Program Overview

Graduate Studies, Ph.D. in Sociology

The Sociology Department at Syracuse University offers core training in sociological issues, theory, and practice. Graduate students in our Ph.D. program develop substantive areas of specialization in at least one area of faculty expertise, organized around eight major areas.

Areas of Specialization

• Inequalities
• Globalization, Immigration, Transnational Studies
• Population and Place
• Education and Family
• Health, Aging & the Life Course, Disability
• Power, Capital and Politics
• Methods
• Theory

Program Requirements

Our aim is to prepare students for all aspects of their career: research, teaching, publishing, grants, and mentoring. The Ph.D. degree requires a total of 72 credit hours, including:

• at least 45 credit hours of graded graduate coursework
• at least two substantive or theory courses with a SOC prefix of 600 or higher
• at least two additional courses with a prefix of 600 or higher from sociology or a related discipline
• one advanced research methods class
• at least 9 credit hours of dissertation
• the comprehensive examination followed by a dissertation

Concurrent Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS)

Earn a concurrent certificate of advanced study (CAS) in population health and aging while you work toward your M.A. Students must complete 15 credits, including 9 from required courses—SOC 667, Population Processes; SOC 655, Sociology of Health and Illness; and SOC 664, Aging and Society—along with 6 credits of health and/or aging electives, 3 of which must be a graduate-level SOC course.

Funding Opportunities

Merit-based financial aid awards are available to support study in the Ph.D. program in the form of fellowships and graduate assistantships. Financial support is renewed each year for four years of study, subject to maintaining satisfactory performance in the Ph.D. program.

Fellowships

University Fellowship awardees receive a stipend and a full-tuition scholarship for 30 credits in their first and fourth years of study and receive a graduate assistantship in their second and third years.

Graduate Assistantships

Ph.D. students have the option to obtain teaching and research experience through graduate assistantships, which are renewed each academic year. Assistantships include a stipend, a full graduate tuition scholarship, and a subsidy toward health insurance coverage for the year.

Departmental Support

Sociology and related research centers have a strong record of securing grants from external agencies and foundations that allow the department to provide research assistantships for high-performing graduate students.

Future Professoriate Program

The Future Professoriate Program (FPP) aims to foster a sense of community among graduate students while allowing them to hone skills related to teaching, research, and professional identity development. The purpose of the FPP is to help graduate students develop professionally by means of workshops, annual in-house conferences, and a mentored independent teaching experience. Students who complete these activities and produce a teaching portfolio can receive the University’s Certificate in University Teaching. These endeavors are seen as complements to the training in scholarship and teaching that are regular parts of graduate education.

Research Areas

Graduate students conduct meaningful research in Maxwell's 15 research centers, including:

• Aging Studies Institute
• Autonomous Systems Policy Institute
• Campbell Public Affairs Institute
• Center for Aging and Policy Research
• Center for Environmental Policy and Administration
• Center for Policy Design and Governance
• Center for Policy Research
• Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry
• Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship
• Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media
• Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health
• Maxwell X Lab
• Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs
• PARCC (Conflict and Collaboration)
• Institute for Security Policy and Law