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The combined
program in sociology and anthropology integrates the two disciplines
and provides students with the opportunity to learn both fields.
We require two courses for all majors and organize sociology and
anthropology students in mixed groups in their senior year to prepare
for their comprehensive examinations. This method has helped students
to acquire broad knowledge of the two disciplines and to enter either
discipline with ease.
Anthropology
Millsaps
has raised the bar for the study of anthropology at the undergraduate
level. Students from all disciplines have been drawn into the excitement
of Millsaps on-going anthropological research activities, excavating
Mayan ruins in Yucatan, uncovering traces of the early Greeks in
the Albanian mountains and remnants of native American and colonial
cultures in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The newly-created Millsaps
Institute for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research (MIIAR)
evolved largely as a result of these activities.
Sociology
Millsaps
has had great success at preparing sociology majors for top graduate
programs in sociology and top law schools in the country. Our professors
are actively mentoring student’s research, encouraging students
to present their research projects at regional and national sociological
conferences. Such research and conference experiences have helped
individual students get accepted at Oxford University (England),
attend Georgetown Law School, and become a professor of sociology
at Harvard.
Sociologists
and anthropologists seek to explain human behavior in a variety
of situations and under varying circumstances.
Our department
is special in terms of the opportunities that it offers students
to engage the fields of sociology and anthropology in direct and
meaningful ways.
- Our faculty members
actively involve students in their own research, and
our anthropology/archaeology field schools offer hands-on training.
- We are strongly committed
to our students and our goals are to send majors to the nation’s top graduate and professional programs and to prepare
them for their careers after graduation.
- To help accomplish
these goals, we integrate the fields of sociology and anthropology and emphasize the development of students’ scholarly research
and writing skills.
Field
Experience Opportunities:
Living
in the Yucatan: A three-part course
- Maya culture
and archaeology:
Students explore current archaeological excavations and evaluate
several major reconstructed sites, experiencing modern rural
and urban culture from the Maya perspective.
- Tropical deciduous
forest ecology:
Studies are conducted in the Helen Moyers Biocultural Reserve,
which incorporates the historic Rancho Kiuic, one of the oldest
forests in the Puuc Region of Yucatan, and an excellently preserved,
as yet unstudied, major Maya city. Students collect data for
a baseline species audit and collaborate with graduate students
and faculty from the Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY).
- Impact of
development along the Great Maya Coral Reef:
Visiting some of the finest beaches in the world, students examine
the geology, ecology, hydrology, as well as the impact of tourism
on the culture, and coastal and shallow marine environments
in Cozumel, Cancun, and on the eastern coast to the south.
Blue
Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship:
A three-week student field experience
Students are introduced to a variety of archaeological and historical
research methods (i.e. you get to dig in the dirt and search archives,
looking for cool old stuff) investigating an antebellum farmstead
(early 19th century) and prehistoric Indian camp. A number of field
trips are also part of the course: hiking in the mountains, rafting
the Potomac river, visits to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
and Gettysburg National Military Park, and a weekend in Washington
D.C.
Summer
in China:
A four-week student field experience
Students have a unique opportunity to see and learn Chinese culture
and society first-hand. During a three-week tour of China, the class
visits all major sites/cities associated with Chinese history, arts,
cultural tradition, current education and political systems, and
economic reform.
Mallakastra
Regional Archaeological Project (MRAP)
Each summer since 1999, Millsaps students have accompanied Professor
Michael Galaty, MRAP's field director, to Albania, where American
and Albanian archaeologists are collaborating in a large, international,
interdisciplinary field project at the site of Apollonia, a colony
established in 588 BC by the Greeks in the territory of the indigenous
Illyrian peoples. More than 30 square kilometers have been surveyed
in the vicinity of the colony and several sites have been test-excavated
to better understand how and to what extent the Greeks and Illyrians
might have interacted.
Labna-Kiuic
Regional Archaeological Project, Yucatán, Mexico
The Project is a joint Mexican-U.S. research program in the Puuc
region of Northern Yucatán, Mexico, co-directed by Millsaps
College, Davidson College, and Mexico's National Institute of Archaeology
and History. A long-term research program, it is designed to address
the factors that led to development of ancient Maya culture in this
region and its eventual collapse. The project focuses on the major
Maya cities of Labna and Kiuic and the surrounding region. Each
summer Millsaps students participate in archaeological research
at Kiuic, assisting in the excavation of a large Maya Palace complex
that contains a sequence of occupation extending some 1,500 years.
Internships
Sociology-Anthropology
students seeking a concentration in sociology are required to complete
either an internship, a research project, or an honors thesis. Students
considering a career or graduate degree in social services find
that an internship in a social services agency or other public-service
organization can prove very valuable. Pre-law students have found
that internships in law offices have been useful in helping them
decide if the practice of law is really for them, and if so, which
kind of law.
Research
and Professional Conference Participation
The writing
and research training offered by our department has made our majors
the best in the region.
- For example, since
1993 our students have won the Best Undergraduate Paper Award
at the Mississippi-Alabama Sociological Conference almost every
year.
- In the past decade,
students who presented papers at professional meetings have
been accepted by top graduate programs in sociology and anthropology,
including Oxford University, Stanford, Indiana, Georgetown,
Vanderbilt, and University of Arizona.
- Between 1993 and 2001,
90% of our graduates continued on to graduate school or professional
schools and very often, became the top students in these programs.
- In recent years, our
majors have published their papers in top sociological journals
and won National Science Foundation Dissertation awards in Sociology.
- Some of our former
graduates are now professors of sociology at Harvard University,
Hamilton College, Birmingham Southern University, and several
other top schools.
- The performance of
our graduates has been so impressive, several graduate programs
have asked us to send more students.
Life
after Millsaps
Sociology
and anthropology are studies of social life and social causes and
consequences of human behavior. They cover a wide range of issues,
from dating, sexuality, marriage, and divorce to crime/deviance,
racial/ethic relationships, education, media, and social change.
The background in these diverse subjects provides rich career opportunities
for sociology and anthropology majors.
Among our graduates:
- A significant majority
in recent years has gone on to graduate or professional programs
in sociology, anthropology, social work, law, MBA, and community
development. Some graduates work in government or not-for-profit
social service agencies.
- Others are working
in business, including technology companies, international businesses,
or retail stores.
- Still others have
careers as family or education counselors.
- Our most successful
graduates include a Mississippi Supreme Court Justice, sociology
professors at Harvard University and Hamilton College, and the
Director of the United Methodist Office for the United Nations.
For more information, visit the Sociology
web page
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