faculty did not occur in any other social science department, several of which experienced sharp declines in this ratio as their number of majors decreased.

Figure 4

*Sociology totals in 1987 and 1988 omit students who declared sociology as a second major.

The total FTE headcount did not change as dramatically between 1993 and 1998 as did the number of majors and graduate students (figure 5). In Fall 1993, the total FTE count was mmm, while in Fall 1998 it had risen to nnn. A more pronounced change occurred in course levels. In 1993, 59% of the Sociology major FTEs were in lower-division courses (100 or 200-level), while in 1998 this percentage had declined to 46% (43% for sociology and criminal justice combined).

The status of students in the three sociology majors differed somewhat in Spring 1999 (figure 6). Just over half the majors in Sociology and Social Psychology were full-time students and between 30 and 40% started at UMB as freshmen. By contrast, three-quarters of CAS Criminal Justice majors were full-time students and almost half had started at UMass Boston as freshmen.

Figure 6

Student Characteristics

Each of the three undergraduate majors in the sociology department serves a diverse mix of students, but the majors differ in several respects (figure 7). In 1998, three-quarters of social psychology majors were female, as were 61% of the sociology majors. About four in ten in both majors were younger than 25 and about half were members of racial minorities. CAS Criminal Justice majors, however, were much more likely to be younger (65% under the age of 25), male (60%), and white (74%). The growth of the Criminal Justice major is thus changing somewhat the diversity profile of the department as a whole.

The specific racial/ethnic identity of the three majors is presented in table 1. The Sociology and Social Psychology had comparable percentages of African American students, but Sociology had slightly higher proportions of Asian and Hispanic students. The main category in which Criminal Justice differed was in the proportion African American, with only 9% compared to about 16% in the two other majors. It should also be noted that fewer Criminal Justice majors used the ambiguous “other” category. If the “others” are assumed to be white, the gap between Criminal Justice and the other two majors in proportion minority narrows somewhat.

Table 1

Race/Ethnicity by Major, Spring 1999

Race/Ethnicity	Sociology	PsySoc	CrimJus	Total
Asian	7%	3%	3%	5%
African Am.	16	17	9	14
Hispanic/Cape	8	5	7	7
Non-Res Alien	3	4	0	2
Other	13	19	7	13
White	53	52	74	59
	100%	100%	100%	100%
	(240)	(181)	(181)	(602)

Student Orientations

Students in almost all upper division sociology classes (including those cross-listed with Criminal Justice) were surveyed in class in April, 1999. Among the 285 respondents, 77% had declared a CAS major, 11% had not declared a major; the rest were special students, graduate students, or in CPCS. Among those who had not declared a major, about one-third intended to choose Criminal Justice, about one-third intended to choose Sociology or Social Psychology (about equal numbers chose both), and about one-third intended to choose some other major. We present other survey results classified by declared or intended major.

Student Interests

Students who had declared a major were asked what major they would declare if they could start over again. There were marked differences between the majors in their responses (majors in sociology and any other subject except psychology are classified as sociology majors). Two-thirds of Sociology majors expressed a preference for a change, but 40% were attracted to Social Psychology—for a total of 73% who wished to stay in either Sociology or Social Psychology (table 2). Just 11% expressed a preference for Criminal Justice. Almost two-thirds of the Social Psychology majors wished to remain in this major, with most of those with a different preference choosing a major outside of the Sociology Department. Three-quarters of the Criminal Justice majors were committed to remaining in their major. Only 18% of students with other majors indicated they would declare a Sociology major if they could start over; almost all of these chose Social Psychology.

Table 2

Student survey respondents were asked to rate as low, moderate, or high their interest in a range of specific subjects related to sociology (table 3). Responses varied between the different majors. Social services was the most popular specific interest area for Sociology majors, with almost half rating their interest in this area as “high.” Most other specific areas were rated as of high interest by at least one-third of the Sociology majors. Two-thirds of the Social Psychology majors rated social psychology as of high interest, with no other interest area rated as of “high” interest by more than half. Criminal Justice was a popular interest for both Sociology and Social Psychology majors. Criminal Justice majors had the most focused interests, with almost nine in ten rating criminal justice as of “high” interest. The only other subjects of high interest to more than one-third of the Criminal Justice majors were substance abuse (rated as of high interest by 50%) and social policy/social problems (36%). Interests of students majoring or planning to major in other departments were broadly distributed; health, the most popular area, was rated as of high interest by 45%.

Table 3

Interests by Major

% Expressing High Interest

Topic	Sociology	Social Psych	CRJ	Other
General Sociology	36	46	30	27
Health	29	33	25	45
Social Psych	36	65	27	34
CRJ	40	45	89	38
Substance Abuse	41	35	50	39
Social Services	47	35	20	32
Social Policy/Probs	42	41	36	31
Stratification	34	35	22	28
Family,Gender,Age	43	43	25	36
Social Diversity	36	42	22	32
Media	29	28	15	13

Almost half of the sample chose “graduate or professional school” as their most important goal in the year after completing their undergraduate degree (figure 8). Almost all other respondents chose “start a career” as their primary goal. There were marked differences in these plans between students in the different majors. Social Psychology majors were most likely to declare an interest in graduate school—58%, compared to 45% of Sociology majors and only 34% of Criminal Justice majors.

Figure 8

Graduate School Plan by Major

Student Satisfaction

Students’ overall assessment of the sociology and criminal justice courses they had taken at UMass Boston was high, with 84% rating them as good or outstanding, and only 2% choosing “below average” or “poor.” This rating was highest overall for Sociology majors, followed by Social Psychology and then Criminal Justice majors (figure 9).

When asked to rate the quality of their Sociology/Criminal Justice courses compared to their expectations, 39% of the total sample rated the courses as exceeding their expectations and only 10% rated them as poorer than their expectations. Ratings were somewhat higher for CRJ majors (53% rated the courses as “higher” than their expectations) than for Sociology and Social Psych majors (35-36%). When asked to compare the quality of their UMass Boston education to their expectations, again CRJ majors were somewhat more likely to respond with the “high” rating than Soc or Social Psych majors (46%, compared to 40%).

Students were also asked to indicate their satisfaction with their major in several other ways: in terms of the extent of their agreement with nine statements about their Sociology/CRJ courses; with their satisfaction with eight features of Sociology/CRJ courses, and in terms of the extent to which Sociology/CRJ courses had contributed to their development of skills in 11 different areas. The average responses across each of these areas were comparable for the three sociology majors. On average, respondents “agreed” with positive statements bout the Sociology/CRJ courses, were “dissatisfied” with course features, and rated their Sociology/CRJ courses as contributing between “quite a bit” and “some” to their skill development.

There were several differences between the majors in each of these areas in terms of responses to specific items (table 4). Sociology and Social Psych majors were somewhat more likely to agree statistics should be required (it is not at present for Sociology majors), compared to Criminal Justice majors. Criminal Justice majors were more likely to agree that their courses helped them to acquire knowledge and skills applicable to a job.

Table 4

Percent Agreement with Statements About Soc/CRJ Courses

Statement	Sociology	Social Psych	CRJ	Other
Soc/CRJ valuable	91	95	93	86
Intell. Stimulating	87	94	87	91
PreferMoreDemanding	35	34	28	38
Help Apprec Oth Cltrs	83	89	76	84
Current Research	66	58	46	63
Encourage Diversity	84	84	76	91
Specific Job Skills	68	71	87	71
Think Critically	96	96	94	93
GenEd valuable*	66	63	56	64
Require Stats*	48	51	33	61

*Not included in overall index.

The largest inter-major difference in satisfaction with specific course features was in terms of interaction with faculty: Criminal Justice majors were more likely to agree that there were adequate opportunities for interaction with Sociology/CRJ faculty (table 5).

