Anthropology & Sociology

The anthropology and sociology program is at the forefront of interdisciplinary and global studies at the Centre. We offer students a range of choices in planning their anthropology/ sociology major. The program includes core courses in anthropological and sociological research methods and theoretical perspectives, culminating in an advanced seminar. Majors can design the primary portion of their major according to their specific interests, with possibilities including concentrations in archaeology, sociology of health and illness, ecological anthropology, cultural anthropology, social stratification, sociology of the family, sociology of religion, and sustainable communities. We also offer individualized minors in anthropology and sociology.

World-Wide, Off-Campus Study

The Centre has several important campus facilities for studying anthropology and sociology. Our Social Science Laboratory includes the major statistical software and an extensive archive of real cross-cultural, national, and international datasets. There are a Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing mini-lab. The program maintains a growing collection of fossil hominid and comparative casts. Many of Centre’s study-abroad and internship opportunities relate directly to anthropology and sociology. We routinely offer on-site field and academic courses that focus on archaeology and ethnology in both the Old and New Worlds and concentrate on cultural history, art, and culture, or comparative social structure and development around the world. CentreTerm courses have given our students opportunities to travel and study on-site throughout Europe and in Australia, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Samoa, South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey, among other locales.

Similarly, our full semester programs in London, Strasbourg, and particularly in Mérida often feature anthropology and sociology studies. Anthropology and sociology majors and minors have completed collaborative research with faculty in a variety of settings. Many of the faculty-student collaborations have resulted in major research papers, and much of the work has led to national and regional presentations and publications.

Internships

Our students have participated in various internships for academic credit that have enhanced their experience and future employability. Student internships have included Boyle County Family Court, International Paper, Sunrise Children’s Home, underwater archaeology at the Naval History and Heritage Command, positions with Kentucky Educational Television, a forensic anthropology office, a hospice facility, Kentucky School for the Deaf with the Shepherd Consortium for Poverty Studies at sites all over the U.S., and curatorial as well as fieldwork for archaeological survey firms. Our new internship program in Mérida has offered our students internships ranging from museum work to advertising and market research.

Careers

Our anthropology and sociology program provides students with a strong foundation in the liberal arts. The program encourages students to examine their physical, cultural, and social worlds more critically and offers students theoretical and methodological tools for examining our world. Students from our program have gone on to a variety of graduate programs and careers. Current anthropology and sociology graduates are in master’s and doctoral programs in anthropology, sociology, social psychology, criminology, historic preservation, ancient religions, clinical psychology, social work, public health, family studies, journalism, and school psychology in law and medical schools. Recent graduates have jobs in social work, fine arts, university teaching, computer services, the Peace Corps, secondary and elementary school teaching, museum work, law, medicine, market research, counselling psychology, dentistry, advertising, and both local and federal government agencies, including the F.B.I.

Centre College offers more than 50 majors, minors, pre-professional and dual-degree programs, and graduate partnerships. You can design your own major in consultation with your advisor. Throughout history, Centre has remained steadfast in its mission of providing superior education in the liberal arts tradition.

Centre College and its people have had much to be proud of and thankful for in the past: outstanding leaders who demonstrated a consistent preference for quality over quantity, generations of devoted teachers and students, and an exceptionally successful body of alumni. But equally important among these qualities is a sense of connection with the past, giving added meaning to the present and providing inspiration for this tradition to be continued in the future.

Centre College students will study abroad, have an internship or research opportunity, and graduate in four years. Both internships and research experiences challenge students to go beyond learning about their chosen academic field by “doing” the discipline they are studying in the classroom. We back our promise of a deeply engaging and intensely personal education with a guarantee. If you meet regular academic and social expectations, you will complete all three parts of the Centre Commitment, or the College will provide up to an additional year of study tuition-free.

Centre College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award the Bachelor of Arts degree and Bachelor of Science degree.