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Department of Sociology

Honors Program

HONORS IN SOCIOLOGY

The Honors Program offers top-performing majors in sociology the opportunity to pursue intensive work through an independent research project. Students interested in pursuing honors should contact the Director of the Sociology Honors Program, Professor Larry Isaac, for more information.

ELIGIBILITY

To qualify for the Sociology Honors Program, you must:

  • Be a sociology major in your junior or senior year
  • Have a minimum GPA in sociology of 3.3
  • Have a minimum GPA of 3.3 overall
  • Complete SOC 3002: Introduction to Social Research, or equivalent (ideally before SOC 4981A, but may be taken concurrently)
  • Complete SOC 2100: Statistics for Social Scientists, or equivalent (ideally before SOC 4981A, but may be taken concurrently)
  • Be recommended for the program by one or more sociology faculty members

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

In addition to completing all the requirements of the sociology major, students in the Honors Program must also complete the following additional requirements:

  • Statistics. The Honors Program requires SOC 2100 or an equivalent statistics course. This will be counted toward the 12 total hours in the elective requirement.
  • Honors Research Seminar. Students must successfully complete two semesters of SOC 4981 (Honors Research). The first (fall) semester of SOC 4981 is a 3-credit-hour seminar in which students develop the literature review and research plan for the honors thesis. In the second (spring) semester of SOC 4981, also for 3 credit hours, students must complete data collection, data analysis, and write-up of results of the thesis. Students who begin the Honors Program as juniors may elect to take a third or fourth semester of SOC 4981 during their senior year, in order to extend and revise the project (for instance, for publication). Students who begin the honors track in their senior year may also take an additional 3 credit hours of 4981 in the spring semester.
  • Thesis review and revision. To earn honors in sociology, students must successfully complete a peer review-style revision of their honors thesis, under the supervision of their Thesis Advisor, Thesis Reader, and Honors Director.  They must also present their thesis project at the Thesis Showcase in April, before graduation. The thesis review and revision typically occurs at the end of the second semester of the senior year.

HONORS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY

The Honors Program in Environmental Sociology offers top-performing majors the opportunity to pursue intensive work through an independent research project.

Students interested in pursuing the honors in environmental sociology should contact the director of the Environmental Sociology Honors Program, Professor Larry Isaac, for more information.

ELIGIBILITY

To qualify for the Honors Program in Environmental Sociology, you must:

  • Be an environmental sociology major in your junior or senior year
  • Have a minimum GPA in sociology of 3.3 (note: most honors students have a GPA over 3.6)
  • Have a minimum GPA of 3.3 overall
  • Complete SOC 3002: Introduction to Social Research, or equivalent (ideally before SOC 4981A, but may be taken concurrently)
  • Complete SOC 2100: Statistics for Social Scientists, or equivalent (ideally before SOC 4981A, but may be taken concurrently)
  • Be recommended for the program by one or more sociology faculty members

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

In addition to completing all the above-listed additional requirements of the environmental sociology major, students in the Honors Program also complete the following additional requirements:

  • Honors Research Seminar. Students must successfully complete two semesters of SOC 4981 (Honors Research). The first (fall) semester of SOC 4981 is a 3-credit-hour seminar in which students develop the literature review and research plan for the honors thesis. In the second semester (spring) of SOC 4981, also for 3 credit hours, students must complete the research and data collection, data analysis, and initial write-up of results of the thesis.
  • Thesis review and revision. To earn honors in environmental sociology, students must successfully complete a peer review-style revision of their honors thesis, under the supervision of their Thesis Advisor, Thesis Reader, and Honors Director. They must also present their thesis project at the Thesis Showcase in April, before graduation. The thesis review and revision typically occurs at the end of the second semester of the senior year.

HONORS PROFILES

Alyssa M. Questell

Environmental injustice refers to the inequitable exposure of marginalized communities to environmental hazards and protections. Rooted in historic patterns of institutional discrimination, environmental injustice has important consequences for the well-being of present-day communities. In her thesis, Alyssa examines the extent to which patterns of environmental injustice exist in the greater Nashville metropolitan area. Specifically, employing census track level data, she asks how differences in exposure to pollution and tree canopy coverage by race and class contribute to patterns of asthma-related emergency department visits in the area. Through her research, she hopes to offer a unique case study featuring a dynamic Southern metropolis to existing environmental justice research and a greater understanding of the role environmental injustice plays in explaining existing disparities in asthma outcomes.

Teresa Xu

Work is often considered a meaningful activity that encompasses more than financial rewards. A call to “do what you love” as a career has become common. The ability to pursue jobs that align with one’s passion generally depends on socioeconomic status, but research has not yet explored the importance of gender in how passion becomes prioritized as a value that guides careers. For her thesis, Teresa conducted interviews with Vanderbilt undergraduate students to examine how childhood and adolescent experiences lead to the prioritization of passion and how prioritizing passion may be gendered.

Samantha Wyman

Grey wolves will be reintroduced to rural Northwest Colorado by the end of 2023. As someone who calls rural Routt County, CO home, Samantha is in a unique position to study the sociocultural and political impacts of this wildlife conservation initiative. In the fall of 2022, Samantha launched her senior honors thesis on the association between rural political alienation and opposition to wolf reintroduction. For her project, Samantha surveyed 250 rural Colorado residents and livestock owners to create a comprehensive resource on the sociological impacts of wolf reintroduction that will be shared with community leaders, policy makers, and livestock owners.