Main Office
Chilton Hall, Room 300
Mailing address:
1155 Union Circle #311157
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940-565-2296
Web site: www.unt.edu/soci
Graduate Faculty: Cready, Dash, Eve, Ignatow, Ingman, Lawson, Lusky, Moore, Rodeheaver, Seward, Swan, Turner, Williamson, Yancey, Yeatts, Zafirovski.
The department offers graduate programs leading to the following degrees:
Areas of concentration include (but are not limited to) social inequality, health and illness, globalization and developing societies, and sociology of aging.
The Department of Applied Gerontology merged with the Department of Sociology, reuniting the two programs initiated by Hiram J. Friedsam. The combined resources and faculties provide students with a variety of training opportunities in research and application. The Master of Arts and the Master of Science degrees in sociology and the Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees in long-term care, senior housing and aging services will continue as unique degree programs. The Doctor of Philosophy degrees in sociology and in applied gerontology have been combined into the PhD with a major in sociology. Students seeking the PhD in applied gerontology must now apply for admission to the PhD in sociology program and may pursue a concentration in sociology of aging in the doctoral program.
Research in sociology at UNT, including sociology of aging, covers a wide range, from studies of individuals to the global community. Examples include studies of sustainable societies and social interactions of individuals within social organizations, such as the study of nurses aides’ empowerment on job performance and the determinants of racial identities. Studies of whole organizations and social institutions includes the study of work teams in nursing homes, racially integrated churches and environmental groups. Studies of global communities include assessing disaster preparedness, determinants of sustainability and the worldwide impact of HIV/AIDS. Faculty apply for and obtain research grants from funding sources such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Commonwealth Fund. Doctoral students are expected to engage in research with their faculty mentors and to conduct independent research projects.
1. Before being admitted to a master’s program in the Department of Sociology, the applicant must meet the requirements for admission to the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies specified in the Admission section of this catalog. Applying is a two-part process. First, prospective applicants for a master’s program must obtain and file an application for admission to the UNT Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. Second, applicants for a master’s degree must also obtain and file a separate application for admission to the Department of Sociology. (See the departmental web page for details.)
2. A score on the verbal and quantitative sections of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required of all applicants. This score must be filed before final approval of an application can be given.
3. For unconditional admission to the master’s program, the applicant must have completed a minimum of 18 hours of sociology; have a grade point average of 3.0 on the last 60 hours of courses for the bachelor’s degree and a GPA of 3.0 on all sociology courses; and have competitive scores on the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE. See the department’s web page or contact the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies for information concerning admission test scores.
4. The applicant who does not meet some of these requirements may be considered for conditional admission provided substantial alternative evidence of ability to do graduate work is submitted to the program’s graduate admissions committee. For conditional admission, the applicant must have a grade point average of 2.8 on the last 60 hours of courses for the bachelor’s degree (or a GPA of 2.8 on all undergraduate work); a GPA of 2.8 on all sociology courses; and scores on the verbal and quantitative sections on the GRE. See the department’s web page or contact the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies for information concerning admission test scores. Additional course work may be required when the applicant has fewer than the 18 hours of sociology (or their equivalent) required for unconditional admission. The committee may also request additional evidence of the applicant’s ability to do graduate work.
5. The graduate admissions committee of the program is responsible for recommending acceptance or denial of applicants to graduate programs in sociology. Applicants are expected to submit all pertinent materials well in advance of the anticipated date of entering the School of Graduate Studies.
1. All master’s candidates in sociology are required to take SOCI 5150, Contemporary Sociological Theory; SOCI 5200, Seminar on Research Methods and Design; and SOCI 5210, Introduction to Social Statistics; or their equivalents.
2. Students must establish an advisory committee and prepare a degree plan approved by the committee. The candidate’s committee is composed of three faculty members with at least two from sociology, one of whom serves as the major professor, and one faculty member from the minor department, which can be sociology. The major and minor professors are appointed before the student prepares the degree plan, and the third member is added at the time of the comprehensive examination. The degree plan and major and minor professors must be approved by the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies upon recommendation of the student, department chair and graduate advisor.
