Student SpotlightSupporting the Community
Hailey Galvan '26
Working to give back to and represent her peers, Hailey has been elected to the Hobart and William Smith Board of Trustees as a Junior Student Trustee.
Sociology
Learn Today. Change Tomorrow.
Gain insight into social problems, social theory and social change through the sociology department at HWS. As an activist and change oriented department, you’ll learn and study contemporary social issues, such as power and inequality, community, social policy, criminology and criminal justice, organizational dysfunction, urban life, educational reforms, marriage, and the family. You’ll exit the program with a strong set of skills for asking and answering broad and narrow questions about social life.
Sociology students looking to engage more in their work can study and complete Honors and research projects in their chosen topic with the guidance of a faculty mentor.
Past examples of Honors projects include:
- Grace Mongeau '22: Navigating Hookup Culture and Social Life: Exploring the Experiences of College Students with Disabilities
James Sutton, Adviser - Taylor Stevens Pluta '22: Interrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Stories of Resiliency and Second Chances
James Sutton, Adviser - Jonas Adams '21: A Community of Visitors? Exploring the Media and Belonging in Geneva, New York
Kendralin Freeman, Adviser - Ara E. McCorkle '20: Professionalization of Past Criminality and Addiction: How Former Prisoners and Addicts Manage a “Professional Ex” Identity
James Sutton, Adviser - Meredith Steinfeldt '20: Becoming Empathetic: An Exploration of Empathetic Masculinities on Campus
James Sutton, Adviser
Experiential EducationBeyond the Classroom
By studying sociology, you can partner with Geneva area schools to explore the class relations of students, collaborate with non-profits to impact government policy or probe solutions to gender discrimination in American or global institutions.
Because learning goes beyond textbooks or classrooms and into the community, you’ll get to explore the world’s most pressing issues while building the skills and insights you need to play a role in making its better future.
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No Borders:Global Education
Study the Maori in New Zealand or inequality in Vietnam.
Wherever you go, you’ll apply classroom knowledge, develop cultural understanding and build global connections that expand your personal capacity and sense of purpose.
Majors can count up to two courses not taught by HWS sociology faculty from study abroad programs. Minors can count one. These cannot be core courses and may only be counted as 200-level electives. All courses must be approved by the department.
Belonging, Diversity and Equity
Sociology courses focus not only on the academic approaches to studying power and difference but also the practical processes of building community across categories of difference and contributing to organizations for social change.
Sampling of courses that address topics of Belonging, Diversity and Equity:
Community based courses:
- SOC 251: Sociology of the City
- SOC 290: Sociology of Community
- SOC 465: Senior Seminar
Courses that address power and difference:
- SOC 221: Race and Ethnic Relations
- SOC 223: Inequalities
- SOC 225: Sex and Gender
- SOC 238: Immigrant America
- SOC 251: Sociology of the City
- SOC 224: Social Deviance
- SOC 266: Penology
Courses that address policy and organizational change:
- SOC 226: Working Families
- SOC 266: Sociology of Police and Policing
- SOC 295: Alcohol Use and Abuse
- SOC 301: Sociology of the Future
- SOC 357: Race and Education
- SOC 375: Social Policy
Explore areas like disparities and social consequences of the past, present and how they’ll affect the future.
SOC 357 Race and Education
Through in-depth analysis, explore the ways education in the United States at times challenges and at times reproduces racial hierarchy.
SOC 295 Alcohol Use and Abuse
Analyze the causes and consequences of alcohol use and misuse both in terms of its social construction in various cultural contexts as well as biochemical influences.
SOC 224 Social Deviance
Examine power relationships that are inherent in deviance and social control, and learn how “deviants” experience deviance on a personal level.
FacilitiesOne Building.Many Opportunities
With all sociology classes and department faculty housed in one building, Stern Hall provides an all-in-one experience for students in the subject. Take advantage of 27,000 square feet of academic space, including classrooms fit for audio and visual displays, research and seminar rooms and a large lecture classroom and lab. You’ll learn in a setting that offers similar resources to larger universities but with the smaller, personalized instruction that Hobart and William Smith offer.
Alum ImpactSetting the PathFor the Future
grace mongeau, ’22
Justice Policy Research Assistant at The Catherine Cutler Institute in Maine
"During my time at the Colleges, I faced some of the most intellectual and personal challenges that I have ever experienced, but I know that they have made me into who I am today and I am forever grateful."
Companies that Employ Our Sociology Graduates
- Americorps
- Aspen Institute
- Bain Capital
- Buffalo Bills
- CDW
- Eastman Kodak Company
- Hood College
- HSBC
- IBM
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
- Microsoft
- New York Magazine
- Peace Corps
- Target Corporation
- The Museum of Modern Art
- World Health Organization
- Yale University
Universities where our Sociology graduates are studying
- Boston College of Social Work
- Brown University
- Case Western University School of Law
- Columbia University
- Hood College
- Indiana University
- Northeastern University
- Pace University Law School
- Rutgers University
- Simmons University
- Suffolk University Law School
- Syracuse University
- Tufts University
- UMass Amherst
- University of Buffalo
- University of Colorado, Denver
- University of New England
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Utah Law School