Sociology

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Last Updated: Apr 22, 2026, 01:18 PM

Getting to Know Us Better

Sociology at SIU Carbondale is a small but vibrant program with outstanding faculty and engaged students. You may know us as a program with faculty who have international reputations in social movements, religion and politics, and globalization and development. We also have a strong contingent researching crime and deviance and we recently were awarded the Sociologists for Women in Society’s Seal of Excellence for our program’s gender equity and high level of involvement in gender scholarship. We are very proud of the productivity of our faculty which has resulted in a faculty citation rate that is one of the highest in the nation. But do you know that we also have award-winning teachers? Both faculty and graduate students in our program have recently been awarded “outstanding teacher” titles from our university.

You may also know us as a program with an outstanding reputation for training qualitative researchers and social constructionist scholars. This is a source of pride for us and one we continually strive to reassert in our hiring of new faculty. But do you also know about the advanced statistical and methodological training we offer to our graduate students? Our students leave with a balanced methodological resumé because that is an important value in our program.

You may know us as a program located in a mid-sized, rural Midwestern university. It’s true; Carbondale is two hours from an international airport and two years from the newest fashion trends. But our award-winning theater and music programs bring outstanding and diverse cultural experiences to our campus town and our large population of international scholars, students and citizens create a social milieu that belies our rural moniker. What you expect is not what you get in Carbondale. For instance, our university ranks in the top fifty nationally in baccalaureate degrees for African-American students. Almost one-third of our students come from Chicago and its surrounding counties, making our classrooms geographically, ethnically, and socially diverse. Our community hosts social events befitting our rural heritage (“Pig Out”) and our international heritage (“Irish Festival”). Outdoor concerts are widely attended on Thursday nights throughout the summer.

Because SIU Carbondale is ranked as a Doctoral Research Extensive University by the Carnegie Foundation research is highly regarded and supported here. Our faculty and students work hard on their myriad research projects but still find time to enjoy the local and regional lakes, rock climbing, hiking in the Shawnee National Forest, and sampling our local wines on our Shawnee Wine Trail.

Whether you’re considering a brief visit, entertaining studying sociology with us or applying for a faculty position, we hope you’ll come to take a look for yourself.

News & Features

From faculty mentors who are recognized experts in their fields to state-of-the-art statistical and ethnographic software, the Sociology Program is committed to empowering students and providing an interactive lens through which to view and study the social world.

  • More Tools. Fewer Barriers.

    From faculty mentors who are recognized experts in their fields to state-of-the-art statistical and ethnographic software, the Sociology Program is committed to empowering students and providing an interactive lens through which to view and study the social world.

  • Social Justice Minor

    Are you concerned about social inequality? Want a more just, a more equal, and a more inclusive social world? Consider a Minor in Social Justice

    The Social Justice Minor is an interdisciplinary degree designed to help students better understand the causes and consequences of unjust social arrangements, the ideas and forces that undergird them, and how social injustices can be changed. The minor supports and encourages the study of activism and advocacy for social justice, and will be especially important for students who anticipate working in advocacy roles in nonprofit organizations, local communities, or governmental organizations, as well as careers in fields such as education, social services, law, health services, publishing, or emerging areas of research. For more information, contact Dr. Chris Wienke, faculty coordinator.

Staff

Stacia Werner

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Faner Hall 3384