Graduates of UVM’s sociology department mostly work in human service agencies, but also go on to masters in social work programs, law school or other graduate level education. One former student drew on her sociology training in gerontology to start her own business. Another became an investment advisor. Sociology majors generally leave with excellent people skills and presentation skills, which prepares them for any field of work.
At UVM, sociology is similar to other liberal arts degrees: the skills you acquire are transferrable to many fields. A liberal arts degree equips you to do research, write and read critically and analytically so they can be trained for any kind of work. That said, many public or nonprofit agencies, governmental bureaus, and community programs hire students with specifically sociological training, as do organizations that need people with skills in sociological methodology and social statistics.
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Higher Education Leader in Social Work
Colleen Henry is an assistant professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College at the City University of New York. Her research examines child welfare policy and practice with a focus on the sociopolitical construction of family violence and its impacts on child welfare services. After earning her BA in sociology from UVM, she received her MSW from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2012, she was the recipient of the GADE Student Award for Leadership and Service to Doctoral Education in Social Work. Her teaching interests include social policy, child welfare policy and practice, and qualitative methods.