Students Gretchen Schirmer (PhD candidate, Department of Sociology), James Rankin and Alex Aylett study in the Islamic Studies Library.
Marci Denesiuk

McGill’s Sociology Department, which was founded in 1922, is the oldest Sociology Department in Canada . Today we carry on the founders’ commitment to path-breaking and rigorous empirical research. The department prides itself on the quality of its training of students in qualitative and quantitative research techniques—enabling students to pursue a wide-range of sociological questions using multiple approaches and having the most useful tools at their disposal. Through both our M.A. and Ph.D. programs, we offer several areas of specialization where students can gain particular substantive expertise. The MA program, for example, offers options in Development Studies, Medical Sociology, Social Statistics, Gender and Women’s Studies, and the Environment as well as a specialized joint MA in the Social Studies of Medicine.

The department has particular expertise in medical sociology, social statistics, political sociology, economy and sociology, gender, social stratification, social movements, population health, and development studies. The department is involved in a variety of workshops and talks at McGill both intra- and inter-departmentally such as the Sociology Speakers Series, Seminars in the Social Studies of Medicine, the Social Statistics Speakers Series, and the McGill Political Sociology Workshop. In addition, graduate students interested in quantitative research methods can take advantage of the Social Statistics Graduate Student Lab as well as several data centers directed by faculty members in Sociology, including McGill’s branch of QICSS and two smaller data centers focusing on 1) international health care systems and social inequalities and 2) life histories and HIV/AIDS in Africa.

At present (2007), the department consists of 19 full-time faculty members, 5 part-time faculty, and 35 active graduate students. Faculty members hold doctorates from a variety of universities: Brown, Duke, Harvard, Indiana, Johns Hopkins, London School of Economics, McGill, Michigan, MIT, Ohio State, Princeton, UCSF, and the University of Montreal. Graduate students come to the department from similarly varied backgrounds: for instance, in the recent past, we had graduate students coming from Turkey, Ukraine, Iran, Bulgaria, France, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Taiwan, China, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as from many areas in Canada. This diversity is much valued.

The department is especially proud of the way in which its professional training has led to successful careers. The first Master's degree was granted in 1927, the first PhD in 1972. Most of our doctoral graduates are teaching in universities around the globe. For instance, our graduates can be found at Chicago, the University of Ottawa, Université du Québec à Montréal, Texas A & M, McMaster, Dalhousie, Guelph, Laval, McGill, St. Mary's and Memorial University. Several of our graduates have returned to continuing careers in government service in Kenya, Ghana, Thailand, Indonesia, the United States, and Canada. Profiles of our current graduate students and their areas of research interest can be viewed at www.mcgill.ca/sociology/graduatestudents/.

Thomson House overlooks downtown Montreal.
Marci Denesiuk