Our Department is actively engaged in research and teaching, and maintains a strong commitment to diversity in our graduate and undergraduate education. Our mission is to advance the comprehension of society, and explain and analyze human relationships, social institutions, and the dynamics of social change. Our faculty engages major sociological issues of global, national, and regional significance. Click here to view a letter from our Chair, Dr. Richard Santos.

Our Department specializes in a variety of research and teaching areas, including (but not restricted to):

• Crime, Law, and Social Control;
• Sociology of Health and Medicine;
• Social Movements;
• Race and Ethnicity;
• Comparative Sociology*

*usually with Latin American focus

• Institute for Social Research
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy
• Latin American and Iberian Institute
• Institute for the Study of “Race” and Social Justice
• Southwest Hispanic Research Institute
• Center for Regional Studies
• Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions
• Southwest Institute of Religion and Civil Society