Quick Facts

• The Department of Sociology and Anthropology is comprised of three B.A. majors, Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, making us the departmental home for over 600 undergraduate students enrolled in Eberly’s College of Arts and Sciences.
• Our students demonstrate high achievement and actively participate in community engagement, extra-curricular activities, and professional development opportunities. Students research alongside faculty, serve as social action fellows, and present research at academic conferences.
• In 2013, Ron Althouse, Professor Emeritus and former department chair, retired after 46 years of service to the department and endowed a scholarship to be awarded to a departmental major during their senior year.
• Our courses are interdisciplinary, which means they serve non-majors as well as majors. We offer academic minors in Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology.
• The department has the highest credit-hour production of any department in the Eberly College, and one of the highest in the University.

Graduate Students

• In Fall 2016, the department launched the first Sociology doctoral program in the state of West Virginia.
• The doctoral program is focused on exploring connections across crime, community, and culture.
• Doctoral students are active in professional associations and publish their research in peer-reviewed journals collaboratively with faculty and each other.
• Students benefit from close training and collaboration with faculty and have developed research clusters to highlight areas on interest and research.  Current clusters focus on cannabis and on religion.
• T he Graduate Sociology Association provides a community for graduate students through leadership, research, internship and networking experiences

Research Center on Violence

The Research Center on Violence is a grant-funded organization that researches some of the biggest issues affecting communities across the nation including rape, robbery, and crimes against the environment. With the help of government grants and nonprofit projects, experts try to learn everything they can about violence in order to assist with prevention, awareness, and education efforts.

West Virginia Social Survey

The West Virginia Social Survey (WVSS) is produced by the Survey Research Center at West Virginia University. The purpose of the WVSS is to gather information on the attitudes, concerns, and challenges facing West Virginia residents.