Table 5

Percent Satisfied with Aspects of Soc/CRJ Courses

Aspect	Sociology	Social Psych	CRJ	Other
Variety of Courses	79	75	82	71
Advanced Class Size	83	86	81	72
Scheduling	72	61	70	82
Learning re Diversity	86	87	94	92
Interaction w Faculty	77	75	90	89
Advising	62	65	74	85
Soc/CRJ Major Overall	92	90	94	97
Career Relevance	80	81	90	83
UMB in General	91	87	89	83

Emphasis on some skills differed between majors. Sociology majors were most likely to report that their Sociology/CRJ courses had helped to improve their writing and their library skills; CRJ majors reported less impact of their courses on their skills (table 6).

Table 6

Contribution of Soc/CRJ Courses to Skills

(% Quite a Bit or Very Much)

Skill	Sociology	Social Psych	CRJ	Other
Writing	59	46	34	27
Speaking	38	41	38	25
Critical Thinking	64	65	56	45
Library Use	55	49	32	41
Quantitative Analysis	37	34	30	32
Computer, InfoTech	33	22	33	20
Working w Others	54	51	51	39
Responsible Citizen	49	54	45	46
Learning on Own	54	59	57	42
Understanding Self	48	54	45	44
Acting Ethically	53	54	50	43

Assessment

The value of our contributions is reflected in our rapidly expanding enrollments, the national recognition of our faculty’s pedagogy, our successful community outreach work, and our substantial scholarly publications.

Teaching and learning

We provide rigorous training in sociological theory and methods in our required courses and use innovative and effective teaching strategies throughout our curriculum. The national recognition achieved by several faculty members for their contributions to pedagogy is important evidence for the success of these curricular efforts (see Faculty Quality and Productivity, below).

Curriculum delivery

Our curriculum is designed to provide a strong foundation for graduate study and an efficient and informed transition to employment. It also offers students many opportunities to use their academic work to gain greater insight into their personal problems and into larger institutional processes that share their own opportunities and perspectives. Approximately 80% of our majors complete at least one internship course, in which they gain practical experience and often secure permanent positions. Our new criminal justice program was designed to be among the most rigorous programs in the United States, with a particular emphasis on training in research methods and exposure to diversity issues (in a required Race and Ethnic Relations course). The design of the social psychology joint major ensures that students develop a strong foundation in the different dimensions of the field.

Sociology majors have traditionally offered students a great deal of flexibility to tailor their coursework to their own interests. This relatively unstructured approach has been changing in the last decade, after the American Sociological Association issued guidelines for sociology majors. Our department has adopted these national standards and, as described earlier, has implemented many of them. Our goal in the next few years is to increase the coherence and developmental organization of the sociology curriculum.

Our Graduate Program in Applied Sociology has served as a national model for developing programs in sociological practice. In an earlier review (D’Antonio, Scherer, and Shostak, 1988), a team of visitors from the American Sociological Association concluded,

In sum, we believe this to be an undervalued program. There is strong student enthusiasm; a good balance between structure and flexibility; a highly successful placement rate; a solid reputation for providing good methodological training, and in general, a satisfactory fit between resources and needs.

These qualities were highlighted in two recent reports published by the American Sociological Association (Hougland et al., 1996; Hougland and Schutt, 1998).

Curriculum quality

Professor Disch is a nationally recognized expert on diversity training and has developed instructional approaches used by faculty at numerous schools. Professor Disch also has led the University’s Center for Improvement of Teaching and advises sociology faculty on course design and instructional approaches. Her edited reader on gender issues is being published in a second edition and she has published several book chapters on teaching techniques and diversity issues. Professor Garrett has led a task force of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (as Past President) that is developing new standards for criminal justice education. Professor Hartwell has trained staff at the State Police and the Department of Mental Health on the problems of dually diagnosed clients. Her teaching has been distinguished by creative approaches to instruction in large lectures, including guest lectures by leading criminal justice practitioners who introduce her classes to the practical implications of their classwork.

Professor Garrett has played a leading role in the Northeast Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in developing curricular standards for criminal justice. His work has informed development of our criminal justice major and is being used to design new standards for internship courses.

Professor Larson has authored or coauthored texts in sociological theory and criminal justice, including Pure & Applied Sociological Theory (Harcourt), Crime, Justice & Society, with Gerald Garrett (General Hall), and Sociological Theory: From the Enlightenment to the Present (General Hall).

Professor Schutt’s research methods text has become one of the leading books in the field, used at more than 300 colleges and universities by more than 10,000 students each year (and the number is still growing) and receiving consistent praise for its quality and accessibility. Previously, his syllabi and assignments for research methods courses were published in national resource volumes. He designed a CD-ROM to provide training on survey question design, with funding from a UMass Information Technology Grant and in collaboration with Dr. Jack Fowler at the Center for Survey Research. This training tool has been used at more than 60 schools. Professor Schutt has served on graduate education committees of both the American Sociological Association and the Eastern Sociological Society and he has co-authored two reports for the American Sociological Association on graduate education (one on Master’s programs and one on training in Applied Sociology).

The commitment of Sociology faculty to quality teaching is also reflected in their participation in the year-long programs of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching. As noted above, Professor Disch has served as CIT director. Faculty CIT participants have included Professors Cordilia, Deng, Hartwell, Schutt, and Stichter.

Several faculty who teach our large introductory sections have used innovative techniques to increase student engagement in the learning process. Professor Cordilia has incorporated Web-based exercises in assignments and has taken students on field trips to local museums. Professor Kronish has developed a senior seminar in which carefully selected students study sociological topics in depth and also lead discussion sections and tutoring sessions in introductory courses.

New Assistant Professor Lopez was an experienced classroom instructor at the City University of New York, winning praise from both students and faculty visitors.

The Department’s Personnel Committee reviews teaching performance each year as part of the Annual Performance Review. The primary focus is on student teaching evaluations, with faculty receiving ratings in the good to excellent range, the top two scores on a four-point scale. Due to our increasing reliance on part-time faculty as our criminal justice program has expanded and the number of sociology majors has grown—without an expansion in our full-time faculty positions, we have instituted a more in-depth teaching review procedure for part-time faculty to inform decisions about course allocation. This review will add to seniority information data from quantitative course evaluations, student comments, and student complaints submitted to the department.

Overall, students rate their experiences in sociology/criminal justice courses as between good and outstanding, on a 4-point scale. Figure 10 presents boxplots of average course evaluation scores for 381 sections offered by the department between fall, 1994 and fall, 1998 (lower scores indicate better ratings, with 1.0 indicating outstanding). Ratings of introductory sections are slightly lower than ratings of other courses. The Asian American Studies courses and the elective 300- and 400-level courses are rated quite highly, with some exceptions. The required theory and methods courses tend to receive somewhat lower evaluations, while internships are rating uniformly highly. The average rating of graduate classes is quite high, but there several sections have been rated below the “good” level. These scores indicate a high level of student satisfaction and do not suggest particular problems in the larger introductory sections. We believe that the lower ratings achieved in some courses indicate the importance of continual monitoring of student evaluations in the context of course requirements.

Figure 10: Student Course Evaluations, 1994-98

Student learning outcomes

The Department of Sociology facilitates student success in learning through a challenging array of courses in the major dimensions of sociology and internship opportunities that encourage the translation of sociological concepts to real world settings. Tenured faculty teach many sections of introductory sociology; in more advanced courses, we assign faculty on the basis of their research and training. Faculty who teach in the graduate program are active researchers and scholars in the areas about which they teach.

Learning goals for the sociology major have been developed by the American Sociological Association (ASA, 1990:28-29), adapted by the department’s Curriculum Committee, and specified for each of the department’s distinct major programs. Each goal refers to a different aspect of sociology about which majors should study, review, and reflect, as well as to the specific related abilities they should master. We also indicate how we seek to foster achievement of each outcome. In a final section, we discuss our developing approach to measure the attainment of these outcomes.

