Department of Sociology

Director of Graduate Studies: 
Dr. Stephen Demuth

The Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University offers advanced study at both the master's and doctoral levels for students who seek employment in either academic or non-academic settings. The doctoral program is ranked in the top 20 nationally in productivity by the National Research Council. With 18 full-time faculty and over 40 graduate students, the program features small classes and a high level of interaction between faculty and students in a friendly, informal environment that stresses excellence in both research and teaching. Faculty are accessible to students and students are regarded as motivated junior scholars. The program offers an abundance of formal and informal opportunities to share ideas, and faculty and students regularly collaborate on research and co-author papers presented at professional meetings and published in scholarly journals.

The objectives of the graduate programs in sociology are to provide a broad background in general sociology and to create the capacity for the development of rigorous research, teaching, and/or applied skills in at least one area of specialization. Although faculty interests cover a wide range of sub-areas within sociology, the areas of specialization offered at the doctoral level include criminology and deviance, demography, family studies, and social psychology. These four programmatic areas of specialization are also available at the master's level; an additional area of concentration is also offered for M.A. students in applied demography. Finally quantitative methods is offered as a minor area of concentration at the Ph.D. level.

The department houses two research centers, the NIH-funded Center for Family and Demographic Research (CFDR) and the ASPE/HHS-funded National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR). The CFDR is dedicated to examining the health and development of children, youth and families. The Center brings researchers together from several disciplines and hosts seminars with invited speakers. It also provides easy access to relevant materials for faculty and student research by storing and disseminating census and other secondary data as well as assisting and training students and faculty in the use of various data sets and analytical techniques. The NCFMR supports research on key questions about the effects of family structure and processes on the health and well-being of children, adults, families, and communities as well as the influence of programs and policies on marriage. The NCFMR builds research capacity with improved data and methods and brings together multidisciplinary networks of scholars. Under its training mission, the NCFMR mentors and trains students and junior professionals to ensure continued advancement in research on family structure. Its dissemination mission is to translate research to broad communities, including researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

For more information about the graduate programs in sociology, please call or e-mail:

Stephen Demuth
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Sociology
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
419-372-7260
demuth@bgsu.edu