Sociology DAP

Welcome to the Sociology webpage. On this page you'll find the mission of the department, departmental student learning goals, a curricular map and assessment schedule, and progress made from the most recent Program Review Action Plan (2013-2014). If you have questions about the assessment findings or questions about the department, please contact the Sociology Department Chair.

MISSION

Sociology and Anthropology attempt to chart the interconnections between the various realms of thought and conduct, to find the balance between the social and individual components of personal identity and to locate the social origins of both harmony and strife in every area of experience. In pursuing an understanding of how and why society functions, these disciplines contribute significantly to students' global and intercultural competence, and prepare them for active engagement as responsible, committed global citizens. The department contributes significantly to the institutions' strategic direction of providing our students with an integrated liberal arts experience.

STUDENT LEARNING GOALS

Specifically, the CSB/SJU Sociology Department seeks to educate students with the understanding that:

Goal 1. Sociology and Anthropology train students to think contextually, students will be able to apply their understanding of the complex nature of society.

Assessment 1A. Students will be able to explain why interpretations of culture are the necessary complement of causal models in the social sciences.

Assessment 1B. Students will be able to articulate how and why all causal models are probabilistic approximations and all cultural interpretations are more or less idealized. Students will be able to critique ways of knowing, including comparison and contrast of various methods of research in the social sciences

Assessment 1C. Students will be able to step imaginatively outside of their own place on the social landscape to see how the social system looks from the standpoint of a different class, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religious or political commitment

Goal 2. Sociology and Anthropology provide students with the tools to know how they know, and to evaluate the validity and reliability of ideas.

Assessment 2A. Students will be able to differentiate between political or philosophical rhetoric and evidence-based social research.

Assessment 2B. Students will be able to recognize and communicate the symbiotic relationship between theory and research.

Assessment 2C. Students will be able to critique a research study to see both strengths and weaknesses of any given research strategy.

Assessment 2D. Students will be able to use theory to generate propositions that can be tested and propose appropriate methods for testing them.

Assessment 2E. Students will be able to analyze a social/cultural example from the perspectives of at least two theoretical positions.

Goal 3. Sociology and Anthropology emphasize global relationships and cultural diversity.

Assessment 3A. Students will be able to describe multiple sociocultural groups and practices, nationally and internationally.

Assessment 3B. Students will be able to critically assess the ways in which cultural and social diversity helps to make (or is hindered by) our world systems

Assessment 3C. Students will be able to use their knowledge of sociocultural diversity in analyzing particular global relationships

Goal 4. Sociology and Anthropology inspire a particular lens for understanding the world’s problems and contributing to solutions to these problems.

Assessment 4A. Students will be able to take the perspectives of others, employing a social scientific outlook to analyze how positions develop and the forces that influence people’s views of reality.

Assessment 4B. Given a particular social phenomenon, students will be able to identify the variables that influence or create the phenomenon

Assessment 4C. Students will be able to analyze how a particular cultural or social paradigm changes over time and/or space

Assessment 4D. Students will be able to apply knowledge of the discipline to real-world practical problems.

CURRICULAR MAP and ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE

Curricular Map -
Learning Goals

SOCI 111

SOCI 121

SOCI 205

SOCI 250

SOCI 304

SOCI 319

SOCI 322

SOCI 329

SOCI 337B

SOCI 337C

SOCI 337H

SOCI 337I

SOCI 340

SOCI 341

SOCI 351

SOCI 396

Goal 1

ASSESSING 2018-2019

Assessment 1A

X I

Assessment 1B

Assessment 1C

X I

Goal 2

ASSESSING 2016-2017
& 2020-2021

Assessment 2A

X B

X I

Assessment 2B

X I

Assessment 2C

Assessment 2D

Assessment 2E

X B

X A

Goal 3

ASSESSING 2019-2020

Assessment 3A

X I

X A

Assessment 3B

X B

X I

X A

Assessment 3C

X A

Goal 4

ASSESSING 2017-2018

Assessment 4A

X B

X A

X I

X A

Assessment 4B

X B

X A

Assessment 4C

Assessment 4D

X B

X A

X I

X A

Key:

B: Beginning

I: Intermediate

A: Advanced