Department of Society, Culture, Crime, & Justice Studies
Department website: https://www.wku.edu/sccjs/
Holli Drummond, Department Chair
Grise Hall 100
(270) 745-3759
Faculty
Professor
Darlene A. Applegate PhD (Anthropology), The Ohio State University Main Campus, 1997
Holli R. Drummond PhD (Sociology), University of Georgia, 2004
John M. Musalia PhD (Sociology), Indiana University-Bloomington, 2000
Anne B. Onyekwuluje PhD (Sociology), University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1995
Matthew V. Pruitt PhD (Sociology), North Carolina State University, 1995
Douglas C. Smith PhD (Sociology), PA State University Main Campus, 1996
Associate Professor
Ann K. Ferrell PhD (English), The Ohio State University Main Campus, 2009
Jean-Luc Houle PhD (Anthropology, Archeology), University of Pitts Pittsburgh Camp, 2010
Kathryn A. Hudepohl PhD (Anthropology), Tulane University, 2002
James W. Kanan PhD (Sociology), PA State University Main Campus, 1996
Amy C. Krull PhD (Sociology & Anthropology), Purdue University Main Campus, 2000
Carrie Trojan PhD (Criminal Justice), City University of New York, 2009
Assistant Professor
Marcus A. Brooks PhD (Sociology), University of Cincinnati Main Campus, 2022
Kyle D. Maksuta PhD (Sociology), SUNY at Albany, 2021
Justin M. Smith PhD, University of Florida, 2009
Clinical Assistant Professor
Brent A. Bjorkman MA (Folk Studies), Western Kentucky University, 1998
Instructor I
Crystal L. Bohlander MPA (Public Administration), Western Kentucky University, 2003
Sydney K. Varajon PhD (English), The Ohio State University Main Campus, 2021
Anthropology Courses
ANTH 432G Field Course in Archaeology 1-9 Hours (repeatable max of 9 hrs)
Includes archaeological survey, site mapping, artifact recovery, recording, and cataloging. Work is usually conducted on prehistoric Indian sites. The number of credit hours will be determined in consultation with instructor.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 130 or permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
ANTH 434G Graveyard Archeology 3 Hours
Application of archaeological methods in the documentation of historic graveyards, emphasizing legal mandates, formation processes, subsurface prospecting, remote sensing, mapping and headstone recording. Travel to field site required.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
ANTH 448G Visual Anthropology 3 Hours
This course examines photography and film as tools and products of cross-cultural research with special emphasis on cultural and political biases presented through visual means.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023
ANTH 449G Ethnographic Video Production 3 Hours
Video production as a research methodology in anthropology. Practical exercises and collaborative student projects. Students will produce their own short ethnographic videos. Explores practices of representing cultures through video.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 448G or permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
ANTH 493G Archaeology Stewardship 3 Hours
Field monitoring of local archaeological sites threatened by cultural and natural formation processes. Travel to field sites required. Note: 6 additional credits in anthropology required.
Prerequisite(s): ANTH 130 or permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
ANTH 495G Directed Study 1-4 Hours (repeatable max of 8 hrs)
Available to superior students who wish to conduct individual, intensive reading and research in specific area of anthropology in close cooperation with supervising faculty. Submission of such projects to student sections of regional professional meetings is encouraged. Number of credit hours will be determined in consultation with instructor.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
Criminology Courses
CRIM 500 Law Enforcement 3 Hours
This course explores theoretical, historical, structural, cultural, legal, social, and psychological components of law enforcement.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 525 Survey of Criminal Justice 3 Hours
Survey of the development and implementation of the criminal justice system and the societal responses that emerged to deal with the social problem of crime.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 530 Penology 3 Hours
Examination of theories, research, laws, and public policies associated with punishment on a social control mechanism. Emphasis on social purposes and efficiency of correctional institutions.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 532 Criminology 3 Hours
Theories of crime causation and current research in the areas of criminology and corrections and methodological research considerations. Note: 6 hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 533 Criminology and Law 3 Hours
Examine the structure, organization, and content of criminal law. Topics include development and elements of law as they relate to social control.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 534 Neighborhoods and Crime 3 Hours
Overview of ecology of crime, with emphasis on criminological theories, factors that influence neighborhood-level crime rates, and effects that neighborhood characteristics have on individuals.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 536 Juvenile Delinquency 3 Hours
Analysis of current issues relating to children who come into contact with the juvenile justice system.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 537 Comparative Criminology 3 Hours
Survey of theoretical and empirical work examining the structural and cultural forces influencing cross-national crime patterns and trends, international law, and specific legal systems.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 538 Victimology 3 Hours
Survey of the major theories and research in victimology. Topics include violent victimization, sexual assault, child abuse, and response of criminal justice system to victims.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 546 Gender, Crime and Justice 3 Hours
Examines crime, criminal justice, and gender. Explores how constructions of masculinity, femininity, and features of sexuality affect victims, offenders, and professionals in the criminal justice system.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 547 Life-Course Criminology 3 Hours
Examination of theories and empirical research associated with onset, escalation, persistence, and desistance of violent offending over the human life-course.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 548 Race, Class and Crime 3 Hours
Examination of relationships between race and social class in crime patterns and in the etiology of offending and victimization.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 572 Environmental Criminology 3 Hours