1. The discipline of sociology and its role in understanding social reality. Abilities: describe how sociology compares to other social sciences; describe how sociology contributes to understanding social reality; apply the sociological imagination, principles and concepts to her/his own life.

· This is the primary function of the required introductory course. Most other courses also encourage the application of a sociological perspective to personal experience.

· Syllabi for the introductory course emphasize the importance of this learning outcome and related abilities: “The origins of sociology, the sociological imagination, sociology as a science” (Introductory Sociology, Kronish).

· The same issues are reexamined in other sociology courses: “Look at a person …using a sociological imagination…how …various factors have affected your own life” (Seminar in Urban Social Service, Disch); “how the gender you were assigned in childhood has affected your life and the lives of other women and men in U.S. society” (Sociology of Gender, Disch).

· Almost half of survey respondents felt that Sociology/CRJ courses had contributed quite a bit or very much to their understanding of themselves.

2. The role of theory in sociology. Abilities: define theory and describe its role in building sociological knowledge; compare and contrast basic theoretical orientations; show how theories reflect the historical context of times and cultures in which they were developed; describe and apply some basic theories or theoretical orientations in at least one area of social reality.

· Our required course in social theory concentrates on these issues. “Origins and uses of sociological theory…urbanization, immigration, social reform (Elements of Sociological Theory, Jacobs).

· Most other sociology courses also discuss relevant theories: “How to study deviance and social control scientifically…major theoretical perspectives, …in a cross-cultural context” (Social Deviance and Control, Deng); “penal law theory, the history of penology, jails, prisons…” (Corrections, Larson).

3. The role of evidence and qualitative and quantitative methods in sociology. Abilities: identify basic methodological approaches and compare and contrast the basic methodological approaches for gathering data; design a research study and explain why various decisions were made; conduct effective searches of the research literature; use a statistical package to analyze quantitative data; assess a published research report and explain how the study could have been improved.

· Methods of Research is required of all students. Faculty focus on each of the listed abilities: “ways of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data, and the presentation of research findings” (Research Methods, Gore); “facilitate rational, empirically-based decision making” (Research Methods, Movahedi); “understand the nature, the principles, the logic, and the methods of conducting research” (Research Methods, Deng).

· Social statistics is a popular elective course that is required for applicants to the Graduate Program in Applied Sociology. It is taught with an emphasis on application and interpretation: “Statistical concepts or techniques within the context of their application” (Social Statistics, Movahedi).

· About one-third of the student survey respondents reported that their Sociology/CRJ courses had helped them to learn quantitative analysis.

4. Basic concepts in sociology and their fundamental theoretical interrelations. Abilities: define, give examples, demonstrate the relevance of culture, social change, socialization, stratification, social structure, institutions, differentiation by race/ethnicity, gender, age, and class.

· The required introductory course presents these concepts: “The main purpose of [Introductory Sociology] is to acquaint students with the basic concepts and tools of sociology” (Brill).

· Subsequent courses focus on particular concepts and social sectors: “[Social Problems] will focus on building linkages between particular social problems and their underlying societal causes” (Jacobs); “themes such as socialization, violence, disempowerment and empowerment, work, relationships” (Sociology of Gender, Disch).

5. How culture and social structure operate. Abilities: show how institutions interlink in their effects on each other and on individuals; demonstrate how demographic change, urbanization, or other social changes affect social structures and individuals; causes of social problems; demonstrate how culture and social structure vary across time and place; identify specific policy implications of social structures.

· The role of culture and social structure are presented in comparative courses as well as those that focus on the United States.

· “In [The Sociology of Japan] we will …examine culture and social institutions of the Tokugawa, Taisho, Showa and Heisei eras” (Cordilia); “[Social Change in the Third World] is an introduction to the problems of economic development and social change in developing countries” (Stichter); “cross-cultural issues in helping others” (Seminar in Urban Social Service, Disch); “[Social Problems] will make a careful analysis of [social problems] and try to evaluate existing social policies that may contribute to their decline or perpetuation” (Movahedi).

6. Reciprocal relationships between individuals and society. Abilities: explain how the self develops sociologically; demonstrate how societal and structural factors influence individual behavior and development; demonstrate how social interaction and the self influences society and social structure; distinguish sociological approaches to analyzing the self from psychological, economic, and other approaches.

· This is the primary focus of the Social Psychology Joint Major. Students in the other majors often take courses in this area as electives.

· The Society and the Individual course is provides the primary foundation for these issues: “In [Society & the Individual] we will study the social and cultural construction of thought, feelings, and behavior…the dynamics of everyday social situations and interpersonal events” (Movahedi);

· Many substantive courses highlight relations between individuals and society: “most of the illnesses ..have a significant psychosocial component” (Social Psychological Contexts of Health and Health Care, Gore); “Some questions we will examine take a micro-social viewpoint…and others a macro-social viewpoint” (Medical Sociology, Gore).

· Required psychology courses in the Social Psychology Joint Major also ensure that students gain more in-depth knowledge about the physiological and psychological functioning of individuals.

7. Study in depth within at least one sociological area. Abilities: summarize basic questions and issues in the area; compare and contrast basic theoretical orientations and middle range theories in the area; show how sociology helps understand the area; summarize current research in the area; develop specific policy implications of research and theories in the area.

· Our majors in criminal justice and social psychology, and the courses that define the substance abuse certificate program each provide multiple opportunities and guidance for study in depth.

· More specific learning objectives in the criminal justice major include: the role of crime in society; the role of race, class, gender and culture in affecting who becomes arrested and incarcerated; the structure and function of correctional institutions; the role of addictions in criminal behavior; the roles of police and the legal system.

· For sociology majors, we offer course clusters in social services, public affairs/urban planning, business, international careers, law, and education.

· Graduate students can concentrate in criminology, medical sociology, social policy, dispute resolution, gerontology, or forensic services.

· Course syllabi reflect concerns with comparing theoretical orientations, presenting current research, and specifying policy implications: “Alcohol, Drugs, and Crime …will distinguish legal and policy issues …and contrast criminal justice and public health models” (Hartwell); “The main object [of the Social Policy course] is to understand the social context of social policy” (Brill); “special emphasis [in Crime, Justice, and Society] on criminological theory and concepts, important studies focusing on crime and delinquency” (Garrett); “analyze the effects of substance use and abuse” (Drugs & Society, Hartwell); “major issues and controversies in the definition, identification, and treatment of mental disorders” (Sociology of Mental Health & Illness, Benson).

8. The internal diversity of American society and its place in the international context. Abilities: describe the significance of variations by race, class, gender, and age, making appropriate generalizations.

· Race and ethnic relations is a required course in the criminal justice major and an elective course in the sociology major.

· We offer a popular course in the Sociology of Gender and another in the Sociology of the Black Family.

· We co-host the Asian American Studies Program with the American Studies department. Four courses in the Asian American experience are cross-listed in Sociology and attract many non-sociology majors.

· Professor Cordilia teaches has developed a popular sociology course, A Survey of Asian Societies: China and Japan. Professor Stichter offers a course on Social Change in the Third World and another on Women in Third World Development.

· One of our core courses takes a comparative approach to the study of personality and social structure.

· More than 4 in 5 student survey respondents agreed that their Sociology/CRJ courses had helped them to understand and appreciate other cultures. Nine in ten were satisfied with their opportunities to learn about social diversity in our courses and agreed that the courses encourage understanding of ethnic and cultural diversity.

The American Sociological Association’s Task Force report also suggests more generic learning goals--development of critical thinking and personal values--which must be viewed within the context of the entire liberal arts curriculum.

