Hello from FSU Sociology!

Our faculty and students are committed to rigorously studying and teaching about the social institutions and inequalities that define our times. We also are strongly committed to sharing sociology with non-academic audiences and providing the public with unique insights that can improve policy responses and inform collective action. As part of our mission, we take very seriously our role in educating and mentoring the next generation of scholars and community leaders.

Last year we put out a call to our alumni and friends, asking for help in raising funds to support our graduate student recruitment efforts and to enhance our ability to offer supplemental learning experiences for our students at all levels. Your response was amazing! With your help we were able to raise just over $5000. With those funds we were able to support our students in a number of important ways over the past year, including:

1. Engaging in aggressive recruitment of top PhD candidates. Although this year’s annual Spring Recruitment event was mostly virtual, we were able to pay for recruitment materials and mailings that were sent to each candidate. We also were able to provide a group meal during the event by delivering lunch to candidates’ homes and sharing them together via Zoom. In addition, with the help of these funds we were able to offer full funding to an amazing international candidate, who we otherwise would not have been able to fund. These investments were key in securing the acceptance of 8 exceptionally strong students!
2. Purchasing short-term personal licenses to necessary statistical software for graduate students who could not come to the departmental computer lab due to the pandemic.
3. Providing monetary support for several graduate students to participate in virtual workshops focused on the development of advanced methodological skills.
4. Holding several supplementary workshops for undergraduates, including virtual workshops focused on career opportunities, the Honors in the Major program, and resources for managing stress and mental wellbeing during these extraordinary times.
5. Hosting a departmental competition with monetary prizes for Best Undergraduate Student Reserach Paper, Best Graduate Student Research Paper and Best Graduate Student Instructor.

“Thank you to all the donors who give to the department! This fund helped me to fly from Ohio to Tallahassee for the 2020 Spring Recruitment weekend. A unique benefit of this event was that it allowed me to meet most of the people within my cohort and the department before starting at FSU. Also, this opportunity allowed me to visit Florida for the first time, an experience for which I am so grateful! Being able to have that visit really reassured me that my decision to come to FSU was the right one.”

– Ploy Methakitwarun, doctoral student from the 2020 cohort

We are excited to be moving our classes and work activity back to campus this Fall and we hope to be able to host, once again, engaging face-to-face departmental events, workshops, speakers and other supplemental activities for our students. We also hope to be able to send our students to in-person conferences and trainings. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn has led to a tightening of university budgets, which limits our resources. While we hope this situation will be temporary, we will need the continued support of alumni and friends like you in order to meet our goals over the next several years.

Please help us to:

Continue attracting the very best graduate students to our program. The competition is growing ever higher. Over the years, we have learned that bringing these top candidates to campus for a program of events that introduces them to the department is key to successful recruitment. Once students come to visit us, the vast majority of them want to sign on to stay! Helping to cover travel costs is crucial to making these visits happen for many candidates and ensures greater inclusivity. We also would love to be able to offer some limited financial scholarships to top PhD candidates who are facing expensive long-distance moves in order to join our program.

Continue to provide supplemental learning and networking experiences for all students. Out-of-classroom activities and networking opportunities enrich the learning environment, help forge important professional ties with faculty and peers, and create a sense of community and engagement among our students. Ultimately, these are the types of activities that make FSU Sociology such an exciting place to be and help our students to move into outstanding graduate/professional programs and careers!

"The Spring Recruitment event is what really solidified my decision to attend FSU. Before coming to the campus and meeting the faculty, staff, and students of the department, I was wary that the program would not be a good fit for me; it is such a large university, and I couldn’t imagine myself living in the South. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to spend two days learning about the program through firsthand experience because it made me realize how wonderful this program and all its members are. If I had not received funding to attend the Spring Recruitment event, I would not have been able to visit FSU and I would most likely be at a different university right now."   -- Tara Henry, doctoral student from the 2020 cohort