Social Sciences Courses

SOC1123 First Year Experience

Explores the challenges students most frequently face in pursuing and achieving a college degree. Students will identify their own perceived challenges, share critical insights to meeting them, and implement their own plan of action to address and overcome such challenges.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2110 AI-Powered Communication

Explore emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) trends and their social and ethical implications. Analyze the impact of AI on content generation, creativity, media production, and employment. With a focus on academic and professional integrity, students will develop and apply AI literacy skills in a variety of contexts.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2205 World Cultures

Introduces cultural anthropology. In order to better understand humanity, the course examines norms, values, and practices of a variety of cultures.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2210 Introduction to Sociology

Introduces the study of sociology. Examines the social institutions that shape and influence the behavior of the individual and groups in society, with emphasis on examining contemporary social problems. Topics include the study of human social life, theories and methods of sociology, and basic sociological concepts.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2215 Introduction to Political Science

Provides an overview of the American political system, the ideas that shaped it, and the conflicts that continue to redefine the relationship between people and political power.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2218 Police and Society

Introduces the history and traditions of American policing. Examines the role of the police in advancing justice in a democratic society. Topics include law enforcement operations and strategies, such as profiling, organizational structure, community affairs, police use of force, and various major concerns in public policy.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2220 Criminology

Introduces the various causes of crime in a free society. This course considers factors such as free will, biology, and other possible causes, such as DNA, nutrition, hormones, and subcultures of violence.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2225 Introduction to Psychology

Survey of the basic principles of psychology and their direct application to the understanding of human behavior so as to allow students to gain an understanding and awareness of their own everyday existence. Topics include human development, learning, memory, thinking, intelligence, creativity, motivation, emotion, adjustment, perception, abnormal behavior, and therapy.

3 Credit Hours

SOC2231 Human Relations

Explores the interpersonal skills known to be key ingredients for successful everyday interactions with a focus on the challenges of workplace relationships involving coworkers, supervisors, and customers/clients. Some major skill areas covered in the course include making a good impression with your employer, managing conflict with difficult coworkers, working on a team with diverse groups of people, providing exceptional service for customers/clients, and managing on-the-job stressors.

SOC2270 Special Topics in the Social Sciences

Involves readings and discussions, at an introductory level, organized around selected topics in the social sciences. Topics will vary each semester.

Explores the traditional and changing family as a social institution with multicultural and cross-cultural differences. Family roles and patterns are examined with emphasis on the forms they assume in different cultures and subcultures, including ethnic and class variations.

3 Credit Hours

SOC3310 Intercultural Communication

Introduces the various cultural influences on communication. Emphasizes the obstacles and portals to effective communication. Students study the communication styles of different cultural groups and learn to apply cultural perspectives to their daily interactions in business and in their private lives.

3 Credit Hours

SOC3320 Gender, Race, and Class

Explores relationships between race, gender, and class. This course examines reality in the determination of socioeconomic mobility and analyzes the perceived role of race and gender in American society.

3 Credit Hours

SOC3332 Understanding Social Behavior

Examines areas of applied social psychology and the application of social psychology research to understand and address social and practical problems facing individuals, organizations, groups, and communities. Emphasis is placed on how to develop social research-based intervention strategies to improve best practices in a wide range of professional disciplines such as business management, clinical/counseling services, criminal justice, education, health services, media, and politics.

3 Credit Hours

SOC3350 Psychology of Design

Introduces the role and value of design in our lives. We create the environments in which we live and are greatly influenced by them. Our choices are often an unconscious desire to express or validate certain personal and social identities. In this course, students think, experience, research, discuss, and create.

3 Credit Hours

SOC3360 Law and Society

Introduces students to basic concepts in law and examines the impact that major court decisions have on culture and subculture. Students will explore how the law ultimately shapes conduct, ideals, and justice in American society, as well as how the law shapes the everyday lives of its citizens.

3 Credit Hours

SOC4100 Sociology of Leisure Travel

Explores the role of travel and leisure behaviors in the lives of different individuals, social-groups, and cultures.  Using a psycho-social lens, students will critically examine and evaluate topics such as: functions of leisure and travel activities, leisure and travel perceptions and priorities, and patterns of leisure and travel behaviors. How business policy and decisions are influenced by travel and leisure trends will also be examined.

Examines discrimination in the United States including current legal protections for all protected classes. Explores how positive, inclusive relationships can be developed at both societal and organizational levels. Through exploring bias and inequality constructs, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies will be developed and applied using interactive scenarios.

Explores major concepts and theories of human development from a lifespan perspective and considers their application to the real world. Students will examine several domains of development, including physical, cognitive, social, and personality, and will consider contemporary research to inform our understanding of human development as a lifelong process, which unfolds over time in a social, cultural and historical context.

3 Credit Hours

SOC4415 Global Conflict

Explores global trends that have impacted all societies. This course emphasizes developing nations experiencing extensive technological and social change. In this course, the effects of global change on cultures are discussed, as well as the impact of international social and economic development on traditional societies.

3 Credit Hours

SOC4422 Forensic Psychology

Bridges psychology and law through examining a broad array of subtopics such as criminal behavior, juvenile delinquency, serial killers, profiling, victimology, legal psychology, sex offenders, and correctional psychology. Students will review research methods and case studies to enhance their understanding of this discipline.

3 Credit Hours

SOC4425 Abnormal Psychology

Examines the criteria used to define abnormal behavior in specific cultural and historical contexts. Students gain an understanding of experiential and therapeutic responses to mental illness and a basic knowledge of the medical model as it applies to the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.

3 Credit Hours

SOC4470 Special Topics in the Social Sciences

Involves readings and discussions, at an advanced level, organized around selected topics in the social sciences. Topics vary each semester.

Prerequisite: Any 2000-level course in the Social Sciences

1 to 3 Credit Hours