Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work

The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at UNF is a diverse department of scholar-teachers. Particular among our strengths is our commitment to faculty-student research, culminating with our Annual Undergraduate Student Symposium. We are also heavily invested in community-based learning, a hallmark of UNF's Quality Enhancement Plan, and we offer our students opportunities to learn in communities – from local to transnational – in ways that significantly transform their learning.

Our faculty lead students in research projects that cross a broad swath of disciplines and take them from one end of the country to another. Dr. Jaffee, a Fulbright Scholar, has recently launched a community-based research project called The Ports Project – which studies the port economy and the Jaxport enterprise, and its effects on the environment, employment and logistics. Dr. Hargrove has led a small group around the Southeast studying the anthropology of the Gullah/Geechee community. Dr. Thunen organizes an annual archaeological field school program, focusing recently on an area of Black Hammock Island in the Timucua Ecological and Historic Preserve. Dr. Rakita traveled to the Southwest with a select group of students to study the prehistoric peoples of New Mexico using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys and sub-surface excavations. 

Our students are heavily engaged in the community, organizing and participating in forums, community outreach efforts and donation drives that benefit a number of worthy causes, including refugee resettlement, colorism and racism, homelessness, and the genocide in Darfur - to name but a few.

With dedicated faculty who are accomplished in their fields, we seek to provide:

1. Greater understanding of human behavior with a focus on its social and cultural contexts, both locally and globally;
2. Practical and applied skills in which our students and faculty draw upon their knowledge to critically analyze and enhance the diverse communities in which they live and work; and 
3. A stimulating and diverse environment for students to learn.