Department ofSociology

SCU Awards

The Sociology Department awards several distinct honors to its majors in recognition of their scholarship and service. Sociology juniors and seniors with exemplary academic records are invited to join the academic honor society Alpha Kappa Delta. Seniors are eligible for three different awards: the Witold Krassowski Sociology Award for a research paper; the Sociology Alumni Service Award for an exemplary record of service; and the Sociology Academic Excellence Award.

The Witold Krassowski Sociology Award

Each year, Sociology seniors can ask to have research papers they wrote in a Sociology course considered for the Krassowski Award. A clean non-returnable review copy must be submitted with a letter of self-nomination. Nominations must be submitted by students to the Sociology Chair by the first Friday of the spring quarter. The exemplary senior paper(s) in Sociology shall be designated by the faculty. Submission(s) may also be eligible for honorable mention, at the discretion of the faculty.

The Sociology Alumni Award For Excellence in Community-Based Research

Established in 2016, this prize is given annually by the faculty of the Department of Sociology to a graduating senior for excellence in applied sociological research.

Sociology Academic Excellence Award

This award recognizes academic excellence and is granted to the graduating senior(s) with the highest Sociology GPA. The recipient is determined by the faculty of the Department of Sociology.

Honors

Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD)

Becoming a member of the honor society brings you many benefits and the prestige of being a part of a selective group of very accomplished inductees and alumni. You might read more on the AKD website. Every year, the department hosts a special induction ceremony to honor new student members.

Alpha Kappa Delta, the national sociology honor society, was founded at the University of Southern California in 1920. The Santa Clara University chapter, Alpha Mu, was founded in 2000. The society’s primary goal is to encourage excellence in social research for the purpose of service. To be invited to join, a student must be a sociology major of junior or senior standing, have a grade point average of at least 3.3 overall and 3.5 in the major, have completed at least four sociology courses at Santa Clara, and have successfully completed at least one of the sociology Core requirements.

“My sociology classes at Santa Clara empowered me, for the first time, to articulate the experiences I've had around equity. Now that I'm a teacher, I think back to everything I've learned around the criminal justice system, globalization, race, and inequality to help guide my goals and the vision for my classroom. My sociology professors prepared me to do the deep, critical thinking I need.”

—Perla Luna (winner of Sociology Academic Excellence Award)

“By combining environmental studies with sociology, I am equipped to understand the relationships between people, institutions, and natural systems, and am prepared with the qualitative and quantitative research methods needed to successfully analyze the interacting factors and take action. This knowledge, combined with the skills learned from SCU on coalescing community to work for change, aligns me to explore how cities may best create and implement equitable solutions for climate change.”