Get Involved
Make the most of your sociology major or minor—get involved! The Department of Sociology offers a number of ways of doing sociology as a student. Try them out.
Ways to Get Involved
Sociology Student Club
Student Empowerment in Sociology (SES) is the premier sociology club at the Storrs campus. It provides an opportunity to dip your toe into sociology, the department, and even an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with your peers and faculty. Started by sociology students, for sociology students, SES is a club open to all. Though there are many leadership opportunities, students are encouraged to participate as often or as little as they desire. SES is really designed to enhance students’ sociology careers through meaningful events and discussions. SES is open to students of all majors.
Current SES projects include UConn's Undergraduate Sociology Journal, The Mirror; an undergraduate research project; and meetings with graduate students and graduating seniors.
Meetings are held every other Thursday from 7:00 - 8:00 PM in Manchester Hall 328.
The Mirror
The mission of The Mirror is to provide undergraduate students a platform to showcase their work and educate the community on sociological issues. We strive to expose students to the process of publication and assist them in reaching their full potential, while also pushing them to engage with critical thinking, creativity, intersectionality, and their sociological imagination. The Mirror aims to create a space where undergraduate students can have their voices heard and to learn from one another.
Alpha Kappa Delta
Alpha Kappa Delta seeks to acknowledge and promote excellence in the scholarship in the study of sociology, the research of social problems, and such other social and intellectual activities as will lead to improvement in the human condition.
Alpha Kappa Delta has a quarterly journal, Sociological Inquiry, which is currently published by Wiley. Sociological Inquiry is committed to the exploration of the human condition in all of its social and cultural complexity. It is designed to implement the scientific aims of Alpha Kappa Delta by communicating and reviewing developments of sociological interest in the service of faculty, investigators, and students alike. We are particularly interested in well-written papers that challenge us to look anew at traditional areas or identify novel areas for us to investigate. Both theoretical and empirical work is welcome, as are the varied research methods in the study of social and cultural life.
Membership is open to undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members from active chapters who meet our minimum standards. Currently, there are more than 147,000 members in Alpha Kappa Delta and over 700 chapters.
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Health Equity Lab
The Health Equity Lab is directed by Ryan Talbert and critically investigates social determinants of health that extend from systems of stratification. During the 2022–2023 academic year, six undergraduates collaborated on research that examined the impact of incarceration on race-gender disparities in immune function, the role of women’s empowerment for contraceptive use among Indian women, and the effect of exposure to lethal police violence on substance use patterns, among others. All six lab members displayed their projects at UConn’s Spring 2023 Frontiers Undergraduate Exhibition. With funding support from UConn’s Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy; Office of Undergraduate Research; and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, lab members also presented their research at the annual meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society, Midsouth Sociological Association, and American Public Health Association. At present, lab collaborations have led to nine conference presentations, ten coauthored manuscripts, and three publications.
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Life Purpose Lab
The Life Purpose Lab was created in 2020 out of angst. For some time, Bradley Wright had a nagging feeling that publishing peer-reviewed articles in an academic journals wasn't really making the world a better place. He cast about for new approaches to research that would be illuminate something important and make a difference in people's lives, and he settled on the study of life purpose.
He wondered if a training program could be created that would significantly increase people's understanding of their own purpose in life. Such a program could be used in research as an experimental intervention. It would also meaningfully impact participants' lives.
Along with a team of remarkably talented students and staff, he created the Life Purpose Lab, and over two years--and two pilot tests--they created the current training programs.
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Meanings of Democracy Lab
Who counts as a “real” American? What is required of a “good” citizen? Is American democracy flourishing or floundering? In today’s deeply polarized America, the answers to these questions depend on who you ask, but the ways that people answer them matter for us all. The Meanings of Democracy Lab, founded and directed by sociologist Dr. Ruth Braunstein, engages students and partners in collaborative research and discussion about the contested moral and cultural foundations of American democratic life. Current projects focus on the moral meanings of taxpaying and on battles over American identity and history.
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Internships
Internships can be useful for strengthening students’ understanding of ideas they have learned in Sociology classes and in shaping their career interests. The Internship Program in Sociology is offered in fall, spring, and summer. It allows students to obtain an internship that fits their interests and receive class credit for it. Previous students have worked with a number of organizations.
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Prepare for Your Career
No matter what your professional goals are, your Sociology degree sets you up for success after UConn. Learn about common careers and find resources to help you start your job or graduate school search.