Our primary method for evaluating our students’ learning outcomes is through in-class papers, examinations, and presentations. We are also instituting several new procedures that facilitate evaluation of our students’ success in terms of these learning outcomes for the entire major experience.

First, we have already instituted a new capstone requirement in which students will be required to integrate what they have learned. Students will write a capstone paper in the context of a senior internship or a special senior seminar. The paper will be graded by two faculty members and will provide the department with feedback on student achievement as a whole. Students who enroll in our new 5-year BA/MA program will be expected to complete a research paper as their capstone experience. The department’s curriculum committee will review random samples of capstone papers and summarize for the entire department their evaluation of student performance.

We also have begun a periodic survey of students enrolled in sociology courses. This survey allows us to learn from students themselves how they perceive the adequacy of their education in the major and what their unmet educational goals are. Our first such survey formed the foundation of our ACE/Kellogg research on the criminal justice program (see appendix). The second sociology student survey results are presented in this Self Study. We will continue to refine and use this survey approach.

We expect to collaborate with the Office of Institutional Research on a survey of alumni who had majored in sociology, social psychology, or criminal justice. This survey will allow us to evaluate the utility of our majors as career and graduate school preparation. We will also support OIR inquiries into the sources of program drop outs. The sociology graduation rate after eight or more years is currently 64.7, with 59.2% of those who begin UMass Boston as freshmen graduating. These rates are comparable to those in other UMass Boston social science majors, but are low enough to suggest the possibility of improvement.

Professional service and outreach

The Department of Sociology has an extensive record of service to the university, the community and the profession. A great deal of the Department’s teaching and research has a substantial service component and our graduates help to bring the skills of sociologists into service to the communities and organizations in which they work.

The departments’ four undergraduate internship courses place sociology students in criminal justice, health care, and human service settings. These students make important contributions to the work of many local organizations and often secure employment as a result. Applied Sociology graduate students must complete an internship and often make important contributions to research and service in the agencies in which they work. Internships often lead to thesis projects and sometimes in employment. Recent service-oriented graduate internship and related research projects include a study of HIV/AIDS prevention services in homeless shelters on behalf of a state-funded project, evaluating applicants to an employment services program for homeless persons, studying medical students attitudes toward mental illness in collaboration with the director of clinical services at a local community mental health center, and working with the State Police Behavioral Sciences Unit to develop our forensics program.

Community service has been a key focus for many sociology faculty. Professor Garrett served for several years on the certification committee of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council and has advised various local organizations. Professor Disch is the co-director of BASTA!, Boston Associates to Stop Treatment Abuse, and leads workshops for professionals and abuse survivors. Professor Movahedi directs research at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. Professor Hartwell maintains close relations with the Behavioral Science Unit of the Massachusetts State Police, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health’s Forensic Services unit, and the Community Partnership Vocational Rehabilitation Program at the Edith Nourse Rogers Veterans Hospital. Professor Gore’s current NIMH-funded research on the transition from high school to work involves a collaboration with public high schools in six local communities and a technical vocational high school. For these schools, her research fulfills a state requirement to survey their graduates’ career experiences. Professor Cordilia assisted local high school teachers to integrate East Asia into their social studies curriculum in 1993. Professor Schutt conducts research in collaboration with local homeless shelters, an employment services program for homeless persons, an HIV/AIDS prevention program for homeless persons, and studies of stigma and mental illness in collaboration with faculty at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Professor Jacobs assess organizational climate as a member of Interactions Associates and has recently served on the Hispanic Commission of Chelsea.

Professor Kronish serves as Chairman of the Board of the First Trade Union Bank, a union-owned bank which he helped to establish and which finances affordable housing through the metropolitan area. He also administered a union trust fund which conducted training, research, and outreach activities. Professor Kronish served until 1998 on the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency. He also has developed new work in the area of cancer treatment, organizing an international conference on gynecological cancer in collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Several sociology faculty have made key contributions to professional organizations.

Professor Garrett is currently President of the Northeastern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences and has served as President of the International Coalition of Addictions Studies Education. Professor Garrett has also served on numerous boards and task forces concerning substance abuse and has consulted to substance abuse and criminal justice agencies at the federal and state levels. In 1998, he received an award for Distinguished and Scholarship in Alcohol and Other Drug Studies from the International Coalition of Addiction Studies Education. Professor Gore has been active in both the Medical Sociology and Mental Health sections of the American Sociological Association, and has served numerous times as Associate Editor of the ASA’s prestigious Journal of Health and Social Behavior and is currently on the board of the Journal of Research on Adolescence.

Professor Glenn Jacobs has served on the advisory board of the Gaston Institute for more than a decade. He has been a member of the Institute’s educational research group and also has been affiliated with a leadership program in which faculty mentor Latino students. Professor Movahedi received in 1995 the Vision Award from the National Society for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis for his contributions to education.

Professor Schutt is Secretary of the Eastern Sociological Society (1998-2000) and has chaired or co-chaired committees and subcommittees of the ESS and the American Sociological Association on graduate education, training in sociological practice, outstanding graduate student papers in complex organizations, and computers and electronic networking. He also has served as Associate Editor of the ASA journal, Teaching Sociology.

Sociology faculty have served on a wide range of University governance bodies and task forces, including the Institutional Review Board, the College Senate, the University Faculty Council, the Board of Trustees, the Center for the Improvement of Teaching, the General Education Steering Committee, the Search Committee for a McCormack Institute Director, the Athletic Committee, the Rhodes Scholarship Committee, the Graduate Studies Committee, the Y2K Task Force, and the Committee on Teacher Evaluation.

Faculty scholarship

Sociology faculty maintain high standards of quality and productivity in their research and scholarly writing. Their interrelated contributions in scholarship and service, and often overlapping contributions in teaching, have made important contributions to scholarship on major social issues and with respect to key public policy debates.

The research of our faculty is distinguished by its attention to social problems that are central concerns in the University’s urban environment. This research most often has strong social policy implications and many interdisciplinary connections. The most productive research areas for sociology faculty have been in the areas that serve as the foci of our graduate program: medical sociology and criminology.

Professor Gore’s research is on psychosocial processes influencing mental health, with a focus on primary prevention and intervention. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health for 18 years and is conducted in collaboration with the Center for Survey Research. She is currently supported by a $2 million NIMH grant that seeks to understand how both families and schools contribute to young people’s success in coping with the challenges of adulthood. The multiple social policy implications of this research include how to help high school students move into careers and how to reduce the high prevalence of mental health problems during adulthood.

Professor Benson studies mental health treatment and policy. With others at UMass, he studied the closure of three state psychiatric state hospitals. He co-edited an edition of the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry on mental health programs and policy in ten countries. He is now developing new research on families coping with child disabilities.

Professor Movahedi’s research focuses primarily on issues in social psychology, social psychiatry, methodology, and the philosophy of science. He has studied the social-psychological and cultural bases of self-destructive behavior, cross-cultural patterns in the conception of time and the relationship between language and therapeutic response. Professor Disch studies sexual abuse by professionals, recently presenting the keynote address at a conference sponsored by the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Professor Deng’s research has concentrated on two issues in criminology: theoretically-based explanations of the motives for crime and deviant behavior and the generalizability of Western criminological theories to the Chinese cultural context. His research on crime and deviance has used quantitative analysis of motivations for shop-lifting and has led to policy recommendations for reducing recidivism and improving store security. His comparative research has been primarily qualitative, drawing on historical and case records on responses to crime. Professor Larson’s current scholarly focus is reflected in a new book, Family Violence and Deviancy, under contract to Allyn & Bacon (with CPCS faculty members Mignon and Holmes).

