Applied Social and Cultural Studies

Mission

The mission of the Society, Culture, and Languages programs is to offer a vigorous and exciting broad-based liberal arts education with an emphasis on cultural, global, and political dynamics. The programs provide a combination of theoretical, scientific, practical, and experiential approaches to understanding and solving human problems. Issues of gender, race, class, and culture, as well as hands-on learning, are emphasized throughout the curriculum. Our goal is to graduate students with marketable skills that prepare them for careers in a variety of public and social services and/or for graduate study in related areas.

Major Description

The Bachelor of Arts with a major in Applied Social and Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary degree that allows students to integrate coursework from sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, communications, and other related fields of study. The major core emphasizes social science methods and ways of knowing while introducing students to a variety of social science disciplines. Within the Applied Social and Cultural Studies degree, students will also pursue a concentration in one (1) of the three (3) particular content areas.

In addition to the interdisciplinary approaches to the social sciences, there are two (2) unique elements to this program. First, students complete a one-hundred and twenty (120)-hour internship. This helps students to engage in experiential learning, apply social science to the real world, undertake career explorations. Second, upper-level students participate in a semester-long applied sociological experience. One (1) option is an internship with a minimum of three-hundred and sixty (360) hours of engagement to be selected from a variety of area schools, agencies, and programs. A second option is for a student to study abroad. While studying in a foreign society and culture is important, the primary focus is for students to take courses and engage experientially in a way that helps students develop their areas of interest. There needs to be an integrated social science experience that drives the study abroad learning as well as the opportunity to explore a new society and culture for this to be a successful experience.

Overall, this program will provide students with a strong foundation for understanding today's social issues and problems. Students will also have a wide range of skills and experiences that will enhance their future educational and career opportunities as well as enable them to be more active and aware citizens.

Curricular Requirements

CAS Core Requirements	Credits
Total Credits	42–43

Program Required Courses	Credits
SOC 268 – Practice of Social Research	3
SOC 270 – Classical Social Theory or SOC 280 – Contemporary Social Theory	3
SOC 300 – Internship	3
SOC 370 – Applied Field Methods	3
Applied Capstone Experience	9–16
Four (4) Courses from Applied Concentration	12
Total Credits	33–40

Select Three (3) of the Following Courses:	Credits
ANT 101 – Introduction to Anthropology or ANT 102 – Cultural Anthropology	3
PSC 105 – Introduction to Political Science	3
PSY 105 – Introduction to Psychology	3
SOC 150 – Introduction to Sociology	3
Total Credits	9
Open Electives (as needed to reach 120 credits)	Variable

Minimum Total Required Credits	120

Applied Capstone Experiences (ACE)

Internship

Students may take between nine (9) and sixteen (16) credits to complete this ACE. Students may select from over seven hundred and fifty (750) sites in the Civic Engagement database. This learning opportunity should parallel the student’s concentration and help them to gain experience, skills, and knowledge of how systems work and how to develop contacts in a given field.

Thesis

Students may take between nine (9) and sixteen (16) credits to complete this ACE. The thesis should build on work the student has done in the ASCS major and their chosen concentration. This academic work should prepare them for graduate study in disciplines that have been incorporated into their concentration.

Study Abroad

Students will typically take fifteen (15) to sixteen (16) credits to complete a study abroad experience. While studying in a foreign society and culture is important, the primary focus is to take courses from the new institution that will help the student develop their areas of interest as they relate to the major. In short, there needs to be an integrated social science experience that drives the study abroad learning and the opportunity to explore a new society and culture for this to be a successful experience. All study abroad experiences should first be cleared with the Academic Director, to see if they qualify to meet the requirement for the Capstone.

Applied Concentration

There are three (3) concentrations in the ASCS major: Health, Medicine, and Society; Society, Human Services, and Community; and Law, Crime, and Society. As soon as possible after arriving at 91AV students should declare their major. By the end of their second year, students should declare their concentration. There are no required courses in any concentration. In each concentration students, in consultation with their advisor, select four (4) courses from a variety of disciplines that will help them build foundations, skills, and develop expertise in their chosen concentration.

Health, Medicine, and Society

Sample courses include (but are not limited to)

ANT 211 – Medical Anthropology
PSC 325 – Politics and Public Health
PSY 235 – Health Psychology
SOC 228 – The Sociology of Aging
SOC 275 – The Sociology of Food and Health
SOC 355 – Medical Sociology

Society, Human Services, and Community

Sample courses include (but are not limited to)

PSY 236 – Mental Health and Society
PSY 370 – Drugs, Society, and Behavior
SOC 215 – Poverty
SOC 320 – Community Organization
SOC 460 – Social Policy and Planning
SOC 480 – The Family

Law, Crime, and Society

Sample courses include (but are not limited to)

ANT 224 – Forensic Anthropology and Human Rights
CMM 411 – Communication, Law, and Regulation
PSY 252 – Forensic Psychology
PSY 255 – Social Psychology
SOC 170 – Deviance and Crime
SOC 421 – A Just Society?
SOC 333 – Sociology of Law

Students in this major can participate in the pre-health graduate school preparation tracks.

Learning Outcomes

Students in all Social and Cultural Studies programs will explore the world and its diverse people, environments, social/cultural structure, and languages by employing sociological and anthropological theory, research design, analysis, experiential learning, and critical assessment methods. As a result, at the completion of all Social and Cultural Studies Programs, students will be able to recognize and evaluate the nature of social evidence and in doing so be able to articulate and apply appropriate terminology, and theoretical and methodological procedures to the examination of society, culture, and languages across space and time.

Honors Program

We offer qualified students the option of graduating with Honors. This includes significant research, scholarship or creative activity under the direction of a faculty member. Interested students should consult with their major advisor.

Transfer Credit

See Undergraduate Admissions for more information.

Admissions

See Undergraduate Admissions for more information.

Financial Information

Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees for subsequent years may vary. Other expenses include books and housing. For more information regarding tuition and fees, please consult the Financial Information section of this catalog.