Message from the Chair, Dr. Lisa Waldner

Welcome to the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of St. Thomas! Our department of 7 full-time, award-winning faculty members are committed teachers and scholars. We value student engagement in a variety of ways by supporting service-learning, student-faculty research collaboration, and opportunities for study abroad.

For the past several years we have taken students to the Midwest Sociological Society meetings to present their research and regularly sponsor Young Scholars through the UST Undergraduate Research and Collaborative Scholarship program. On our student news page, see photos of recent student posters and other news. We also sponsor participation in the American Sociological Association honors program for eligible students. In the classroom, our active learning strategies though problem based learning invite students to actually "do sociology." Our long-time adjunct faculty members are experienced teachers that often have years of practical experience including both a former prison warden and criminal investigator.

Sociologist C.Wright Mills defines "sociological imagination" as the ability to understand human behavior, including our own, within the context of social structure or those forces beyond the control of any individual. Mills encourages us to view poverty, homelessness, drug addiction and other social concerns not purely as a "personal trouble" attributed to a character flaw but as a "public issue" where social forces create the conditions that explain these social problems. In Invitation to Sociology, Peter Berger argues that the "first wisdom of sociology is this-- things are not what they seem." He invites those of us who are "intensively, endlessly, shamelessly interested in the doings of men" (and women) to join him on a sociological journey of understanding. If this sounds interesting to you, we invite you to check out both our faculty and course offerings. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about our program, classes, or potential careers at: soccj@stthomas.edu.