Academic Program Requirement

Required Courses

A total of four courses are required to complete the certificate program. A grade of a “B” or higher must be earned in the four required courses for the certificate. A prerequisite for all courses is admission to the certificate program or the M.A. program in Applied Sociology. Other prerequisites may apply for individual courses.

Courses are typically offered once per year in the fall OR spring semester.

TWO required classes:

SOCY 651  Sociology of Health and Illness Behavior (3.00)
Analysis of health needs and demands of the population. Examination of health and illness behavior and utilization patterns, taking into account socio-demographic variations and trends. Topics include mortality and morbidity, health attitudes and behavior, social psychology of illness and patient-professional relationships.

SOCY 658  Sociology of Mental Health & Illness (3.00)
The course examines the social history of mental illness, the concepts and treatments employed, the professional’s role, the role of social class in mental illness, social factors in psycho-pathology, stress, social support and coping processes, along with sociological critiques of mental health practices. More currently, the course examines deinstitutionalization and the community mental health movement, the relationship between mental illness and the criminal justice system and the mental patients’ rights movement.

ONE three-credit graduate course in social research methods (choose one):

  • SOCY 600: Research Methodology (3.00)
    Prerequisite: An undergraduate course in statistics in any department in any college.
  • SOCY 619: Qualitative Methods in Social Research (3.00)

Additional Course Requirements

ONE three-credit graduate course in social inequality (choose one):

  • SOCY 606: Social Inequality and Social Policy (3.00)  (summer offering too).
  • SOCY 611: Constructing Race, Class, and Gender (3.00)