CAPS STUDENT HANDBOOK

The University of North Carolina Wilmington's Department of Sociology and Criminology announces a new MA program in Criminology and Public Sociology.

The Department of Sociology and Criminology is the newest of 12 masters programs at a growing comprehensive university on coastal North Carolina. The MA path the student chooses, criminology or public sociology, encompasses rigorous analyses of the values, assumptions, and social structures within national societies and global systems. The MA in Criminology and Public Sociology at UNCW assists and advises potential students to gain significant insights into these social processes and structures in their desired professions.

The purpose of the masters program is to train students to use theoretical and methodological tools that will allow them to acquire and apply specific information to particular problems or to improve the quality of life. Students have the opportunity to challenge themselves and others in unique and realistic ways.

MA students are able to concentrate in either criminology or public sociology. In either case, graduates of the program will be able to tackle professional tasks that directly or indirectly involve human relationships.We expect our graduates to move on to careers as evaluators, researchers, volunteers, planners, managers, advisors, program directors, and policy makers.The program also provides a strong foundation for those who seek to pursue the Ph.D. in traditional criminology and sociology programs.

One of the strengths of the new program is the diverse theoretical, methodological, and substantive interests of the graduate faculty.For example, within public sociology, specific strengths include the study of rural and urban poverty, race-gender class inequalities and stratification, social structure and organizational power, globalization, and culture and media.Theoretical-methodological perspectives represented include both quantitative and qualitative, as well as critical, feminist, and conflict theories.Within criminology, specific strengths include not only traditional criminal justice studies, but theoretical criminology including critical criminological theory, and social justice including restorative justice.

Students work with the faculty to develop an individualized program of study. The program requires the completion of 33 credit hours of graduate level course work and is designed to be completed in four semesters of full-time study. Required courses: 15 credit hours of methods, data analysis, theory; Elective courses: 12 credit hours; Thesis or internship: 6 credit hours. A limited number of graduate teaching assistantships is available.

Apply online to the MA in Criminology and Public Sociology. For more information on these programs contact either Dr. Hossfeld (hossfeldl@uncw.edu) for public sociology or Dr. Maume (maume@uncw.edu) for Criminology.