1. Of the required minimum of 30 graduate hours for the master’s degree, 24 hours must be graduate sociology courses, including a 6-hour thesis.
2. A minor of 6 graduate hours in a related field must be approved by the chair of the sociology department and the student’s major professor.
3. Candidates for the Master of Arts degree must present evidence of a reading knowledge of at least one foreign language. (This is not a requirement for candidates for the Master of Science degree.)
4. Successful completion of a thesis and satisfactory performance on the comprehensive examination complete the requirements for the master’s degree. The comprehensive exam is principally the candidate’s oral defense of his or her thesis but may include related questions on theories, research methods and social statistics used in the discipline. Candidates are eligible to complete the exam after they have established an advisory/thesis committee, had their degree plan approved and completed 21 semester hours of graduate credit toward the degree. The examining board consists of the candidate’s three-member advisory/thesis committee.
1. Of the required minimum of 36 hours for the master’s degree, 30 hours must be graduate work in sociology.
2. A minor usually consists of 6 graduate hours, but up to 12 graduate hours may be taken in courses outside of sociology with consent of the department chair and the student’s major professor.
3. A total of 6 graduate hours may be earned in SOCI 5940, Sociology Internship.
4. Candidates for the Master of Arts degree must present evidence of a reading knowledge of at least one foreign language. (This is not a requirement for candidates for the Master of Science degree.)
5. Satisfactory performance on the comprehensive examination completes the requirements for the master’s degree. The comprehensive exam, as determined by the candidate’s advisory committee, is usually oral but may be written or both. The oral exams normally last one and one-half hours and the written exam length varies by format. If the candidate answers the questions without access to books, journals or other written material, the exam usually lasts four hours. If a take home exam, the student is usually allowed two weeks to complete the exam. The exams are principally over, but not limited to, completed course work with an emphasis upon theories, research methods and social statistics used in the discipline. Candidates are eligible to complete the exam(s) after they have established an advisory committee, had a degree plan approved and completed 27 semester hours of graduate credit toward the degree. The examining board consists of the candidate’s three-member advisory committee.
Students may pursue either of two career options for this professional degree. One option satisfies the Texas requirements for licensure as a long-term care administrator, and the other prepare individuals for alternative careers in administration of community-based services.
Before being admitted to a master’s program in the Department of Sociology, the applicant must meet the requirements for admission to the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies specified in the Admission section of this catalog. Applying is a two-part process. First, prospective applicants for a master’s program must obtain and file an application for admission to the UNT Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. Second, applicants for a master’s degree must also obtain and file a separate application for admission to the Department of Sociology.
A competitive score on the general test of the Graduate Record Examination must be submitted. No specific undergraduate major is required. However, 3 semester credit hours of social gerontology is a prerequisite for all master’s degree candidates. This prerequisite may be taken concurrently with courses that apply to the master’s degree.
All majors require completion of 46 graduate hours. Students must complete a capstone course, Proseminar on Applications in Practice, for 3 hours of credit. One of the requirements of this course is the production of a major written project.
Master’s degree candidates must pass an oral comprehensive examination.
Candidates for the MA degree must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language (normally French, German or Spanish). See “Foreign Language Requirement” in the Master’s Degree Requirements section of this catalog for further details.
Required courses: AGER 5300, AGER 5400, AGER 5600; AGER 5750 or AGER 5700 and AGER 5860; AGER 5710, AGER 5740, AGER 5780, AGER 5790, AGER 5810, AGER 5940; plus 3 hours of internship (AGER 5840).
Electives in applied gerontology (AGER 5250, AGER 5350, AGER 5500, AGER 5560, AGER 5770, AGER 5800, AGER 5880 and AGER 5890) or in business. Students seeking licensure as long-term care administrators must take AGER 5850, ACCT 5020, BLAW 5050 and MGMT 5140.
