The Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice at Towson University is a department that:
Our mission in the sociology concentration at Towson University is to prepare students to be critical consumers of information related to social interaction and society and to be insightful social observers, capable of enriching the workplaces, communities, and institutions of higher learning to which they graduate. Through their course of study, students learn to use a variety of theoretical and methodological tools to analyze and interpret social data, to think creatively and communicate effectively about social issues and problems, and to engage their communities as active and responsible citizens oriented towards the welfare of society. The foci of study are social structures and institutions, social processes and interaction, and awareness of inequality and appreciation for diversity in an increasingly complex world. Sociology students develop the ability to adapt to ongoing change in a knowledge-based society and work environment. They are prepared to enter into a wide range of graduate programs and career settings, such as the corporate workplace, government, social services, research institutes, and nonprofit and community organizations.
Anthropology is a broad, holistic field that seeks to understand human biological and cultural variety through time and space. The discipline combines humanistic and scientific approaches to study humans from their origins to their present through the field’s sub-disciplines of archaeological, biological, linguistic and socio-cultural anthropology. An undergraduate concentration in anthropology prepares students for today’s global world where international and cross-cultural activities characterize business, government, medicine, and education. Consequently, anthropology can lead to traditional anthropological careers of teaching and research as well as in applied anthropology or to professional careers in the social services, government, or the private sector. Our mission in anthropology at Towson University is to provide students with the means to understand and respect the variety in human experiences; to encourage students to use anthropological insights to understand their own and other communities’ structures, experiences, and solutions; and to prepare students to apply anthropological perspectives to contemporary social, economic, medical, and political problems throughout the world.
The discipline of criminal justice involves the scientific study of crime and criminality, other forms of social deviance, and the official response to crime by law enforcement, the criminal courts and the corrections system. Our mission in criminal justice at Towson University is to enhance understanding of the relationship between liberty and order in a democracy, the processes and causes of crime and deviance that are part of society, and the ways society and the state exercise social control to maintain legal, moral and social order. Students in criminal justice learn a sociological and anthropological approach to the study of crime and justice related issues, as well as an appreciation for the contributions of other disciplines in the liberal arts and behavioral sciences. Our students are exposed to important critical thinking and methodological skills for analyzing data on and for addressing problems related to crime and its control. We seek to provide the humanistic foundation for successful careers in areas such as policing, probation, parole, juvenile justice, victim services, private and public security, and the helping professions and/or for advanced academic study in law, justice studies, or criminal justice administration or policy among other options.