The Department of Sociology has a long track-record of training undergraduate students for post-college opportunities and graduate students for academic and research careers. Our faculty have national reputations and records of award-winning publications, research grants, and leadership of national and regional sociological associations.
We specialize in the study of social inequality. More specifically, our faculty focus on community and urban, health and medical, race and ethnicity, and gender and family. We encourage prospective graduate students interested in these issues to join us! Our urban location and proximity to six major hospitals make UC an ideal place to study urban and health issues, and Sociologists for Women in Society have consistently awarded us their seal of approval for gender scholarship.
The intellectual hub of the department is the Kunz Center for Social Research, an endowed center located within and designated to support the research mission of the department. It provides research funding for faculty and graduate students, and provides an intellectual commons for faculty and students across the university. Sociology founded The Cincinnati Project, which provides grants to faculty and graduate students to conduct research benefitting disadvantaged Cincinnati communtiies and the agencies that serve them. Sociology also co-founded the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network (OPEN). OPEN is an interdisciplinary research network that assesses reproductive health equity, access and autonomy in the context of federal and state laws, regulations and policies.
Finally, Sociology is one of 14 departments affiliated with the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, which provides dissertation fellowships, summer funding, and money for research expenses.
Oneya Fennell Okuwobi is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. Her work incorporates the sociology of religion, race, and organizations to interrogate how diversity initiatives in religious and secular organizations affect racial inequality. Her research finds that activities around diversity often become constitutive of experiences of marginalization rather than ameliorative for people of color. Her work has been supported by the Louisville Foundation and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and has appeared in American Sociological Review, Sociology of Religion, and Sociology of Race & Ethnicity, among other outlets. Oneya graduated with a Ph.D. in Sociology from The Ohio State University, an M.Div. in Practical Theology from Regent University, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Letisha Engracia Cardoso Brown is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. She is a Black feminist sociologist with a B.A. in Africana Studies from the University of Northern Colorado where she was a Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Scholar. She also holds a M.A. and PhD. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin where she developed an interest in the study of race, sport, and society. She is currently working on her first book under advanced contract with Rutgers University Press, Say Her Name: Centering Black Feminism and Black Women in Sports. Her public facing work can be found in the digital publication First and Pen. In addition to race, sport, and society, Dr. Brown also studies Black women and girls in education and food studies. She teaches courses on the subjects of social inequality, race and racism, and the sociology of sports.
The Department of Sociology is excited to begin our second term as editors for Social Problems, the official publication of The Society for the Study of Social Problems. The journal is co-edited by Drs. Annulla Linders, Derrick R. Brooms, and Earl Wright II (Rhodes College).
November 16, 2022
PhD candidate in sociology Anthony Stone interviewed by Lansing, Michigan television station for his opinions on the mascot change at JW Sexton High School in Lansing. Stone, a student in the UC Department of Sociology, studies race and ethnicity.
September 7, 2022
UC's Danielle Bessett cited in national media for her research on abortion care
Event: September 15, 2022 2:00 PM
Faculty researchers at three UC colleges hold panel to discuss the real-world impacts of academic research
August 15, 2022
Molly Broscoe featured in interview regarding extremist groups and motivations behind the attempted breach of the Cincinnati FBI.
July 15, 2022
Danielle Bessett, UC associate professor of sociology, co-authors Ohio abortion study after overturn of Roe v Wade.
June 27, 2022
UC sociologist Danielle Bessett contributed to British CQ article on abortion ban and affects on men as well.