Professor Dentler, professor emeritus, brings to the Department of Sociology expertise in the sociology of education and the wisdom of a long career in evaluation research. He has recently co-authored a book on the determinants of school district success in hosting incoming lingual and ethnic minority students. He is also leading the evaluation of the desegregation efforts of several school districts.

Professor Hartwell is the program evaluator for a new Forensic Transition Team project of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. She also has studied the effectiveness of a new substance abuse prevention program that she helped to devise at UMass Boston.

Professor Schutt conducts research on homelessness and mental health, organizations and occupations, and law, often collaborating with faculty at other universities (Harvard Medical School and Boston University) and with local practitioners (including researchers at the Veterans Administration) and frequently including graduate students as assistants. He was a co-investigator on the Boston McKinney Project, a randomized trial of housing alternatives for homeless mentally ill individuals funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and continues to co-author publications based on this research. He also is studying medical student knowledge of psychiatric illness in collaboration with a psychiatrist at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, with whom he also designed and conducted a content analysis of the media’s treatment of schizophrenia.

In other current research, Professor Schutt has studied the outcomes of the five NIMH projects funded by the NIMH McKinney program, in collaboration with principal investigators at four other sites. He has served as a co-investigator in a study of housing alternatives in Mobile, Alabama developed by the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University and continues to work with the Center on research. Professor Schutt’s recent research related to organizations and occupations has focused on shelters for homeless persons and the staff who work in them as well as on an employment services program for homeless persons. He also has been developing new research on processes of transition in Eastern Europe, building on his earlier research on organizational change and in collaboration with colleague Professor Siamak Movahedi and an alumnus of the Graduate Program in Applied Sociology.

The research of other faculty members has focused on a range of social processes, including gender relations and international comparative studies. Professor Cordilia has focused in the last decade on comparative research about Japan and China, with a primary focus on education in Japan and the United States and social control in China. Professor Stichter has continued her scholarly writing on African women and employment and family issues. Professor Jacobs has recently studied the impact of Boston University’s control of the Chelsea school system and continues research on social and religious aspects of religion, with an emphasis on Cuba. He has also recently collaborated with CPCS faculty in research on Latino nationality groups and academic success.

New Assistant Professor Lopez brings additional strengths to the faculty. She studies urban education, with a particular focus on the problems of women and Latino and Latina students in the public schools. As a methodologist, she has developed expertise in the qualitative methods, including focus groups, intensive interviews, and participant observation.

Resource use

We have developed many innovative approaches to effective and efficient utilization of our limited resources. Whenever possible, we have collaborated with other units to develop new programs or secure other resources. We have reached out to community organizations to develop funding for faculty and student research and for program development. We have begun to offer some distance learning opportunities and we have expanded the size of many classes.

· The CAS Criminal Justice major pools resources from CPCS and CAS, allowing us to offer an entirely new major without creating a new department or designing new courses. We have also coordinated hours of assistants working for Criminal Justice with Sociology staff to improve our Department’s accessibility to students throughout the day and evening.

· Professor Gore has worked collaboratively with the Center for Survey Research for 20 years. The CSR infrastructure has been vital to the success of her research and has also provided a setting in which Applied Sociology graduate students learn about survey research through internships, research assistantships on Professor Gore’s projects, and paid staff positions.

· We supported development of the Center for Survey Research graduate practicum as a new university-wide graduate training program in survey research. Several Sociology graduate students are enrolled in it and we have given adjunct appointments to sociologists at CSR who contribute to it. This practicum allows our students to receive much more advanced training in survey research without requiring a position in sociology dedicated to this area.

· The Forensic Services Program has resulted in UMass Boston receiving a grant from the State Police (to develop a MA program in the Counseling Psychology program) and to an arrangement with the State Police and the Department of Mental Health to cosponsor a statewide conference. We expect this program to continue to generate research and service opportunities for our faculty and graduate students.

· In the fall, 1999, we collaborated with the Gaston Institute to recruit a sociologist who would conduct research on Hispanic issues at the Gaston on a half-time basis, while teaching three courses each year in Sociology. This collaboration resulted in recruitment of a very talented Latina sociologist who will teach Race and Ethnic Relations and Sociology of Education for us.

· Four Asian American Studies courses are cross-listed in Sociology, but are staffed by faculty from other units. These courses provide our majors with opportunities to enrich their understanding of Asian cultures with courses taught by area specialists.

· Professor Cordilia has directed the East Asian Studies program and has added to her regular teaching load a course on Japanese society. This course draws more Asian students into sociology and also provides sociology majors with another opportunity to study other cultures and issues involving human diversity.

· The Social Psychology Joint Major pools courses from both departments so that students can receive a rigorous, interdisciplinary education in this major subfield without our disciplines. It requires no additional resources to administer.

· Professor Jacobs has taught Qualitative Methods in the Gerontology Ph.D. Program, providing an important service to that program while creating an opportunity for our graduate students to study qualitative methods.

· In recent years, we have reached out to sociologists across UMass Boston in order to enrich our course offerings. We have given adjunct appointments to, and scheduled courses with sociologists at the Center for Survey Research, the McCormack Institute, CPCS, the Office of Institutional Research, and the Joiner Institute.

· The Graduate Program in Applied Sociology maintains special concentrations in Dispute Resolution and Gerontology, in collaboration with the graduate programs offered in these areas by other units on campus. These concentrations allow students to specialize in these areas by taking courses in the other programs, after they have completed their core courses in Applied Sociology.

· We sponsor the Blackwell Fellowship and Prize Program in order to stimulate minority student recruitment and to develop graduate student research opportunities. Although the University no longer collaborates in fund-raising for this program, we have been able to sponsor two Blackwell Fellows in the last two years. These graduate students work on research at the University’s Trotter Institute.

· Sociology faculty obtain external research funding from a variety of sources. Professor Gore recently received a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to fund research in collaboration with the Center for Survey Research on the transition from high school to the labor force. Professor Movahedi conducts research in collaboration with the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute. Professor Hartwell has conducted research on addiction technology. Professor Schutt has ongoing research projects with local homeless services programs, as well as collaborative research studies of mental health issues with faculty at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Professor Benson is now developing research on family stress and child disabilities in collaboration with the Center for Social Development and Education. Each of these projects generates research opportunities and funding for graduate students.

· The Department is also developing opportunities for maximizing our teaching effectiveness with distance learning. Professors Hartwell and Schutt attended the 1999 University-sponsored distance learning workshop and plan to develop distance learning components in the forensics program.

· We also have sponsored large 100-student sections of our introductory course to serve the greatest possible number of undergraduates. Professor Kronish has designed a peer-directed tutoring component for one of these sections, using students in an honors seminar for senior majors. Professor Cordilia has developed innovative group learning projects to ensure individualized instruction in another section.

Office space is in short supply in the Department of Sociology. Three or more part-time faculty are assigned to two offices, one of which also serves as an office for several graduate teaching assistants. Graduate teaching assistants also use one other office, and we expect to move several graduate assistants into a secretarial office. Other graduate assistants use the criminal justice office and a storage office.

Future Plans

Planning for curricular and other departmental changes has grown out of the ongoing process of managing and reviewing department activities. The new university-wide AQUAD review process has also focused attention on planning in relation to explicit long-range goals and specific objectives.

The department chair handles much routine department business, frequently assisted by program directors, the department’s Executive Committee, and chairs of departmental committees in the areas of Graduate Program, Personnel, Curriculum, Social Affairs (also responsible for publicity and alumni relations). Primary authority resides in the full-time faculty as a unit. The entire faculty meets monthly to make decisions about departmental policy and to plan programmatic changes. Departmental committees review operations and issues on an ongoing basis and often are the source of proposals for change. The Chair also presents issues to the faculty and proposes changes based on information transmitted to chairs at administrative meetings.

