The Department of Sociology is organized as a Ph.D. granting research department with explicitly defined missions of research, instruction, and service. The Department resides within the College of Arts and Sciences although its members have historically carried out research and service through the Social Science Research Center as well as other research entities. The Department offers a B.A. degree in sociology, a B.A. in criminology, and a BSW in social work. M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs are offered in sociology. In addition to more than 400 undergraduate majors in all programs, the department has more than 50 enrolled graduate students.
The Department has developed longstanding emphases in criminology, family and gender, social demography, social inequality, and community development. The Department is one of the larger concentrations of sociological expertise in the Southern region as evidenced in the number of graduate faculty, the enrollment of graduate students, the placement and success of doctoral graduates, the number and frequency of publication, the level of funding for grants and contracts, the facilities and other infrastructure for sociological research and education.