Requests for course substitutions are considered on an individual basis and may be approved if warranted by the student’s academic background and/or professional experience. Students earn 3 hours of credit by completing a required 500-clock-hour supervised internship in a suitable aging services organization. Students seeking licensure as long-term care administrators must serve a 1,000-clock-hour internship, for 6 hours of credit, in a licensed long-term care facility. Internship placements are available nationwide under the preceptorship of experienced professionals.
Licensed long-term care administrators may be allowed to substitute additional course work for the internship.
The objective of the sociology program is to produce intellectually well-rounded graduates capable of (1) functioning effectively in either an academic milieu or a sociological practice setting, (2) analyzing human social groups and relationships between groups and (3) evaluating the influence of social factors on social situations. All doctoral students are required to study core social theory and social research and may concentrate in a variety of substantive areas including (but not limited to) social inequality, health and illness, and globalization and developing societies, sustainable societies and sociology of aging. UNT houses numerous academic departments such as anthropology, criminal justice, and public administration, providing doctoral students with the opportunity to concentrate in these additional areas of study. The sociology PhD program participates in a consortium with Texas Woman’s University and Texas A&M University–Commerce called the Federation of North Texas Area Universities. Through the federation, doctoral students are able to take sociology courses at these institutions and apply them to their PhD degree, include faculty from the other universities on their doctoral advisory committee and participate in federation professional development programs and events. This further broadens the student’s exposure to sociology faculty and substantive areas of study.
Before being admitted to the doctoral program, the applicant must meet the requirements for admission to the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies specified in the Admission section of this catalog. Admission to the doctoral program in sociology is competitive, as available resources do not permit admission of all qualified applicants.
Applying is a two-part process. First, prospective applicants for the doctoral program must obtain and file an application for admission to the UNT Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. Second, applicants for the doctoral degree with a major in sociology must obtain and file a separate application for admission to the Department of Sociology. A competitive score on the general test of the Graduate Record Examination must be submitted at the time of the application.
The following requirements must be met for admission consideration.
1. For consideration of unconditional admission to the PhD program in sociology by applicants with a master’s degree, applicants must have completed a minimum of 18 hours of sociology, at least 3 graduate semester hours in social research methods, 3 graduate semester hours in an acceptable course on social statistics and 3 graduate semester hours of social theory; have at least a 3.5 (B+) GPA for master’s courses; and have competitive scores on the verbal and quantitative sections of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). See the department’s web page (www.unt.edu/soci) or contact the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies for information concerning admission test scores.
2. For possible consideration of conditional admission for applicants with a master’s degree (requiring an appeal to the graduate school), the applicant must have at least a 3.0 (B) GPA for all master’s credit, acceptable scores on the verbal and quantitative sections of the Graduate Record Examination (see the department’s web page or contact the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies for information concerning admission test scores), and substantial alternative evidence of potential success in graduate studies. Additional course work is typically required when the applicant has fewer than the required number of hours and courses needed for unconditional admission. The sociology department may request additional evidence of the applicant’s ability to do graduate work.
3. Outstanding undergraduates without the master’s degree who meet all possible unconditional requirements may be considered for admission into the doctoral program.
The dean of the graduate school will notify the applicant of the admission decision to the sociology program. Applicants receiving acceptance for admission should consult with the department’s graduate advisor prior to the first term/semester of enrollment to schedule courses.
1. The minimum program for the PhD in sociology consists of 90 hours beyond the bachelor’s degree, plus up to 9 hours of a tool-subject; or 60 hours beyond the master’s degree, plus up to 9 hours of a tool-subject. All students are required to complete the following:
a. A minimum of 12 semester hours in research methods and statistics, including one 3-hour course in each of the following: qualitative research methods, quantitative research methods, multivariate statistics and advanced statistics. All courses must be at the 6000 level, and a grade of B or better must be achieved for each.
b. A minimum of 6 semester hours in sociological theory at the 6000 level, including one 3-hour course in classical theory and one in contemporary theory. A grade of B or better must be achieved for each.