The administration of each program within the Department of Sociology is tailored to that program’s structure. The Sociology major is administered entirely within the Department, so its curriculum is planned and evaluated by our Curriculum Committee and in general departmental meetings. The Criminal Justice Program is administered in cooperation with the College of Community and Public Service Criminal Justice Program (see appendix). Faculty governance charged a joint advisory committee with policy formulation and curricular planning for the joint program. Sociology representatives on this committee are expected to report back to the department, which reviews changes pertaining to sociology courses and faculty.

The department’s Graduate Committee provides advice and consultation to the Graduate Program Director. All curricular changes are submitted to the department faculty for approval. The Forensics Services Certificate Program includes courses in Psychology, Counseling Psychology, and at the UMass Medical School. The certificate program is administered by a committee composed of representatives from each of these units, as well as from the State Police Behavioral Sciences Unit and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (see appendix). Course offerings and curricular changes must be coordinated with Continuing Education, which sponsors at least some of the Forensics Services courses each year. An Advisory Board was formed this spring to facilitate program review and planning by leading practitioners.

Our planning process has led to substantial progress on each of our long-range goals and we have achieved many specific objectives. Our planning priorities in the next review period focus on unachieved objectives and on new concerns that have emerged due to recent changes. This last section reviews changes that we have made in our programs and identifies these new priorities.

Undergraduate Education

We have added to our undergraduate programs and have begun a process of change in the sociology major. Several new issues have emerged.

Goal A: To improve understanding of sociological theory, methods, and substance.

1. to change the structure of the major to increase intellectual development.

We planned some restructuring of our major requirements in response to the recommendations of an American Sociological Association Task Force on the sociology major, which was in turn prompted by the Association of American Colleges’ National Review of Arts and Sciences Majors in 1990 (ASA, 1990). As reflected in earlier sections of our Self Study, the Task Force urged more structure and sequencing in the sociology major. We also have taken into account in our planning a review of the sociology major requirements at most of the Urban 27 universities. This review indicated that our department is average or a bit below average in its major requirements compared to other urban public universities. Half of the other urban departments require at least three more credit hours than our 30, 60% have more specific specific required courses than our 3, and one-third already have a capstone requirement.

We will assess the results of this change as we evaluate capstone papers and examine the extent to which students complete the research methods requirement earlier in their studies. It is interesting to note from our student survey that more than one-third of Sociology majors would change their major to Social Psychology if they were to start over. Since this would involve a shift to a much more structured major, it suggests that this change could be acceptable to many current majors.

2. to increase instructional effectiveness in large sections.

One of our faculty members is now using discussion sections in large introductory sections, with student leaders trained in a special seminar. We are expanding this project next year and expect to offer this approach in most introductory sections.

3. to increase student experience with computer-based analysis.

Our research methods courses give students substantial experience in computer-based analysis. However, our student survey results indicate that only one-third of our majors have learned quite a bit about quantitative analysis in our major We expect to strengthen this component for all methods and statistics courses. Our move to encourage students to complete the methods course earlier in their college career should also improve skill acquisition.

4. to improve recognition of the intellectual connections among the social sciences.

Our majors in criminal justice and social psychology each have strong interdisciplinary components. At the graduate level, the forensic services program is fully interdisciplinary and several courses in the Applied Sociology program introduce concepts from other social sciences.

5. to give students repeated experiences in posing sociological questions and bringing data to bear on them.

The research methods course, required in each major, fulfills this requirement. We are just beginning to introduce secondary analysis components in courses other than research methods. Professor Deng has done so in Social Deviance and faculty are considering texts that facilitate this approach in introductory sociology. The new capstone requirement will also ensure another experience in data-based analysis.

6. to improve the instructional effectiveness of faculty.

Many faculty have participated in activities of the Center for Improvement of Teaching, and Professor Disch, a CIT leader, has counseled individual faculty. We will continue to encourage faculty participation in teaching-related workshops and other activities.

7. to utilize student course evaluations more effectively.

We have implemented a regular system of processing and reporting student course evaluations. This has helped to guide feedback to individual faculty members and identify special problems. This system will be continued.

8. to improve procedures for recruitment and evaluation of part-time teaching faculty.

We have adopted new procedures for reviewing the teaching performance of part-time faculty. These new procedures attach more importance to written comments about teaching and to complaints that are filed. They will be a regular feature of our annual review process in the future.

Goal B: To respond effectively to disciplinary and societal changes.

1. to begin a liberal arts major in Criminal Justice.

We have implemented this major successfully. A major departmental priority for the next period is to secure new faculty lines for this major and to recruit outstanding faculty to occupy these lines. We also expect to continue to improve the system for managing and evaluating this large intercollegiate program.

2. to develop the social psychology joint major.

The social psychology joint major has grown steadily since its inception. We believe the program is well designed and do not anticipate changes in the near future.

3. to develop a certificate program in alcohol and substance abuse studies.

The ASAS program has remained small, but the courses that comprise it are among our most popular. We plan to continue to staff sufficient sections of these courses to meet this demand. Maintaining the ASAS certificate does not require additional resources and there are no current plans to expand it.

4. to expose students to new developments in information technology (ASA, #6).

Several faculty have experimented with Web-based and CD-ROM-based exercises and demonstrations and with using chat rooms and e-mail for communicating with students. We expect to add this component to more courses.

6. to explore distance learning possibilities.

Two faculty participated in a special distance learning workshop. Professor Hartwell expects to add a distance learning component to the Forensic Services program. Faculty teaching in Criminal Justice expect to attempt to develop a distance learning arrangement in response to a request by criminal justice professionals on Martha’s Vineyeard.

Goal C: To improve advising and career development for majors.

1. to articulate and publicize the goals, structure, and rationale for our programs.

We believe that our Sociology Handbook and our new Web pages accomplish these goals. We will update these tools as needed.

2. to increase publicity of departmental activities.

Our departmental newsletter is our primary publicity vehicle. We plan to publish a newsletter annually.

3. to ensure regular advising of majors.

We now participate in the advising hold system, so that sociology and social psychology majors must visit faculty for advising. We expect to continue to use this system and to expand it to the criminal justice program. Our student survey results indicate some room for improvement, since only about two-thirds of our majors were satisfied with the advising, compared to 85% of the students taking our courses who had declared other majors.

4. to assess student learning outcomes.

We plan to use our periodic student surveys, alumni surveys (in cooperation with OIR), and the capstone papers to assess student learning outcomes in an integrated and continuous way.

5. to assess the needs and interests of students and take them into account in departmental planning.

We began this process with our ACE/Kellogg survey and expanded it with the student survey conducted for this Self Study. We plan to continue this approach.

6. to strengthen students’ opportunities for career-relevant experience.

Our internship courses meet this goal. We have now strengthened the internships with the capstone requirement and expect to continue to make this experience an important component of the sociology and criminal justice majors. The student survey results confirm that Criminal Justice majors perceive their courses as highly career relevant.

7. to expand the proportion of students who go on to graduate school.

We have improved markedly the recruitment of our own undergraduates. The new 5-year BA/MA program will help us to recruit even more undergraduates. Our new graduate student journal also introduces many students to the benefits of graduate school. The student survey results indicate that almost half of our students already plan to go on to graduate school, with even more interest among Social Psychology majors and markedly less interest among Criminal Justice majors. There is thus strong potential for recruiting more students to our own graduate program as well as for encouraging more students to consider graduate school.

8. to develop a productive learning community involving students and faculty.

We believe that we have achieved such a community in our graduate program. The new capstone requirement should help us to develop such a community as a feature of our undergraduate program. Our student survey results indicate a high level of satisfaction with the current availability of faculty, but there is room for improvement.

Goal D: To contribute to the general education of students.

1. to contribute to the new University-wide General Education curriculum.

