Thank you for your interest in the Department of Sociology at California State University Northridge (CSUN).

Mission: The Sociology Department and faculty are committed to creating a supportive environment for student centered learning and achievement. Our students are exposed to all aspects of sociology and acquire the sociological perspective and the techniques for studying society. They learn to critically examine the value assumptions of our institutions and social practices, including the values and practices of our discipline itself. This reflexive stance is an essential element of sociological understanding. Our students will learn how sociology been used to solve problems for clients, foundations, agencies, and the community, and has contributed to social policy formulation and policy analysis. They will learn how sociologists engage in dialog and engagement with different publics in the civil society. Through their education, our students will understand that sociology and civil society are interdependent, both flourishing in an open and democratic discourse on the issues and crises of modernity.

History: Sociology has a long and strong history at CSUN, having been started in ___, only __ years after the __-year-old school was incorported. Undergraduate courses were offered here as early as __. We granted our first graduate degree in 19__, and currently enroll approximately 26 graduate students. Recent developments include the development of a new MSW program, and its evolution out of the department and into its own entity.

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. (Click image to right for a longitudinal chart showing growth in enrollments by departmental option.)

Faculty: Our faculty includes 14 tenured members, 5 tenure-track members, and 33 part-time instructors. These include past Presidents of the Pacific Sociological Association and the California Sociological Association, as well as notable luminaries such as 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 American Indians, 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: This map indicates driving, parking, and walking directions to the department's offices, which are on the third floor of Santa Susanna Hall (abbreviated "SH" on contemporary maps, though formerly known as the Faculty Office Building, FOB). Click the map to enlarge it.