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At the graduate level, we offer thesis and non-thesis M.A. degrees as well as the Ph.D. degree. The department focuses on Medical Sociology, Sociology of the Family, Social Inequality, Social Psychology, and Deviant Behavior. For 25 years we have offered the Ph.D. in conjunction with the faculty at nearby Kent State University. Kent offers specialties in three areas: (1)the sociology of health and health care, (2)social psychology, and (3)social inequalities. Students wishing to pursue a doctoral degree in the joint doctoral program must be admitted to either Kent State University OR the University of Akron. While the degree is earned at the university of admittance, once admitted to the program, students, faculty, and courses are treated as a single graduate department. Coursework is offered at both campuses and faculty and students interchange freely. Our Mission Statement: The primary mission of the Department of Sociology is to produce and disseminate sociological knowledge. The Department requires that each of its constituencies be able to demonstrate concretely that they support this mission. For Ph.D. students, the mission is reflected in the acquisition of sociological research and teaching skills, the expeditious completion of the degree, and the production of an independent, original dissertation. For M.A. students, it is demonstrated by the ability to attain and maintain currency in the field and to apply the knowledge obtained to societal problems. Placement objectives: Our graduate program provides leaders in college and university education, research, and policy planning and assessment in major community agencies, businesses, government, and health care organizations in Ohio, nationally and internationally. 

Benefits: Our research programs in the past five years have brought the state more than 13.5 million dollars in funded research. This places us first in Ohio in funded sociology department research and in the upper percentile of sociology programs in funding nationally. Our doctoral recipients hold faculty positions at universities nationally (e.g., University of Michigan, Purdue University) and in Ohio (e.g., University of Dayton, Baldwin-Wallace College, Mount Union College, Case Western Reserve University). In addition, our graduates work in important research positions at both universities (e.g., Harvard) and public and corporate agencies (e.g., Benjamin Rose Institute, Cleveland Metro Health, Ohio State Tobacco Use Prevention Control Foundation).

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Dr. Rebecca Erickson, Director of Graduate Studies

Dr. Rebecca Erickson