Explores criminological solutions to environmental problems. Issues addressed include the nature of environmental offenders and victims, environmental justice, and criminal justice solutions to specific environmental problems.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
CRIM 596 Applied Research Project 3 Hours
Students will work with an advisor/mentor to develop an applied research project that incorporates information learned in the Master of Arts in Criminology Curriculum.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; summer 2022
Folk Studies Courses
FLK 410G African American Music 3 Hours
A survey of selected musical styles created and developed by African Americans from the 17th to the 20th century: spirituals, blues, popular music forms (e.g. soul, reggae, rap music). Emphasis will be placed on the historical factors and socio-cultural trends that influenced the development of African-American music.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 445G American Architectural History 3 Hours
An interdisciplinary survey of American architectural history, including trends and styles, architect designed and manufactured structures and elements, and the social history of American architecture.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023
FLK 462G Folklore and Medicine 3 Hours
Examines the role of traditional culture in shaping attitudes and behavior related to sickness, health, and healing. Institutional, alternative, and informal medical settings are discussed.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 464G Vernacular Architecture 3 Hours
The forms, functions, and styles of buildings constructed according to custom from local materials to meet individual and cultural preferences.
Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2023
FLK 470G Museum Procedures and Preservation Techniques 3 Hours
Essential aspects of museums and of preservation, i.e., collecting, preserving, researching, exhibiting, and interpreting material culture.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2024
FLK 478G Folklore and Literature 3 Hours
Readings in world literature from the Bible to the modern novel and examination of the degree to which oral literature has affected origins and development of written literature.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 480G Women's Folklife 3 Hours
The various images and roles of women in the U.S. and selected world cultures as reflected in folklife materials such as narratives, beliefs, ballads, rhymes, games, customs, and folk arts.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2024
FLK 560 Cultural Conservation 3 Hours
Survey of the history, organization, development, and major issues of cultural conservation, specifically as they relate to folklife and the built environment.
Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2023
FLK 561 Folk Arts and Technology 3 Hours
Examination of the study of material folk culture from various methodological and theoretical perspectives, including artifactual analysis, design theory and ethnoaesthetics.
Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022
FLK 562 Folklore and Education 3 Hours
Methods, theories, skills and resources for teaching folklore, with an emphasis on the K-12 curriculum. Teaching, teacher training, preparation of guides, lesson plans and curricula, and multiculturalism will be covered.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023
FLK 566 Oral History 3 Hours
Methods and theories of oral history, legal and ethical considerations, uses and planning of local oral history projects.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2023
FLK 569 Folklore Genres 3 Hours
An examination of the oral, customary, and material culture genres of folklore, and the theories and methods of genre studies.
Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022
FLK 571 Folk Narrative 3 Hours
A survey of narrative genres of folklore and relevant scholarship.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2023
FLK 572 Public Folklore 3 Hours
History, methods, and issues of public folklore.
Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022
FLK 575 Folk Belief 3 Hours
An examination of vernacular belief systems and practices, including folk religion, alternative and folk healing, divination, ritual, legend, and myth. Current historical, philosophical, anthropological, and folkloristic theories will be covered.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023
FLK 576 American Traditional Music 3 Hours
An examination of diverse forms of traditional American musical expression.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 577 Folklore Theory 3 Hours
Folklore scholarship, its historical development, and its principal bibliographical materials.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; spring 2023; fall 2023
FLK 578 Folklore Fieldwork 3 Hours
Examination of methodological issues and techniques in folklore fieldwork.
Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022; spring 2024
FLK 579 Independent Study Folklore 3 Hours
Supervised individual study under the direction of a member of the folklore graduate faculty.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2022
FLK 580 Folklore Conversation and Communication 3 Hours
Forms of folklore which occur within a conversational stream. Expressive culture as a particular culture-specific mode of communication.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 581 Public Folklore Policy and Practice 3 Hours
Engagement with current policy and practice issues of public folklore documentation, presentation, and conservation. Emphasis on the role of the federal government and non-profit agencies as they relate to public folklore policy and practice.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: winter 2023
FLK 585 Topics in Folklore 3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Topics of current interest in the field. Content varies according to the instructor and needs of the students.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 586 Capstone Course in Historic Preservation 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Capstone course for students seeking careers in historic preservation. Application of acquired theory and practice in developing a single project in historic preservation.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 587 Capstone Course in Public Folklore 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Capstone course for students seeking careers in public folklore. Application of acquired theory and practice in developing a single project in public folklore.
