Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

The Sociology Program Major is designed to provide students with a broad base of skills which would allow them to pursue careers in journalism, politics and government, public relations, business, criminal justice, social work and public administration. Additionally, the Sociology Major program will also provide training for those students wishing to pursue graduate degrees in Sociology and other related disciplines. Today, the study of social relations is basic to every type of human endeavor. Government planning, human service work, economic development, personnel management, and the many other activities of our modern world require an understanding of the social system and how individuals fit into it. The program in Sociology prepares the student for further graduate study or for entrance level positions involved with the analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of human social behavior.

The general objectives of the Sociology minor are to enable a student to obtain the skills and theoretical concepts used to study individuals within social groups, the organization of groups, relations between groups, and the processes that maintain or change these social structures of familial, economic, and political life.

The learning objectives of the Sociology Program are based on those of the American Sociological Association. Graduating students must be able to demonstrate their understandings and application of:

The discipline of Sociology and its role in contributing to our understanding of social reality such that the student can apply the sociological imagination and Sociological principles and concepts to any social topic, including to her or his own life;
The role of theory in Sociology, such that the student will be able to define theory and describe its role in generating sociological knowledge, and be able to compare and contrast basic theoretical perspectives;
The role of empirical evidence and the application of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in collecting data, the ability to design a research study, collect and analyze data, and present the findings in research paper format;
Technical skill in retrieving information and data from archival sources, the internet and other data storage formats, and the use of computers for data analysis;
Scientific technical writing that accurately conveys the data findings. An understanding of the issue and the ability to apply the principles of ethical practices in Sociology.

Sociology Major - Student Advisement Form

Sociology Major - General Education Advisement Form

Sociology Major Requirements

(Total: 42 Credit Hours)

Required Courses (21 credit hours): SO101, SO203, SO350, SO351, SO414, SO491 and MA385. Electives (21 credit hours) Twenty-one credit hours from 100, 200, 300, and 400 level courses in Sociology or program designated Sociology electives with nine (9) hours in an area of concentration. No fewer than six hours from the 400 level coursework towards completion of major requirements.

Area of Concentration (9 credit hours) Students must choose one (or more) areas of concentration and take no fewer than 9 hours in their area.

Major Concentrations and Required Courses

Gender and Family Studies: WG101, SO/WG230, SO342, SO445, SO455 and the following courses may also satisfy the major concentration if approved by the course instructor: SO480 or SO491, or SO498

Social Problems Studies: AN/SO/NU/SW344, SO202, SO221, SO302, SO386, SO411, SO418, AN421, PY440 and the following courses may also satisfy the major concentration if approved by the course instructor: SO480 or SO498.

Development Studies: PS304, SO332, GE/AN341, SO360, SO405/G, MI520, SO/GE475 and the following courses may also satisfy the major concentration if approved by the course instructor: SO480 or SO491 or SO498.

Sociology Minor Requirements

(Total: 18 Credit Hours)

Required Courses (3 credit hours): SO101
Electives (15 credit hours) Sociology courses (200, 300, 400 level) six (6) credit hours of which must be at least 300-400 level.

*SEE - STUDENT ADVISEMENT SHEET GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS and include under Tier II - Direction Building (DB) – 9-11 credits – 1) CF, DF or UU as Pre-req (Can be within a declared Major) – SO203; 2) DF or Major Exploration – SO350; 3) DF Exploration outside major requirement (May apply to a Minor or 2nd Major) - MA151
Tier III – Capstone Experience – Major Capstone Experience: 1) Major Capstone Experience – SO491

Faculty Advisors

Angeline Ames, PhD

Associate Professor, Sociology/Micronesian Studies Program

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Office Location: HSS Bldg., 3rd Flr., Rm. 318C

Mailing Address: UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam 96923

Tel: (671) 735-2881
Fax: (671) 734-5255
- aames@triton.uog.edu

Todd Ames, PhD

Chair, Micronesian Studies Program; Associate Professor, Sociology/Micronesian Studies Program

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Office Location: HSS Bldg., 2nd Floor (Division Office)

