Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate Sociology Programs
Bachelor of Arts
Sociology applies social science methods to understand how broader social forces influence our thoughts, beliefs, and behavior. It provides important background for careers in human resources, education, business, law, social work, criminal justice, politics, arts, sports, and public administration.
Students may select from a broad range of courses related to contemporary issues and problems: inter-group relations, popular culture, social movements, and social change, modernity and post-modernity, family patterns and relationships, sexuality, crime and deviance, environmental and social problems, globalization, and field experiences.
The Sociology Department offers a fully online Bachelor's degree in Sociology. In addition, students who reside in the Colorado Springs area have the option to take a combination of online and in-person courses, including evening courses, to complete the degree. Online courses may be offered in online synchronous and hybrid formats.
All required sociology courses are offered in an online format at least once each calendar year, with most being offered each semester, including summer. A variety of electives are also available online each semester.
Sociology and Philosophy, BA
The Departments of Sociology and Philosophy offer a streamlined double major for students interested in majoring in both degrees. The combination enhances students' abilities to bring both theoretical analysis and practical application to bear on their topics of interest and is particularly suited for those interested in legal studies.
Sociology and Psychology, BA
The Departments of Sociology and Psychology offer a streamlined double major for students interested in how societies and individuals interact and impact one another.
Sociology and Women’s & Ethnic Studies, BA
Sociology and WEST offer a program for students interested in majoring in both disciplines, allowing those students to choose between summit experiences and reducing the number of courses required for each major while gaining deeper experience and training in critical analysis of intersectional identities, social justice, and inequality.
Sociology and Criminal Justice, BA
The dual degree program in Sociology (LAS) and Criminal Justice (CPS) is designed to make it easier for students to complete simultaneous degrees in these two majors. Students in the dual degree program need only take 25 credits in Criminal Justice and 34 credits in Sociology to complete the major requirements for both degrees. This dual degree is available in both in-person and online formats.
Sociology, Accelerated Master's Program
The Accelerated Master’s Degree Program in Sociology offers highly-qualified UCCS sociology majors at the undergraduate level the opportunity to pursue a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Sociology and a Masters of Arts (MA) in Sociology. The main benefit of the program is that it allows for up to nine credit hours to be used for both the BA and MA. The program is designed to be a five-year program for currently enrolled UCCS Sociology majors.
Minors
Sociology Minor
The minor in Sociology gives students a broad overview of sociological theory and research methods with a chance to focus on the sociological approaches and topics that best complement their academic and career goals.
Gerontology Minor
Gerontology is the multidisciplinary study of biological, sociological, and psychological aging. The Gerontology minor complements and enhances career opportunities for students in nearly every major or pre-professional program offered at UCCS. Upon completion of the minor, graduating students will be awarded an Academic Certificate in Gerontology.
Certificates
The Civics Certificate in WEST & Sociology advances critical thinking about race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, and other socio-cultural hierarchies by focusing on dynamic relationships between the U.S. Government and marginalized populations within American society. The Civics Certificate in WEST & Sociology encourages a broader understanding of citizenship, democracy, obligations, participation, protest, and social justice. The Civics Certificate in WEST & Sociology helps, in part, to fulfill our vision that students develop and refine skills to shape a collective future in which equity and justice prevail.
Criminology and Justice Studies
This certificate provides undergraduate-level sociology students with a greater understanding of an array of aspects of the criminal justice system, highlighting the impact of law and society, corrections systems, and structures of deviance in the social order. This certificate is beneficial for enhancing future career options with law enforcement, state and community action, and social service organizations. It is also beneficial for students who are applying to law schools, social work programs, and graduate programs.
For undergraduate students wishing to develop an understanding of the interdisciplinary field of disability studies, the College of Education and College of Letters, Arts and Sciences offer a certificate of specialization. Completion of the certificate provides evidence of specialized study, which can be beneficial for enhancing future career options and interests. The certificate is useful for careers in the private sector and educational institutions, including social work, graduate and professional schools, community action organizations, and social services.
This certificate provides undergraduate-level students with a greater understanding of the social dimensions of childhood and family, highlighting how dynamics of diversity and inequality shape childhood and families. The certificate will explore the family as a social institution, including the historical development and contemporary cross-cultural analysis with an emphasis on the contemporary American family. This certificate can be beneficial for enhancing career options with mental health organizations, local and international family intervention programs, community action, and social service organizations. It is also potentially beneficial for students who are interested in social work programs or applying to graduate and professional schools.
Social Dimensions of Health and Health Care
This certificate provides undergraduate-level sociology students with a greater understanding of the social dimensions of health and health care. Stereotypes, stigma, and social construction of body image and the “worthiness” of people and diseases for medical, financial, and political intervention are central. This certificate is beneficial for enhancing career options with disaster response agencies, mental health organizations, and community action and social service organizations. It is also beneficial for students who are applying to graduate and professional schools, social work programs, and governmental organizations.
The Sociology Department has a strong emphasis on diversity and inequality issues, highlighting race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class. For sociology majors, minors, and other students wishing to concentrate in these areas, we offer a certificate of specialization that is marketable to a wide variety of employers and educational institutions, including social work, graduate and professional schools, community action organizations, and social services.