About the Department
History
Sociology has a long and strong history at CSUN, having been started in 1958. We started our graduate program in 1978 and currently enroll approximately 40 graduate students
Size
Nearly three thousand undergraduates (9% of the CSUN student population) enroll each semester in courses offered by the Sociology Department, generating nearly six thousand course enrollments. That includes 1275 undergraduate majors in one of the four options offered by the Department, with an average annual increase of 5% over the last five years. Of those, 1136 declared Sociology as their first major (10 declaring it as their second major), while 52 additional students declared as undergraduate minors in the department.
Faculty
Our faculty includes 21 full-time members and 31 part-time instructors. These include past Presidents of the Pacific Sociological Association and the California Sociological Association, as well as notable luminaries such as retired professor Lewis Yablonsky. They also include current leaders, such as union chapter president Dave Ballard, as well as noted theorists, such as Sorokin scholar Vince Jeffries.
Specializations
Our faculty have a long tradition of research and teaching in a range of specializations, including core strengths in theory, methods, criminology, and social psychology. Current research includes studies on Native Americans, computer-assisted learning, crime and deviant behavior, cyberspace, education, emotions, immigration, marriage and the family, mass media, migration, music, multiracial identity, reality shows, road rage, social welfare policy, student evaluations, and terrorism.
Directions
The Sociology Department offices are on the third floor of Santa Susanna Hall (abbreviated "SN" on contemporary maps, though formerly known as the Faculty Office Building, FOB).