Prerequisite(s): FLK 572 and permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; summer 2022; fall 2022
FLK 589 Internship 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Supervised work situation with cooperating business, industry, social or governmental agency, emphasizing application of advanced knowledge and skills in folk studies.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: summer 2022; summer 2023
FLK 590 Capstone in Museum Studies 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Capstone course for students seeking careers in museum studies. Application of acquired theory and practice in developing a single project in museum studies.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022
FLK 599 Thesis Research and Writing 1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Master's thesis in folk studies.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Folk Studies (069)
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; fall 2023; spring 2024
FLK 600 Maintaining Matriculation 1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Continued enrollment for thesis completion.
Recent Term(s) Offered: summer 2022; fall 2022; spring 2023; summer 2024
FLK 760 Public Policy and Cultural Heritage 3 Hours
Examines key issues at the intersection of public policy and cultural heritage with an emphasis on case studies and models for addressing these issues from an applied folklore perspective.
Prerequisite(s): (FLK 560 or equivalent) or permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 765 Leadership Seminar in Applied Folklore 3 Hours
Examination of history and current state of leadership practice in applied folklore with emphasis on case studies and the development of mentoring relationship with senior folklorists.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 772 Folklore and Public Practice 3 Hours
Explores the various dimensions of folklore and public practice at an advanced level, including the examination of specific case studies and the application of knowledge to specific student-development projects.
Prerequisite(s): FLK 572 or equivalent
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 775 Activism and Politics in Applied Folklore 3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Investigates the uses of folklore in historical and contemporary political and social activism.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 778 Advanced Folklore Fieldwork and Research Methods 3 Hours
Advanced examination of historical and contemporary theory and practice of ethnographic fieldwork.
Prerequisite(s): FLK 578 or equivalent
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 785 Topics in Applied Folklore 3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Topics of current interest in applied folklore. Content varies according to the instructor and needs of the students.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 789 Practicum in Applied Folklore 1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Supervised professional experience in Applied Folklore.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 799 Dissertation Research 1-9 Hours
Research undertaken to complete requirements for Doctor of Folklore Practice.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
FLK 800 Maintain Matriculation 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Course enrollment requirement during completion of dissertation.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
Social Responsibility and Sustainable Communities Courses
SRSC 510 Perspectives on Social Justice 3 Hours
A consideration of major perspectives concerning social justice issues.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 515 Utopias, Dystopias, & Intentional Communities 3 Hours
A study of fictional and historical utopias, dystopias, and intentional communities, with particular attention to environmental concerns.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 520 Community-based Research Methods 3 Hours
The study of methodologies that support community-based research and problem-solving..
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 525 Place and the Problem of Healing 3 Hours
A study of place as it relates to environmental and human/animal suffering and healing.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 530 Social Policy 3 Hours
A study of the convergences and discontinuities between social justice and social policy using critical interdisciplinary theories.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 540 Community-Building for Sustainability 3 Hours
Research in a topic related to sustainable community-building.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 570 Special Topics in Social Responsibility & Sustainable Communities 1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
A detailed study of a specialized topic.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Socl Resp/Sustain Communities (0448)
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 579 Independent Study in Social Responsibility & Sustainable Communities 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Supervised individual study and/or field-based experience in a topic of particular relevance to the M.A. in Social Responsibility & Sustainable Communities.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 590 Sustainability Symposium 3 Hours
Culminating residency requirement for students seeking the Master's in Social Responsibility & Sustainable Communities. Includes group site evaluations and concluding symposium.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Socl Resp/Sustain Communities (0448)
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 599 Thesis Research/Writing 1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
For students pursuing the thesis option of the M.A. Social Responsibility & Sustainable Communities. Note: Earned 21 hours in program required.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Socl Resp/Sustain Communities (0448)
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SRSC 600 Maintaining Matriculation 1 Hour (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
For students needing to maintain matriculation.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
Sociology Courses
SOCL 408G Survey Applications 3 Hours
Student involvement in the design, conduct, analysis, and dissemination of an actual social survey research project.
