Our program has been deeply influenced by two organizing themes.  These are social change and the Sociological Imagination.  Our faculty are engaged in scholarly research and teaching activities focusing on contemporary social change affecting a wide range of institutions in society.  These include: the family and close personal relationships; organizations, employment, and the workplace; the areas of health, illness, and wellbeing; ageing and the life course, international relations and social movements; and overarching forces of globalization and technological change.  We also explore social change in our teaching and scholarly research by examining how it holds implications for racial and ethnic relations, social class differences, as well as gender relations.

One common thread running though our programmatic emphasis on changing institutions in society is the application of the sociological imagination.  We strive to cultivate a mode of thinking and a quality of mind that enables our students to understand the relationship between their own biographical life experiences and changing historical circumstances.  We seek to train our students to think critically about how many challenges faced by individuals and groups in society are often related to broader public issues that reflect the overarching institutions of society as a whole. 

The Goals of the Sociology Program include:

• To assist our students in cultivating their own sociological imaginations and in applying their sociological knowledge to better understand the social-historical context in which their own biographies are unfolding.  We also seek to help students to draw upon their sociological imaginations as they envision images of their own personal futures.
• To aid students in applying their sociological imaginations towards developing sensitive and critical understandings of the many changes affecting our major institutions in society, as well as in understanding how social change has differing implications for a variety of groups or stakeholders in society. 
• To prepare students for careers and professional lives in which they will draw upon their developing sociological imaginations to assist organizations in society whose leaders also struggle to understand and adapt to social change as it places increasing demands upon our major institutions throughout society.
• To become agents for positive social change in their communities, workplaces, and the wider world.