We have reorganized our major in part in response to the needs of GenEd. One of our faculty members has developed a new freshman seminar for GenEd and we expect other faculty to make similar contributions. We plan to modify our intermediate-level courses to comport with the needs of GenEd. Our student survey results indicate that our courses have benefited many majors in the areas on which General Education focuses, such as writing, critical thinking, library use, self-directed learning, and ethical action. We will work to add more training in quantitative analysis, information technology, and public speaking to selected courses, to strengthen our contributions in those areas in which our students report less skill devleopment.

2. to add a capstone requirement.

We have already made the decision to add this requirement for our majors, thus also fulfilling a GenEd requirement. A major priority for us in the upcoming years is to implement this requirement without disruption the progress of our majors and then to evaluate our success in doing so. This requirement may also help to improve the proportion of Criminal Justice majors who believe their courses have helped to improve their writing skills.

Goal E: To increase understanding of social diversity and cross-cultural variation.

1. to underscore the importance of race, class, and gender in sociological and criminological analysis.

Many of our courses contribute to this understanding. The requirement of the race and ethnic relations course in the criminal justice major represents our commitment to this goal. The student survey results indicate that more than three-quarter of our students find that our courses teach about and encourage respect for diversity. We do not plan major changes in this area.

2. to increase students’ exposure to comparative and international materials.

We will lose one of our two comparativists to retirement this year. An important departmental priority is to replace her. We also hope to maintain our courses in Asian American Studies, even though the Asian American Studies Program has now achieved recognition as a free-standing program. Our student survey results indicate that we have succeeded in helping students appreciate other cultures, and we seek to continue this successful history.

3. to recruit a more diverse faculty.

Our last three hires (and our only current junior faculty) were of one Asian male, one white female, and one Dominican female. Professor Bette Woody, a senior African-American scholar who has just transferred from the College of Public & Community Service to the CAS Africana Studies Department has agreed to teach one course for us each semester. We will continue to search for candidates who will create a more diverse faculty in future recruitments.

4. to add teaching strength in the areas of diversity and comparative studies.

We have only been able to achieve this goal, partially, through our collaborative Asian American Studies program and courses cross-listed with East Asian Studies and Women’s Studies. We have recruited one new faculty member, albeit only half-time in sociology, who brings strength in this area. We will take advantage of opportunities to recruit others.

Graduate Education

Our graduate program has been marked in recent years by rapid expansion and new program options.

Goal F: To increase the size of the graduate program.

1. to improve recruitment of UMass Boston undergraduates.

Our last Academic Program Review focused attention on the need to increase the number of graduate students in the Graduate Program in Applied Sociology, so our Graduate Committee focused on means to this end. Professor Movahedi, our Graduate Program Director, began a vigorous recruitment effort, with calls to all applicants, mailings of our graduate student journal, and letters to our strongest undergraduate majors. As a result, applications rose substantially and our entering cohort for AY98-99 tripled over the preceding years.

We also designed a new 5-year combined BA/MA program in order to encourage more of our top undergraduate majors to begin graduate studies. This program was just approved this year, but it has already generated a high level of student interest. Our student survey results also indicate a high level of interest by our undergraduates in graduate school. In order to handle the anticipated number of students for this program, we added a research paper seminar to the graduate curriculum. Students in this seminar will be guided in the development of their capstone paper, rather than having to develop a traditional thesis with a 3-person committee. One additional faculty member will participate in the grading of each graduate research paper.

In addition, our new forensics services program is attracting many inquiries from our undergraduates. A major challenge for the next period is to recruit faculty to respond to this expansion and to manage our resources effectively to ensure that our graduate students are well served in each area. Administrators have also expressed an interest in a new Criminal Justice MA program. Another challenge will be to design and implement successfully such a program.

2. to improve recruitment of undergraduates from other schools.

Vigorous responses to program inquiries, our new web site, and our graduate student journal each have increased our ability to attract students from other schools. We do not feel that these efforts need to be expanded at this time.

3. to develop an effective Web site.

We have developed a comprehensive web site, with particular emphasis on the graduate program. We will continue to refine and update this web site.

4. to increase student financial support.

We have secured more graduate assistantships as a result of the program’s growth. Our new seminars on teaching should also help to strengthen our ability to use teaching assistants. We continue to generate opportunities for student support on applied community-based research and at campus centers and institutes. We will publicize the availability of our graduate assistants more broadly through mailings and in our Web site.

5. to change the graduate curriculum to accommodate larger numbers.

We have added more courses to our curriculum and have developed cross-unit programs that provide our students with more learning opportunities. Our new research paper capstone with an accompanying seminar is designed to facilitate degree completion by larger numbers of students.

6. to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the student body.

This is a primary goal of our new 5-Year BA/MA program. We also have been able to use the Blackwell Fellowship to support a limited number of minority students, and we expect to revitalize the fund-raising component of this program next year.

Goal G: To expand the scope of the graduate curriculum.

1. to add advanced courses in research methods and statistics.

We have contributed to the development of the advanced survey research practicum now offered by the Center for Survey Research. Three of our graduate students took this course this year and we expect more to do so next year. We have also been able to offer some of our students an advanced course in qualitative methods by collaborating with the PhD Program in Gerontology. We plan to continue to support such arrangements.

2. to develop joint programming opportunities with other graduate programs.

We now offer concentrations in Dispute Resolution and Gerontology in collaboration with these other programs, in addition to our collaboration on the survey research practicum. Our new Forensics Services Certificate Program involves a collaboration with two other graduate programs at the Boston campus and with faculty from the UMass Medical School. We hope to increase such cooperative arrangements when possible.

3. to provide alternative capstone experiences.

We now offer three capstones: a thesis, a comprehensive exam, and, just recently, a research paper. We do not expect to add more alternatives. Our goal for the near future is to ensure the success of our new research paper and the associated practicum.

4. to learn from other graduate programs.

Participation on subcommittees of the American Sociological Association’s Graduate Education Committee has helped to refine our conception of program possibilities. Both the current and past Graduate Program Directors (Movahedi and Schutt) have also participated in workshops on graduate programs at regional and national meetings.

5. to begin a forensic services certificate program.

The Forensics Services Program resulted from a proposal we submitted in response to a request from the Deans of Continuing Education and Graduate Studies. We planned this program in part to take advantage of and contribute to Professor Stephanie Hartwell’s developing research and service activities in this field. We also discovered that the State Police had received funding to facilitate development of a forensics program and were very interested in cooperating with us. This field is inherently multidisciplinary, so we planned a program with contributions from psychology, counseling psychology, and psychiatry (at UMass Worcester). Our goal for the next few years is to ensure the successful implementation of this program.

Goal H: To increase co-curricular activities with students.

1. to develop a successful graduate student journal.

The third issue of our graduate student journal is now in preparation. We believe that this goal has been accomplished. We will continue to work with graduate students to ensure a structure that allows continuation of this unique resource.

2. to revitalize the Graduate Sociology Club.

The Club has been revitalized in the past two years. We expect to continue to encourage students to maintain it.

3. to increase graduate student involvement in faculty research.

This goal has been accomplished largely through the research methods courses, student work as research assistants on faculty projects, and internships in research settings. Our near term goal is to encourage more funding of faculty research that will in turn support more graduate assistantships.

4. to involve graduate students in professional associations.

Almost ten graduate students participated in the recent meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society in Boston. Several students have given papers at national conferences within the past year. We will continue to encourage this practice.

5. to begin regular departmental seminars.

This objective has not yet been accomplished. We plan to start regular department brown bag seminars next year.

Research and Scholarship

Goal I: To increase the research opportunities of sociology faculty.