Prerequisite(s): (SOCL 300 or equivalent) and (SOCL 302 or equivalent) and permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 420G Political Sociology 3 Hours
Political behavior within a sociological perspective. Includes social cohesion, legitimacy, political socialization, and power structures. Note: Nine hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 434G Organized Crime 3 Hours
The study of both traditional and nontraditional organized crime from a sociological perspective.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 435G Family Violence 3 Hours
This course is designed to provide the student with a sociological perspective on family violence in the United States. Emphasis is placed on child abuse and wife abuse. Research, theory, laws, treatment and prevention are analyzed. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 440G Medical Sociology 3 Hours
Comprehensive examination of the social organization of the health care industry in the U.S. Focus on origins and development of medicine, social epidemiology, the social construction of illness and illness behavior, the professionalization of medicine and patterns of social interaction between health providers and patients.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 450G Occupations and Professions 3 Hours
Deals with occupation specialization and the nature of occupational organization. Examines a variety of occupations and professions to determine the place of work in the lives of their members.
Prerequisite(s): SOCL 346 or permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 470G Environmental Sociology 3 Hours
Explores environmental thought within the sciences and the general public, including shifting worldviews, social movements and social structural change associated with sustainability, environmental justice, and the rights of nature. Note: Three hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): ENG 300 or permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 489G Sociology Study Abroad 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 3 hrs)
Sociological and cultural study in international locations. No more than three hours may be applied toward the M.A. in sociology.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 500 Seminar Teaching Sociology 2 Hours
Workshop for students who plan to teach sociology.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 501 Practicum in the Teaching of Sociology 1 Hour
Seminar for students who are teaching sociology. Note: 16 graduate hours in sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): SOCL 500
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 505 Proseminar in Sociology 1 Hour
Socializes graduate students into the discipline and profession of sociology and acquaints them with department faculty and their interests.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Sociology (105)
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 510 Qualitative Methods of Social Research 3 Hours
Covers epistemological and philosophical bases of qualitative inquiry; research design and data analysis in participant observation, in-depth interviewing, hermeneutic content analysis, and discourse analysis; issues in validity, reliability, and ethics of qualitative research.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students in Sociology (105)
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 512 Sociological Theory 3 Hours
Analysis of current sociological theories, including a survey of recent approaches to the construction and application of systematic theoretical models. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 513 Quantitative Methods of Social Research 3 Hours
Covers concept definition, model building, and research design appropriate to problem and data. Includes a review of representative research studies to acquaint the sociology major with advanced social research methodology, techniques, and procedures. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2022; summer 2022
SOCL 514 Advanced Social Statistics 3 Hours
Deals with forms of statistical analysis commonly applied to sociological research data. Includes multiple and partial correlation and regression, one-and two-way analysis of variance, path and nonlinear function analysis, interaction effects, and introduction to factor analysis. Note: Basic undergraduate statistics course required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: winter 2022
SOCL 515 Advanced Data Analysis 3 Hours
Deals with multivariate forms of statistical analyses commonly applied to quantitative sociological research data. Covers applications and extensions of the general linear model, including dummy variable regression, analysis of variance and covariance, etc.
Prerequisite(s): (SOCL 513 or equivalent) and (SOCL 514 or equivalent)
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 531 Deviant Behavior 3 Hours
Deals with types of deviant behavior with emphasis on criminality, delinquency, drug addiction, and alcoholism. Also covers current sociological theory and research in the field. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 535 Family Violence 3 Hours
Examination of family violence within the United States. Emphasis placed on spousal violence and child abuse but also on violence within other intimate relationships.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 541 Demography 3 Hours
A review of the demographic processes such as mortality, fertility, and migration, with emphasis on measurements, methods, and analytical techniques. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 542 Community 3 Hours
Ecological and social concepts of the community and its structure and function. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 545 Rural Poverty 3 Hours
Explores the nature and scope of poverty in contemporary rural America. Current theories of and policy solutions to poverty will be critically examined. Students are responsible for arranging their own transportation for optional field trips.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 551 Sociology of the Family 3 Hours
Analysis of the family institution; the impact of modern culture on the family. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 561 Advanced Social Interaction: Self in Society 3 Hours
The self in social environment, especially face-to-face interaction as individuals interpret, influence, and react to others' actions. Emphasis on identity, roles, and definitions of the situation. Note: Six hours of sociology required.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 571 Topical Seminar Sociology 3 Hours (repeatable max of 9 hrs)
Significant topics, issues, or developments in the discipline.
Recent Term(s) Offered: spring 2023
SOCL 595 Directed Study 1-3 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Individual research in a specific area of sociology in close cooperation with supervising faculty.
Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor
Recent Term(s) Offered: winter 2023; spring 2023; summer 2024
SOCL 598 Internship in Sociology 3-6 Hours
Practical experience in a supervised work situation with a cooperating agency. Note: Twenty-four graduate credit hours earned and successful completion of research tool required.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 599 Thesis Research/Writing 1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Thesis research and writing directed by faculty committee.
Recent Term(s) Offered: None
SOCL 600 Maintain Matriculation 1-6 Hours (repeatable max of 6 hrs)
Continued enrollment for thesis completion.
Recent Term(s) Offered: fall 2022