Department website: https://academics.potomacstatecollege.edu/majors/two-year-programs/sociology
Degree Offered
- Associate of Arts
Nature of the Program
Want to explore societies from the past to the present? We’ll teach you about that and more through the lens of social class, poverty, race and ethnicity, and gender.
A degree in sociology and anthropology prepares you for a career in the public or private sector. What’s more, your courses help you to better understand human behavior and how to improve quality of life.
Sociologists and anthropologists use their uniquely creative perspective to help make a difference in the world. Sociology and anthropology examine the structure of human societies and of the social processes that operate in all groups, organizations, and institutions. Students learn about how past issues affect the present and how social change can occur.
Career Opportunities
The skills and knowledge you can build with a degree in sociology or anthropology will be in high demand. For the student who earns a bachelor's or master's degree in sociology, jobs often are in government agencies that employ sociologists dealing with subjects such as poverty, crime, public assistance, population growth, education, social rehabilitation, community development, mental health, racial and ethnic relations, drug abuse, school dropouts, and environmental impact studies. Sociologists in the federal government work primarily for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education, Commerce (Bureau of the Census), Defense, and the General Accounting Office. Graduates also find careers assisting in community development and planning, or using knowledge of social organization and social process in a variety of settings within the United States or abroad.
Faculty
Chair
- Cassandra Pritts - M.A. History (Duquesne University)
Year @ PSC (2011)
Associate professor
- Catie Bridges - M.A. Biological Anthropology (University of Montana)
Year @ PSC (2014)
Assistant professor
- Kristin Smouse - MSW (West Virginia University)
Year @ PSC (2019)
Admissions
Entering freshmen are admitted directly into the major.
Benchmark Expectations
Students who start as freshmen are expected to complete SOC 101 and ANTH 105 with grades of C- or higher by the end of freshman year. Students must maintain a GPA of 2.0 overall and a minimum GPA of 2.0 in all SOC courses counting toward major requirements for graduation. All majors must meet with their adviser every semester. Students who do not meet these benchmarks may be removed from their major.
General Education Foundations
Please use this link to view a list of courses that meet each GEF requirement.
NOTE: Some major requirements will fulfill specific GEF requirements. Please see the curriculum requirements listed below for details on which GEFs you will need to select.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| General Education Foundations | ||
| F1 - Composition & Rhetoric | 3-6 | |
| Introduction to Composition and Rhetoric and Composition, Rhetoric, and Research | ||
or ENGL 103 | Accelerated Academic Writing | |
| F2A/F2B - Science & Technology | 4-6 | |
| F3 - Math & Quantitative Reasoning | 3-4 | |
| F4 - Society & Connections | 3 | |
| F5 - Human Inquiry & the Past | 3 | |
| F6 - The Arts & Creativity | 3 | |
| F7 - Global Studies & Diversity | 3 | |
| F8 - Focus (may be satisfied by completion of a minor, double major, or dual degree) | 9 | |
| Total Hours | 31-37 | |
Please note that not all of the GEF courses are offered at all campuses. Students should consult with their advisor or academic department regarding the GEF course offerings available at their campus.
Curriculum Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Students must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA in all SOCA courses. | ||
| GEF Elective Requirements (2, 5, 6, and 8) | 18 | |
| ENGL 101 & ENGL 102 | Introduction to Composition and Rhetoric and Composition, Rhetoric, and Research (GEF 1) | 6 |
| MATH 124 | Algebra with Applications (GEF 3) | 3 |
| SOC 101 | Introduction to Sociology (GEF 4) | 3 |
| ANTH 105 | Introduction to Anthropology (GEF 7) | 3 |
| STAT 211 | Elementary Statistical Inference (GEF 8) | 3 |
| WVUE 191 | First Year Seminar | 1 |
| SOC 200-level Elective | 6 | |
| Foreign Language | 6 | |
| Elective | 11 | |
| Total Hours | 60 | |
Suggested Plan of Study
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| SOC 101 (GEF 4) | 3 | ENGL 101 (GEF 1) | 3 |
| MATH 124 (GEF 3) | 3 | ANTH 105 (GEF 7) | 3 |
| WVUE 191 | 1 | GEF 6 | 3 |
| Foreign Language | 3 | Foreign Language | 3 |
| Elective | 2 | GEF 2 | 3 |
| GEF 5 | 3 | ||
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Second Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| ENGL 102 | 3 | SOC 200-level Elective | 3 |
| SOC 200-level Elective | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | Elective | 3 |
| GEF 8 | 3 | GEF 2 | 3 |
| STAT 211 (GEF 8) | 3 | GEF 8 | 3 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Total credit hours: 60 | |||
Major Learning Outcomes
Sociology
Upon successful completion of the A.A. degree, Sociology majors will be able to:
- Describe sociology’s core concepts and approaches to the study of social structures, social dynamics, and social issues, and how it is similar to and different from other social sciences.
- Demonstrate the sociological imagination by describing how culture and social structure operate, how society shapes individuals and individuals shape society, and the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, gender, class, or other bases of inequality.
- Identify and compare sociology’s core theoretical and methodological approaches and discuss their role in building knowledge about society.