Sociology Graduate Programs

SOC@VT is a large community of multidisciplinary award winning faculty who are engaged in a wide range of scholarly and pedagogical activities, all grounded in a shared commitment to pursuing a systematic, theoretically driven understanding of how power and inequality impact people around the world. Our department offers two graduate programs in Sociology: the 30-hour M.S. and the 90-hour Ph.D.  Students receive comprehensive training in research design, quantitative and qualitative methods and sociological theory across diverse areas of specialization.  We are strongly committed to supporting student research through close interactions between faculty and students. Graduate students work with faculty mentors to establish their own programs of study, engage in their own independent research, teach their own undergraduate classes, present papers at professional meetings, publish in scholarly venues, and gain the skills necessary for careers in academia, government, business, social services, or public policy.

Many of our students work with faculty members on research projects that focus on a wide range of topics, such as the radicalization of the internet, race and the marketplace, collective memory and racial prejudice, underrepresented minorities in STEM fields, the effects of gender and sexual orientation on partner caregiving in later life, the socio-environmental effects of energy projects and natural disasters, and hypersexualized media and sexual violence, among others.  Students can also engage in interdisciplinary coursework and research through concentrations in Women's and Gender Studies or Africana Studies.  Our department also houses the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention and the Race and Social Policy Research Center which are engaged in multiple research and public scholarship endeavors.

Support for admitted students includes a 9-month stipend, health insurance, tuition remission, office space, and professional development funding.