Sociology

The Department of Sociology has a long track record of training undergraduate students for post-college opportunities and graduate students for academic and research careers. Our faculty have national reputations and records of award-winning publications, research grants, and leadership of national and regional sociological associations.

We specialize in the study of social inequality. More specifically, our faculty focus on community and urban, health and medical, race and ethnicity, and gender and family. We encourage prospective graduate students interested in these issues to join us! Our urban location and proximity to six major hospitals make UC an ideal place to study urban and health issues, and Sociologists for Women in Society have consistently awarded us their seal of approval for gender scholarship.

The intellectual hub of the department is the Kunz Center for Social Research, an endowed center located within and designated to support the research mission of the department. It provides research funding for faculty and graduate students, and provides an intellectual commons for faculty and students across the university. Sociology founded The Cincinnati Project, which provides grants to faculty and graduate students to conduct research benefitting disadvantaged Cincinnati communtiies and the agencies that serve them. Sociology also co-founded the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network (OPEN). OPEN is an interdisciplinary research network that assesses reproductive health equity, access and autonomy in the context of federal and state laws, regulations and policies.

Finally, Sociology is one of 14 departments affiliated with the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, which provides dissertation fellowships, summer funding, and money for research expenses.

Click here to apply to our graduate programs!

Check out our new PhD brochure!

What did YOU do to kick off the summer?

During the week between spring semester final exams and the start of summer classes, Sociology brought together 25 undergrad students from around the Cincinnati area for our Summer Research Opportunity Program, “Social Science in the Real World.” Students participated in a full week of hands-on research methods workshops delivered by UC Sociology and other faculty and grad students as well as alumni of our program who use research in their jobs. Workshop topics included: community-engaged research, coding qualitative data, using Census data to understand neighborhoods, and conducting focus groups. Each student received a voice recorder and microphone so they can conduct their own future research, and we provided lunch each day of the program.

Our keynote speaker on the final day was Dr. Lauren Jade Martin, previously a tenured sociology professor, who now works as a Senior UX Researcher at JPMorgan Chase in New York City. She spoke about the many varied and exciting career paths for social science majors and minors and her experience conducting research in the academic world and the corporate world.

Student participants represented several area colleges and universities and a wide range of majors, from neurobiology to international affairs to fine arts. Participants say they appreciated the chance to learn from faculty and applied researchers about how social science methods can be used beyond the classroom. One participant said, “I enjoyed how hands-on the program was. It's one thing to learn these concepts, but to get to practice them too is a real benefit.”

Thank you to all our program sponsors and supporters: The P&G Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, UC’s College of Arts & Sciences, The Cincinnati Project, and Langsam Library!