1. to increase the level of external grant support in the department;

2. to expand opportunities for scholarly collaborations with other units;

3. to strengthen research collaborations with local organizations;

4. to develop intra-departmental research collaborations.

Several years ago, a member of the Sociology faculty secured the largest external research grant ever awarded to UMass Boston. We have also had many successful research collaborations with local organizations. We need to strengthen our efforts in this area, in part by exploring opportunities for collaborative research programs.

Goal J: To increase student involvement in faculty research and scholarship.

1. to develop joint graduate student – faculty research projects;

2. to place graduate assistants in campus research centers;

3. to use internships for external research collaborations;

4. to develop undergraduate research opportunities.

This goal has been accomplished for many graduate students, but we have not made much progress at the undergraduate level. One of our students presented a paper at this year’s UMass Undergraduate Research Conference, but we need to develop more research opportunities for undergraduate majors. We expect that our new senior capstone requirement will stimulate much more undergraduate research involvement.

Goal K: To enhance the department’s research reputation.

1. to increase faculty involvement in meetings of professional associations;

2. to increase scholarly publications;

3. to publish research reports for external audiences;

4. to publicize faculty research on the Web;

5. to participate in national research forums.

We have made substantial strides toward this goal, in part due to Professor Gore’s NIMH grant and Professor Schutt’s successful research methods text. Many faculty have presented papers or served in other ways in national research forums and other meetings. We expect to encourage more of these involvements in the coming years.

Service

Goal L: To rationalize the department’s structure and operations.

1. to increase the role of departmental committees.

Our committees have been very active in departmental business and charting changes in our operations within the last few years. We believe this objective has largely been accomplished and we plan to continue this management approach.

2. to adapt departmental management to our changing program structure.

Our greatest management challenge has been to aid development of the new criminal justice major. We have taken an integrated approach to the management of the operations of the sociology and criminal justice majors, while also seeking to maintain coordination with the needs of the CPCS Criminal Justice Program and implementing the cross-college management structure mandated by faculty governance. This is an ongoing process at this point, but within the next year we expect management arrangements to stabilize. We plan to continue to support the development of the CAS Criminal Justice major as a vital component of the Sociology department and its curriculum. We believe that Criminal Justice can succeed as an important component of the liberal arts curriculum within the Sociology Department, where all the required Criminal Justice courses, and all the teaching faculty in CAS criminal justice, have always resided.

3. to improve procedures for scheduling courses.

The many required courses of the Criminal Justice major have required more systematic schedule planning. Our curriculum committee will continue to strive to meet the needs of all three majors through a systematic scheduling process.

Goal M: To extend external service activities.

1. to increase faculty participation in professional associations;

2. to involve students in professional associations;

3. to build research and training partnerships with community organizations.

We have made substantial strides toward achieving these objectives, as discussed above under “research and scholarship.” The Criminal Justice major and our Forensics Services graduate certificate programs are designed to meet educational needs in the community, while maintaining standards appropriate to a liberal arts education. Our applied projects conducted by students in our Master’s program serve community needs for evaluating and improving services. We plan to revitalize our Graduate Program Advisory Board, which for many years engaged community representatives more directly in our program. Next year, we plan to host again an advisory board dinner including faculty and graduate students..

Goal N: To increase the faculty’s contributions in university service.

1. to provide campus leadership in professionally-relevant areas;

2. to increase fund-raising efforts;

3. to strengthen ties to centers and institutes.

We believe that these objectives have largely been accomplished. Sociology faculty have served as committee and program leaders for many years. We have increased our support for fund-raising efforts. We have strengthened our ties to centers and institutes through committee work, the joint recruitment with the Gaston Institute, and the new Center for Survey Research practicum.

Our planning at the undergraduate and graduate levels has been guided by a commitment to our urban mission, our responsive to the region’s educational needs, and the value we place on strengthening faculty scholarship. An effective committee structure, talented faculty, and a supportive administration have helped us to achieve these goals. The success of our efforts is reflected in the growth of our programs and our many successful ties to key community organizations. On the other hand, the strains generated by these efforts are also reflected in our rapidly increasing student/faculty ratio and excessive reliance on part-time instructors.

In the next five years, we plan to continue to build our undergraduate and graduate programs. We will pursue vigorously opportunities to recruit talented new full-time faculty who will help us to strengthen our teaching in the area of information technology and expand our research and service activities. We will explore the possibility of starting an MA program in criminology and we will continue to strengthen our undergraduate majors. We will increase our efforts to encourage student research and professional involvement, in part by supporting our graduate student club and encouraging development of an undergraduate sociology club. We will continue to examine and refine our entire curriculum, in part using the procedure of in-class surveys that we developed for the ACE/Kellogg project.

References

American Sociological Association. 1990. A Report to the Profession: Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

Hougland, James G., Janet Chafetz, Kirsten Gronbjerg, Thomas J. Keil and Russell K. Schutt. 1996. Successful Practices in Master’s Programs in Sociology. Washington, D.C.: Committee on Graduate Education, American Sociological Association.

Hougland, James G. and Russell K. Schutt. 1998. Training for Sociological Practice and Working in Applied Settings. Washington, D.C.: Committee on Graduate Education, American Sociological Association.

Appendices

Fact sheets: Sociology, CRJ, ASAS, GPAS, Forensic Services
Sociology Handbook
Status Report on the Criminal Justice Program (G.R. Garrett)
Design of the Forensic Services Program (S. Hartwell)
1999 Survey of Sociology students (questionnaire)
Sociology/Criminal Justice ACE/Kellogg report
AY98-99 course schedules (inc. CE)
AKD, Sociology honors
Thesis manual
Comprehensive exam regulations
Graduate collaborative programs: Gerontology, Dispute Resolution, Survey Research
Blackwell Fellowship & Prize (Trotter)
Joint Gaston/Sociology position
OIR Sociology Data
ASA Recommendations for sociology majors
Sociology course evaluation instrument
Faculty curriculum vitae
Course syllabi

OIR Sociology Data

		1987	1988		1989		1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Soc Majors		221	205		273		278	281	295	282	249	255	272	256	237	240
1/2PsySoc		1	14		44		56	60	67	70	77	77	74	83	85	91
CAS CRJ		0	0		0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	35	140	181
AppSoc		26	23		33		24	21	29	29	21	27	31	31	58	72
ASAS					11										18	12
Tot Underg			219		317		334	341	362	352	326	332	346	374	462	512

Total		248	242		361		358	362	391	381	347	359	377	405	538	596
FT Faculty		20	18		16		15	14	13	13	14	13	13	14	13	13

Anthro		80	86		97		100	107	84	110	104	102	98	96
Econ		290	322		359		338	299	246	232	189	161	154	157
PoliSci		334	343		414		436	436	429	381	283	255	231	242
Psych		494	552		668		682	655	646	670	679	634	620	641
Sociology		248	242		317		334	341	362	352	326	332	346	374
		1987	1999
Anthro		12	10
Econ		18	14
PoliSci		18	19
Psych		19	22
Sociology		20	13
							1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Anthro							100	107	84	110	104	102	98	96
Econ							338	299	246	232	189	161	154	157
PoliSci							436	436	429	381	283	255	231	242
Psych							626	595	579	600	602	557	546	558
Other SocSci							1556	1497	1405	1393	1255	1152	1103	1136
Sociology							334	341	362	352	326	336	346	374



Other SocSci							1556	1497	1405	1393	1255	1152	1103	1136
Sociology							334	341	362	352	326	336	346	374
	Female			Age<25		Minority
Sociology	62			39		47
PsySoc	76			45		48
CrimJus	40			65		26

	Full-time			UMBFrosh
Sociology	52			38
PsySoc	60			32
CrimJus	75			45
	FT93			FT98
100-200	199.8			145
300-400	126.5			152.2
600	14.3			37
Total	340.7			334.2