Sociology revamps curriculum, hires profs

The Sociology Department is beefing up both its courses and faculty this semester, adding a new curricular concentration and hiring two professors. Sociology majors will now be able to declare concentrations in "Structures of Opportunity and Inequality." The new program will explore "essential, interrelated themes" in sociology -- including race, class, gender, the fair distribution of opportunities and the "parasitic" relationship between the individual and social institutions, according to newly promoted Undergraduate Chairperson Robin Leidner. The department began revamping its existing curriculum last fall after students expressed concern over the limited number of course offerings each semester, Leidner said. "The major program description is never revised," College senior and Sociology major Maureen Wentworth explained. "[The department] lists all these courses you're supposed to take, but they're never offered. I could've graduated early, but now I can't do it." During this time, Leidner noted, former Sociology Department Chairperson Harold Bershady deterred students from selecting "Social Psychology" and "Work and Society," two concentrations eliminated for the fall due to a decline in student interest and lack of available faculty. "Structures of Opportunity and Inequality" incorporates the work issue, while the Psychology Department offers courses in social psychology, the Sociology professor said. "I think it's a hot subject since it deals with Hispanic, Afro-American, and Asian-American issues," Bershady said. College senior Margaret Colon, who recently switched her concentration from Social Psychology to Structures of Opportunity and Inequality, explained that this area of sociology examines "how the inequality of groups is perpetuated," and offers the necessary tools to help "eradicate it." The new concentration, along with the five other pre-existing concentrations, consider topics ranging from family demography to the sociology of health and medicine. As a major, Sociology is becoming increasingly popular. "At the start of my term five years ago, there were only 54 majors," Bershady said. "Last May, we had 167 majors." And with the addition of new faculty members, Bershady said he looks forward to a "fuller, richer syllabus," and a substantial increase in the number of courses highlighting the faculty's strengths. Sociology Professor and social theorist Randall Collins, and Kathryn Edin, a former Rutgers University professor and ethnographer, both join the department this fall.