About the Department

The Department of Sociology has fifteen full time faculty members, along with twelve affiliated faculty. Additional sociologists are faculty members in other departments and programs in the University. The department is home to the Africana Studies Program. We offer a Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree, and Master of Science and Ph.D. graduate degrees. The first Masters degree in sociology was granted in the 1920s; its first Ph.D. was awarded in 1974. The Department also offers a minor in sociology. At both the graduate and undergraduate level, the department has one of the most diverse student bodies on the Virginia Tech campus.

Our faculty have earned degrees from some of the finest doctoral programs in their fields. They have authored or edited 45books on such topics as workplace relations, delinquent behavior, research methods, Appalachian development, deviance, professional ethics, gender, aging, sociology of knowledge, world systems, household crowding, and the mass media. Departmental faculty have published over 470 professional articles and chapters, and have written over 180 technical reports related to applied sociological issues. They have participated in more than 65 externally funded projects. The editors of two major social science research journals, "The Journal of Health and Social Behavior," and the journal "Science, Technology and Human Values," are members of the faculty.

In addition, sociology faculty have received numerous college, university, and national awards for outstanding teaching. These include an Alumni Distinguished Professorship, the Delta Gamma Foundation Faculty Award, the Alumni Teaching Award, and memberships in the Academy of Teaching Excellence. Our department also has the distinction of having received Fulbright Scholar awards, and has been home to three presidents of the Southern Sociological Society. including the current president-elect.

The Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech has strong interdisciplinary connections on campus. We share courses and faculty with Africana Studies, Women's Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Gerontology, the Center for Race and Public Policy and many other programs. These connections allow our students to pursue programs specifically tailored to their interests, while maintaining a strong central grounding in sociology.

The Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech is perhaps best summarized in the following quote from our mission statement: "We believe in a sociology engaged in the real world, employing a diversity of methods and perspectives, in the quest for greater understanding of, and solutions to, critical issues in social life."

Contact: John Ryan (Chair), Email: johnryan@vt.edu, Department of Sociology, 560 McBryde Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0137.