For Parents

The faculty and staff in the Department of Sociology and Criminology realize that the transition to college is challenging for both students and their parents. Our Department is student-centered offering an array of undergraduate courses in small classroom settings of 25-35 students. Our 400-plus majors and over 100 double majors learn from excellent, experienced, and student-friendly faculty with advanced degrees. Our highly skilled and friendly staff offer individualized assistance to our students.  Our dedicated and very well-trained graduate students assist faculty teaching introductory courses but do not independently teach courses in the department. The success of our students is our core value. Diversity and inclusion are integral to everything we do.

The department has always been home to faculty who are deeply committed to the success of our undergraduate and graduate students, engaging them in numerous research opportunities, and preparing students for meaningful and rewarding careers in a variety of fields including public service, non-profits and government agencies, law and law enforcement, security, community organizations, public relations and marketing, business, education, data analysis, market research, health care and social services, among others. A New York Times article noted that sociology, and in our view criminology as well, is an academic discipline that “may not have the ear of presidents but may actually do a better job of explaining what has gone wrong in large swaths of the United States and other advanced nations in recent years” than other disciplines.

As the professional associations of sociologists and criminologists emphasize, these empirical disciplines are core parts of applied sciences, gateways to meaningful participation in other integrated and interdisciplinary sciences, and key areas for career communities in social impact and sustainability, big data, leadership, licensed helping professions, media, and the academy.

For more information please contact:

Lori Holyfield, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Program Director
211 Old Main
lholyfie@uark.edu
479-575-3205

Mindy Bradley, Ph.D.
Director of Online Education
211 Old Main
mwbradl@uark.edu
479-575-3205