Mailing Address: UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam 96923

Tel: (671) 735-2884
Fax: (671) 734-5255
- tames@triton.uog.edu

Kirk D. Johnson, PhD

Professor, Sociology Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Office Location: HSS Bldg., 3rd Flr., Rm. 318D

Mailing Address: UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam 96923

Expertise

Tel: (671) 735-2856
Fax: (671) 734-5255
- kjohnson@triton.uog.edu
  
  kirkjohnson99@gmail.com

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About

Kirk Johnson was raised for most of his childhood in the mountains of Western India where he attended an International Baha’i School with students from over 34 different countries. This experience had a profound and indelible impact on his life, world view and the course of his future career. He returned to the United States for University at the age of 17 and found himself drawn to the social sciences. After earning his Ph.D. from McGill University in Montreal, Canada he moved to the polar opposite side of the world (a tropical island in the Pacific) where he now lives in a little cottage with his beautiful wife Sarah and their son Aidan, a stone’s through from the tranquil blue ocean. And when he is not building tree houses or forts with his son, or tending his garden or bumming on the beach, he works at the University of Guam as a professor of Sociology.

He has lived on Guam since 1998 and has served as Director of the Bali Field School for a decade and a half. Traveling to Bali, Indonesia with students and scholars for the past fifteen years has been the most rewarding part of his job, allowing him the opportunity to connect with others in ways that a classroom setting makes difficult. And though this project keeps him up late into the night planning and fundraising throughout the year, he knows that one glimpse of a student standing in the middle of a rice field on their first morning in Bali or watching their spirit transform as they sit on a dirt floor in a remote village and laugh and talk and sing with children and families that seem to live a life so radically different from their own, allowing them to reflect deeply on the social, economic, and geo-political forces that have created such vast differences in wealth in the world today, makes it all worth it. Kirk’s areas of research and academic interest include development and social change, globalization, mass media, culture, religion and education, human ecology and sustainability.

Kirk is also very involved in learning about the nature of capacity building and community development among diverse Pacific island communities and his work and service as a Baha’i takes him to communities throughout Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia to learn how village communities at the grassroots are endeavoring to empower children and junior youth, are striving to foster the devotional life of their families and communities and how indigenous peoples from varied backgrounds are learning to take charge of their own material and spiritual destinies. To learn more about any of this work and to get involved in these efforts please write to him at kirkjohnson99@gmail.com

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
- Curriculum Vitae
- Publications
EDUCATION
- BA - Sociology, Fort Hays State University, 1990
- MA- Sociology, Ohio University, 1992
- MA - International Development, 1992
- Ph.D. - Sociology, McGill University, 1998
BALI FIELD SCHOOL

Click on the links below to find out more about the Bali Field School, an annual course that is held each year over spring break.
STUDENT RESEARCH AND SERVICE
CASTING OUR NET: REDISCOVERING COMMUNITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY (DOCUMENTARY PRODUCED BY THE 2007 BALI FIELD SCHOOL) - 5 PART SERIES.

This Documentary has been screen at three International Academic Conferences as well as in Bali, Indonesia.
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Part 4
- Part 5

Debra Cabrera, PhD

Assistant Professor, Sociology

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Office Location:

Mailing Address: UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam 96923

Tel: (671-735-2876
- dcabrera@triton.uog.edu

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Dr. Debra T. Cabrera most recently taught at St. John’s School in Upper Tumon, Guam while she served as adjunct faculty for sociology at the University of Guam.

Prior to St. John’s School, Dr. Cabrera was a social science instructor then dean of Academic Programs and Services at the Northern Marianas College in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marina Islands. She has been active in local, regional, and national organizations, namely the Northern Mariana Islands Council for the Humanities, President Obama’s White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Humanities Guåhan, and the Scientific and Statistical Committee for the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

Dr. Cabrera holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Kentucky, an M.A. in Sociology from Ohio University, and a B.A. in Sociology from Washington State University. Her current research interests focus on neighborhood crime, juvenile delinquency in the Marianas, and environmental deviance.