Teaching & Research Excellence

In 2009, based on its assessment of all aspects of the Sociology department, an external review team concluded that "in certain respects, [the University of Alberta Sociology department] now stands as the pre-eminent Sociology department in the country, and is certainly among the top two or three overall."

The University of Alberta Sociology department continues to take teaching very seriously, and prides itself in the teaching excellence it fosters. Faculty members have won a range of undergraduate teaching and graduate student mentoring awards, and have published scholarly papers on pedagogy. Teaching workshops for instructors and graduate students are organized annually within the department, and department members have organized similar events at the annual Canadian Sociological Association meetings. Many of the department's undergraduate courses include Community Service Learning (CSL) components, and the department offers a co-op learning-based BA Criminology program.

Teaching and learning in the department are enhanced by professors' ability to bring the findings from their nationally and internationally recognized research programs into the classroom. The department is home to several Research Chairs, and a large number of faculty members have won research awards from the University of Alberta as well as the Canadian Sociological Association and other scholarly organizations. Along with its research centre, the Intermedia Research Studio, three scholarly journals are edited in the department.