c. A minimum of 12 semester hours in one of the department’s substantive concentrations (i.e., social inequality, health and illness, and globalization and developing societies), including at least 6 hours at the 6000 level. The core course for the concentration must be taken with the remaining three courses selected from a list of available concentration courses. The core course is not a prerequisite to taking one of the other concentration courses. Readings courses cannot be used to satisfy these requirements.
d. A minimum of 12 semester hours in a second sociology concentration or a related minor field. The second concentration may be one of the department concentrations or a concentration area selected by the student and approved by the student’s advisory committee. The four courses taken for this concentration must be approved by the student’s advisory committee. No more than one readings course may be taken to satisfy these requirements.
e. For students seeking the concentration in sociology of aging, a minimum of 24 semester hours of applied gerontology course work (rather than the 12 hours required in social inequality, health and illness, or globalization and developing societies and the 12 hours in a second concentration or related minor field as described in items c and d above). (See “Concentration in Sociology of Aging” for details.)
f. A minimum of 6 semester hours of electives.
g. A minimum of 12 semester hours of dissertation.
h. A tool requirement or proficiency in a foreign language. To satisfy the tool requirement, students must complete 9 graduate semester hours of course work. The tool courses must be recommended by the student’s committee, approved by the chair of the department, and may include courses such as teaching sociology, grant writing, publishing, use of SPSS, etc. To satisfy the foreign language proficiency, the student must demonstrate proficiency in French, German or Spanish. Substitution of another language may be approved by the graduate dean upon recommendation of the student’s advisory committee. The advisory committee may require proficiency in a language when the dissertation research demands it.
2. Students may earn limited credit in cooperative education or in an internship as part of their PhD course work.
3. A student must carry a full load of 9 hours for any two consecutive semesters to fulfill the doctoral residence requirement.
4. The student must establish an advisory committee and prepare a degree plan approved by this committee. The advisory committee is composed of at least three members, including the major professor or chair, all of whom must be from the full-time sociology faculty. A fourth faculty member may be from the Texas Woman’s University faculty or may represent a second concentration within sociology or a minor outside the program. This committee is appointed by the dean of the graduate school upon recommendation of the student, department chair and graduate advisor. In conjunction with approval of the degree plan, the advisory committee may administer a diagnostic review to assist the student in completing the program. The degree plan of the individual student must be completed during the first term/semester of the second year of graduate work or before completion of 18 semester hours in the program and prior to taking the concentration exams.
5. Concentration examinations are required of all students. Examinations are written for each of the student’s two concentrations or, in the case of students pursuing the sociology of aging concentration, examinations are written for this single concentration. Each examination must be taken within one semester after the student has completed all course work for the 12-hour concentration or the 24-hour sociology of aging concentration. In the case of students completing two 12-hour concentrations, the examination for the department’s concentration is prepared by the concentration’s faculty committee and evaluated by those faculty contributing questions to the exam. The examination for the second concentration is prepared by the student’s advisory committee and evaluated by those faculty contributing questions to the exam. All examinations are administered by the graduate advisor. Preparation for these exams includes, but is not limited to, course work, reading key literature and participation in study groups.
Students who intend to pursue careers in academic research may apply to their advisory committee for a “research paper option” in lieu of an examination covering the second concentration. The application must include:
a. a proposed “publishable quality” paper based on a term paper for a 6000-level course in which the student received a grade of A;
b. a description of the paper including title, specific research question(s), research method(s) to be used, source of data and names of three peer-reviewed journals appropriate for publication of the paper; and
c. a signature approving the student’s use of the term paper from the faculty member who taught the 6000-level course.
Approval of the application and subsequent paper is determined by the student’s advisory committee. The paper must be between 6,000 and 8,000 words and must be completed within a six-month period. If the paper is not turned in on time or not approved by the advisory committee, the student must take a normal qualifying examination the following August or January.
The successful completion of these examinations is a prerequisite for admission to candidacy for the degree. Admission to candidacy is granted by the appropriate graduate dean upon recommendation of the advisory committee and the chair, and also is based upon the student’s academic record and successful completion of the tool requirement.
