Senior Experience
The senior experience requirement can be satisfied through a senior seminar, senior thesis (honors program) or internship.
Senior Seminar
Senior Seminar is offered each spring. The topic changes each year. Below is part of the syllabus from the 2003 spring senior seminar, "Shakespeare's Sociology", coordinated by Professor Vail.
Senior Seminar: Shakespeare's Sociology
The senior seminar is unique among senior experience options in that it dose not require you to engage actively in the social world. Rather you 'only' have to become a specialist in a part of it. To facilitate as many divergent interests as feasible, I have chosen a topic that is capable of handling virtually anything. One of the reasons Shakespeare continues to be relevant is the fact that his plays speak to fundamental human truths. While he may have written about them in the 16th Century, his lessons still touch deeply into the human condition. Should you be sunnily disposed, Shakespeare's comedies touch the lighter side of the human character. If your predilections are darker, the histories and tragedies will likely suit your needs. Your goal, in ether case, should be to choose a topic that will interest you and hold your interest for a semester. Having chosen the topic, look for a pay that addresses your interest. While choosing the play first may work, you may find yourself bored or dissatisfied with it sooner than your topic.
Your goal in picking a topic should be to find a sociological avenue through which you can consider something that interests you and that will help you in you quest for a 'real' life after Willamette. If you want to become a criminal lawyer, you might want to consider a play that will address the nature of justice and punishment. If you want to become a social worker of some sort, you may want to consider a play that will address the processes through which people classify one another as deviant, mad, or somehow unsavory. Choose something that interests you since you'll be studying that topic for the entire semester.
Objectives
This course is, quite literally, what you make of it. Excluding the theory readings, and potentially the film's we see, everything we do is up to the students. Your objectives should center around your becoming well-enough-read in a contemporary subject that you can teach class for a week (two ninety minute sessions). Since you may only count on 'your students' to have read the play you assign, it would be a good idea to think about how you wish to connect your topic to your play while you are preparing. Thus, your job is not merely to read and learn a lot of stuff about your topic. It is also to develop a presentation that will entertain and involve your students for a week.
How you design your presentation is entirely up to you. Keep in mind, however, that it is generally a good idea to design it such that your students will be involved and engaged Some of it will necessarily be lecture since you will have to instruct us about what you have learned. If you can find ways of involving and engaging your students, they are more likely to be kind to you while you are teaching them.
Senior Thesis (Honors Program)
Any student invited to participate in the Department of Sociology's Honors Program must:
- Submit a thesis proposal. Once the thesis proposal has been approved, the student will be formally admitted to the Honors Program.
- Within seven days of formal admission, arrange an Honors Committee comprised of two faculty members with at least one of them from the Department of Sociology.
- Enroll in SOC 497 Senior Thesis.
- Pursue an original research project in consultation with her/his Honors Committee.
- Complete a thesis of exceptional quality.
- Present the completed thesis before a group of faculty and peers
- Maintain a 3.5 GPA overall and a 3.7 GPA in the major
Internship
To apply for an internship, you must write a three to five page personal statement in which you include the following information:
- Introduction
- Description of possible internship site(s)
- Reason for your interest in these sits(s) that touches on both your personal and professional goals
- Identification of sociology courses that may apply to your internship experience
- Specific concepts, theories, or methods from these courses that may pertain to your internship
- Conclusion that may include an explanation of why you believe the internship will be an appropriate capstone experience for you