Welcome to UB's Department of Sociology

Since 1924 undergraduate students from across New York State and beyond have come to the University at Buffalo in pursuit of a degree in sociology.  Beginning in the 1940’s the UB sociology department began offering graduate degrees at both the MA and PhD levels.  Over these many years thousands of undergraduate and graduate students have attended UB and through their investigations in sociology explored pressing questions related to contemporary social life, the processes of social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior.   More than 3000 undergraduate students have graduated from UB with a major in sociology since 1975.  The department currently consists of 17 faculty members, 50 graduate students, and 250 undergraduate students.    Our distinguished faculty have received national and international recognition for their scholarship, have published their research with top publishers including the University of Chicago Press, Oxford University Press, New York University Press, University of Minnesota Press, Routledge, and Blackwell as well as in highly ranked scholarly journals such as the American Sociological Review, Law and Society Review, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Social Forces, and Social Problems,  have been awarded research grants from prestigious public and private organizations, and have won prizes for excellence in the classroom.  The department provides solid foundation in sociological theory and research methods and concentrates in the substantive areas of Family and the Life Course, Law and Society, Race and Ethnicity, and Urban and Community.  This is an exciting and growing department and I encourage you to take a closer look at the opportunities available in the department of sociology at the University at Buffalo.  Please contact me directly (rgranfie@buffalo.edu) if you desire any additional information.

Robert Granfield, Professor & Chair  

Recent Department Accomplishments


Professor Debra Street will presented the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teachingon Monday, September 19, 2011 at 3:30 at the University at Buffalo's Center for the Arts Drama Theatre.  Recipients for this award "have demonstrated outstanding teaching ability through superb classroom performance." 

Professor Erin Hatton has received a 2011-12 Civic Engagement Fellowship for her project titled, "When is a worker not a worker? Excluding workers from U.S. Employment and Labor Law". The grant will permit her to offset early-stage research costs and help develop external funding for her research.

Effective Fall 2011, Professor Debra Street been promoted to full professor.

Professor Kristen Schultz Lee and Yumiko Fujita (graduate student, Department of Sociology) have an article, "Economic Recession and the Nature and Pace of Social Change in Japan," forthcoming in Social Science Research.

Professor Erin Hatton's book "The Temp Economy: From Kelly Girls to Permatemps in Postwar America", is now available from Temple University Press.

 

Please click here to read our archived accomplishments.