Mission Statement

About Us

The following statements describe the values and expectations that guide the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bucknell. They are a foundation for the Department's goals and objectives.

1. 
   

   We are committed to diversity and intellectual pluralism in our ways of teaching and our modes of scholarship.

   
   


2. 
   

   Our central intellectual objective is to teach and communicate the sociological and anthropological ways of viewing the world. Our distinctive perspectives represent ways of viewing the world and living. We are not just communicating disciplinary orientations or traditions. Our teaching mission is closely tied to the idea of teaching the liberal arts. As a consequence, we have a responsibility to teach all Bucknell students and not just our majors.

   
   


3. 
   

   Our curriculum reflects the long-standing interest of our disciplines in examining the human condition and applying anthropology and sociology to its improvement.

   
   


4. 
   

   We are committed to teaching our disciplines in depth, treating them as professional communities of inquiry.

   
   
   1. 
      

      We teach a disciplinary core of concepts, methods, and traditions that is cumulative and that students carry from one course to another.

      
      
   
   
   2. 
      

      Our disciplines are broad and diverse by nature and we present many different perspectives to our students.

      
      
   
   
   3. 
      

      We emphasize a process of learning and doing research in which analytic problem solving is central.

      
      
   
   


5. 
   

   We support an open access pattern in our curriculum and make many of our courses, including upper-level specialized courses, available to inquiring students without formal prerequisites.

   
   


6. 
   

   We prepare students for successful lives after Bucknell: for graduate education, for applied professional fields, and for the worlds of work.

   
   


7. 
   

   We are teacher/scholars.

   
   
   1. 
      

      Our members have lively, ongoing research programs that involve them in scholarly and applied knowledge communities within and outside of Bucknell.

      
      
   
   
   2. 
      

      We share our knowledge with professional colleagues through publication in scholarly journals and through other means of communication.
      Our research enriches our teaching:

      
      
      • 
        

        By bringing our research work directly into the classroom as the subject matter we teach

        
        
      
      
      • 
        

        By including students in our personal research projects;

        
        
      
      
      • 
        

        And by encouraging students to do their own original research, providing them the material, intellectual, and personal support to do research, and helping them to report their research results in appropriate professional settings.

        
        
      
      
   
   


8. 
   

   Members of our department are involved in activities on campus and in community and professional activities off-campus that express and advance our departmental mission. These activities are local, regional, national, and international.

   
   


9. 
   

   Our department emphasizes collegiality. We want to maintain a welcoming environment for all faculty members, staff, students, alumni, and friends.

   
   

Goals of the Curriculum:

1. 
   

   We will provide effective classroom instruction so that students enjoy learning and develop competencies related to class materials.

   
   


2. 
   

   We will offer diverse courses and programs that make sociology and anthropology accessible, interesting, and useful to Bucknell students at all levels of the curriculum.

   
   


3. 
   

   We will provide a number of advanced disciplinary courses allowing majors to develop a depth of cumulative knowledge in their chosen field.

   
   


4. 
   

   We will provide interested majors with opportunities to undertake advanced projects and help them to develop advanced competencies represented by their completion of significant personal projects.

   
   


5. 
   

   We will foster a sense of group and cohort membership among students within concentrations and programs and within the department as a whole with the hope that the culture of learners will be an important part of our majors' education at Bucknell.

   
   


6. 
   

   We encourage learning by doing as a way to convey concepts in the classroom and as the means for developing competencies in field research and other approaches to data collection.

   
   


7. 
   

   We help students prepare for post-graduation learning and work experiences through our teaching, via departmental projects and programs, and by providing individual support and mentoring.

   
   

Source: Bucknell