6. Under the direction of the advisory committee the candidate must write a dissertation representing original research. It must make a significant contribution to the discipline of sociology in the student’s area of concentration.
The student must defend orally a written dissertation proposal that meets with the approval of the student’s advisory committee before the dissertation is written. The final written dissertation must be defended orally before the committee and approved by them.
7. Students can apply to their dissertation committee to take a research track. This track prepares the student for an academic position at a research university. Requirements include preparing three research papers in the student’s primary concentration. One of the papers must be accepted for publication and solely authored by the student, a second must be submitted for publication and the third must be approved as near-ready for submission for publication. The three papers are organized within the dissertation format for submission to the graduate school.
The concentration in sociology of aging stresses instruction and research contributing to the body of knowledge and application of knowledge for the identification, development, provision and evaluation of organizations, products and services responsive to the special needs of older people. Students in the sociology doctoral program with a sociology of aging concentration master the gerontological theories, knowledge and research techniques needed both to make policies and regulations consistent with such applications and to acquire the ability to be advocates for those policies and regulations.
Students seeking the concentration in sociology of aging must be accepted into the PhD in sociology program and enroll in 24 hours of applied gerontology course work (rather than taking a minimum of 12 semester hours in social inequality, health and illness, or globalization and developing societies and a minimum of 12 semester hours in a second concentration or related minor field as described in “Degree Requirements”). The concentration includes courses in theories of aging, formal organization of aging services, regulatory strategies in aging, and policy issues in aging. Students normally take AGER 6150, AGER 6500, AGER 6700 and AGER 6800. However, substitutions may be made in concurrence with the major advisor. Additionally, in consultation with the major advisor, students must select from groups of related courses in gerontology, health aspects in aging, and planning and administering services. Students must complete all other requirements for the degree as described under “Degree Requirements.”
The Department of Sociology has the right to dismiss a graduate student from the master’s or doctoral degree program for one or more of the following indicators of failure to make satisfactory progress:
1. The student earns two grades of C or below in sociology theory, methods, statistics or first concentration (track within sociology) course work that will count in these areas on the student’s degree plan (for purposes of this rule, the first grade received in the course will be used).
2. The student has 6 or more hours of Incomplete grades that are more than one year old in sociology theory, methods, statistics, or first concentration (track within sociology) course work.
3. The student’s overall GPA falls below 3.0 for two consecutive semesters or the student is suspended by the graduate school after being put on probation.
4. The doctoral student fails a comprehensive (including qualifying and concentration) exam twice.
5. The student fails to make any progress toward the degree for at least one full calendar year (e.g., does not enroll, does not sit for the comprehensive or qualifying exams, does not make progress on thesis or dissertation, etc.).
6. The student engages in an act of academic misconduct.
Students in other fields may choose sociology or sociology of aging for a minor. AGER 5700, AGER 5710, AGER 5780 and AGER 5860 are required for minor students in sociology of aging. Courses for the minor in sociology are to be chosen in consultation by the student with the minor professor.
The graduate academic certificate, specialist in aging, is designed for health and human service professionals who wish to complement their existing knowledge and skills with an understanding of aging and services for the aged. Faculty of two- and four-year colleges and universities and doctoral candidates in other fields may also find the specialist certificate a valuable adjunct to their academic credentials. The 15-semester-hour program includes 12 semester hours of core courses covering social, physiological and psychological aspects of aging as well as government programs for the elderly, plus 3 elective hours of applied gerontology. For students who have successfully completed the Coalition for Leadership in Aging Services certification program jointly sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the 3 elective hours will be waived.
All Courses of Instruction are located in one section at the back of this catalog.
The “Course and Subject Guide,” found in the Courses of Instruction section of this book, serves as a table of contents and provides quick access to subject areas and prefixes.
Date of initial release: July 1, 2010 — Copyright © 2010 University of North Texas
Page updated:
August 27, 2010
— Comments or corrections: catalog@unt.edu
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