Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Work

Jodi O’Brien, PhD, Chair
Mary Kay Brennan, MSW, LICSW Director

Our department draws on the unique qualities of three disciplines to be a focal point at the university for the critical investigation of cultures, societies, and the individual’s place within them. Anthropology offers the ability to understand, analyze, and compare diverse cultures from cultural, archeological, linguistic, and evolutionary perspectives. Sociology provides the “sociological imagination,” an ability to examine the mutual dependence and influence between the individual and the structures of society. Social work brings the knowledge and skills to develop and administer assistance to people coping with social problems, such as poverty, crime, and discrimination.

Together as one department, we are able to offer students a rigorous degree program in any one of our fields, while ensuring that each simultaneously benefits from the cross disciplinary perspective and active collaboration that characterize our faculty. We also have designated programs that take advantage of our multiple domains of expertise, such as the joint Anthropology-Sociology degree.

Our faculty are excellent teachers and active scholars who—by virtue of what they teach, how they teach, and their commitment to those they are teaching–are especially qualified to develop students to be leaders for a just and humane world. Through courses that invite students to engage with faculty research and thoughtful use of programs likes study abroad and service-learning, students receive a participatory, student-centered experience that is a superb preparation for variety of career opportunities.