Notre Dame Sociology is committed to professionalizing our students. The best way to learn is by doing, and we put you into situations where you are doing sociology, not just reading about it.
Working on research projects, many coordinated through our affiliated centers, students learn the craft of sociological research. Our department orients you to publishing through coursework like the Professional Seminar and the From Publishable to Published class. Our faculty encourage collaboration on research projects, where younger students receive mentorship from faculty and more senior grad students. Workshops hone arguments, and our partner centers and institutes offer numerous professional development opportunities.
Alongside the Graduate School, our department supports grant-seeking and career development. Internal grants support conference travel and networking opportunities. You’ll engage the discipline as a professional sociologist well before you graduate.
At Notre Dame, you aren’t a student, you are a peer and a professional.
At Notre Dame, I benefited immensely from the opportunity to work as a research assistant with the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture. I worked on multiple projects and gained hands-on experience with survey design, interviewing, participant observation, data analysis, and writing manuscripts for publication. Regular opportunities for feedback through workshops in the areas of religion, culture, and social movements were instrumental in helping me develop and publish articles in these sub-fields. These include publications that were sole-authored, collaborations with other grad students, and collaborations with faculty.
Brandon Vaidyanathan, Associate Professor and Chair, The Catholic University of America
