Welcome to UB's Department of Sociology

Since 1924 undergraduate students from across New York State and beyond have come to the University at Buffalo in pursuit of a degree in sociology. Beginning in the 1940’s the UB sociology department began offering graduate degrees at both the MA and PhD levels. Over these many years thousands of undergraduate and graduate students have attended UB and through their investigations in sociology explored pressing questions related to contemporary social life, the processes of social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. More than 3000 undergraduate students have graduated from UB with a major in sociology since 1975. The department currently consists of 17 faculty members, 50 graduate students, and 250 undergraduate students. Our distinguished faculty have received national and international recognition for their scholarship, have published their research with top publishers including the University of Chicago Press, Oxford University Press, New York University Press, University of Minnesota Press, Routledge, and Blackwell as well as in highly ranked scholarly journals such as the American Sociological Review, Law and Society Review, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Social Forces, and Social Problems, have been awarded research grants from prestigious public and private organizations, and have won prizes for excellence in the classroom. The department provides solid foundation in sociological theory and research methods and concentrates in the substantive areas of Family and the Life Course, Law and Society, Race and Ethnicity, and Urban and Community. This is an exciting and growing department and I encourage you to take a closer look at the opportunities available in the department of sociology at the University at Buffalo. Please contact me directly (rgranfie@buffalo.edu) if you desire any additional information.

Robert Granfield, Professor & Chair

Recent Department Accomplishments

Professor Christopher Mele has been selected as a UB Civic Engagement Research Fellow for the spring semester 2010. He will be working with a southeastern Pennsylvania community-based organization to examine the environmental justice implications of publicly-financed urban redevelopment projects in Chester, Pennsylvania, a small city just south of Philadelphia.

Professor Robert Granfield published an article on his pro bono research in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal.

Professor Robert Granfield’s book (with Lynn Mather), Private Lawyers and the Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession, has been published by Oxford University Press. This book interrogates the public interest ideals of the legal profession and places these ideals in a broader social, economic, and ideological context. Reviewing this book, Robert Nelson, Professor of Sociology and Director and MacCrate Research Chair at the American Bar Foundation, writes that, “The book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and leaders of the profession who hope to expand access to legal services in a system characterized by massive inequality in representational resources.” Professor Granfield will be participating in the European Pro Bono Forum to be held in Budapest on November 5 & 6.

Professor Debra Street (PI, Florida Study of Assisted Living) and her colleagues have a series of research articles associated with the study. The second in the series “The Effect of Licensure Type on the Policies, Practices, and Resident Composition of Florida Assisted Living Facilities” (Street, Burge and Quadagno) was published in The Gerontologist 49(2): 211-223 (May 2009). A third article, “Advantage and Choice: Social Relationships and Sense of Security in Assisted Living,” (Burge and Street) is forthcoming in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Professor Debra Street and Professor Jeralynn Cossman (Sociology-Mississippi State University) collaborate on the Mississippi physician workforce study. Their article, “Does Familiarity Breed Respect? Physician Attitudes toward Nurse Practitioners in a Medically Underserved State” (Street and Cossman) is forthcoming in the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. The Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association recently published two co-authored (Street and Cossman take turns as lead) peer-reviewed articles on professional burnout from the same project.

Professor Brenda Moore was recently appointed as Research Associate at the Veterans Administration Health Care System of Western New York to conduct a study of veterans who experienced sexual trauma while on active duty. She is examining gender differences in treatment, recovery, and resilience in patients with a history of military sexual trauma.

The Sociology Department congratulates Professor Michael Farrell for receiving the 2008-09 Chancellors Award for Excellence in Teaching. He will receive the award at the next Celebration of Academic Excellence ceremony, to be held at UB's Center for the Arts this April..

Please click here to read our archived accomplishments.

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