Special Topics Course in Spring '15

Wednesday 4:30 - 7:00 pm

The Sociology Department will offer an exciting special topics course in Spring 2015. The course is part of the Breaking Ground project on campus and will offer the opportunity to interact with local communities regarding access to healthy food. 

This course focuses on the “practical side” of sociology and applies sociological insights and methods to understanding local social issues and to assess programs intended to alleviate them. Students in this course will examine social issues affecting local residents through a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project. This semester students will research local urban agriculture projects addressing food deserts, access to healthy food, food security, and environmental problems. This research targets the intersection of local social inequalities, public health issues, and social change. Students will collect data through various methods in research teams, volunteer, document community needs, develop action plans, and make recommendations for change. The ultimate products will be a research report and community presentation.