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History |
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History of Sociology and Pomona*
By 1921: Pomona College History Professor George Stedman
Sumner was teaching Elements of Sociology, Poor Relief,
Problems of Labor, Theories of Social Reform, and
Immigration. These courses reflected the Social Gospel
Movement, a public policy coalition centered on ameliorating
urban problems associated with rapid industrialization. This
movement encouraged the type of research associated with
Chicago School Sociology, which emphasized urban reforms.
1922: Pomona College hired its first professor trained in
sociology, William Kirk. Educated at Johns Hopkins
University, Kirk was hired as Professor of Social Economics.
At that time, departments did not exist formally, so his
courses were part of the Pomona College curriculum in
Economics and Sociology. William Kirk shifted the Pomona
College sociology curriculum from a focus on social problems
to one that emphasized theories of social behavior across
institutions.
By 1930: Kirk was teaching sociology courses such as The
Family, Criminology, and Social Theory, and included
empirical evidence to substantiate theoretical perspectives.
1940s and 1950s: William Kirk, who retired from Pomona in
1946, was the only sociologist at Pomona until 1939, when
the College hired Ray Baber, whose Ph.D. was from the
University of Wisconsin. When Pomona hired him, Baber had
just published Marriage and the Family, which became the
leading textbook in that field and brought him national
visibility.
The next sociologist to arrive at Pomona College was Alvin
Scaff, who earned a bachelor's degree from the University of
Chicago Divinity School in 1940. After World War II, Scaff
went to the University of Texas for two years of study
before Pomona College hired him. He completed his
dissertation during his first year at Pomona in 1947. While
Baber preferred empiricism, Scaff enjoyed teaching social
theory. Ray Baber retired from Pomona College in 1956.
In 1960, Pomona College President E. Wilson Lyon learned
that Robert (Bob) Herman, a 1951 Pomona College alumnus, was
interested in returning to Claremont. So, Lyon asked Alvin
Scaff to offer Bob a position. Like Ray Baber, Bob Hermanšs
graduate training was at the University of Wisconsin. In
addition to the required sociology courses, Bob taught
electives on family and criminology.
1960s: The sociology curriculum of the mid-1960s reflected
the growing concerns about racism, poverty, and other
related social and political issues. In addition to
Sociology 51 (at that time titled The Study of Society),
sociology majors in 1965 completed six upper division
courses, including a seminar in Modern Social Theory.
Statistics was recommended, but not required for majors. The
electives included Social Problems, Criminology and
Penology, Race Relations, The American Community,
Comparative Social Movements, Seminar in the Family, and
African Social Structure and Social Changes. In addition
juniors and seniors were eligible to take Sociology
Tutorials (independent studies) in World Demography,
Industrial Sociology, Social Structure, Primary Group
Interaction, and Institutional Analysis.
1963: Pitzer College was established as part of the
Claremont Colleges Consortium, with an emphasis on
Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology. Within a few years,
Pitzer's sociology faculty numbered six persons (eventually
seven full time faculty by the early 1990s), bringing a much
wider array of elective offerings in sociology to Pomona
students, who have been able to cross-register for classes
there since Pitzer's inception.
By the mid-1970s: The Department of Sociology and
Anthropology included three sociologists and two
anthropologists. Bob Herman renamed his family course to
Nuclear Family and Its Alternatives. Additional sociology
offerings in 1975-76 included Metropolis and Community,
Social Aging, Sociology of Religion, Social Organization,
Population and Human Ecology, and Race and Ethnic Relations.
There were two theory courses History of Sociological
Theory and Contemporary Sociological Theories. A budget
crisis in the late 1970s led the College to reduce the
number of sociologists to two.
By the early 1980s: Bob Herman was the only permanent
sociologist. In 1983, Jill Grigsby, whose Ph.D. in Sociology
& Demography was from Princeton University, joined the
department, bringing the number of full-time sociologists to
2 FTEs. At that time the sociology major consisted of 8
courses: Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Research,
Classical Theory, Contemporary Theory (both theory courses
were taught at Pitzer College), Senior Seminar (1/2 credit),
Senior Thesis (1/2 credit), and three electives.
Mid-1980s: After his 1984-85 sabbatical in Boston, Bob
Herman became an urban sociologist, and in 1985 he began
giving tours of downtown Los Angeles, and eventually wrote a
book on walking tours of downtown L.A., Downtown Los
Angeles: A Walking Guide (Claremont, CA: City Vista Press,
1996). In addition to Urban Sociology, other electives in
1985-86 included Criminology and Penology, Nuclear Family
and Its Alternatives, Social Aspects of Aging, Small Group
Interaction, and Population and Society.
1989: Gilbert Cadena (Ph.D. from UC Riverside) and Lynn
Rapaport (Ph.D. from Columbia) were hired, bringing the
number of sociology FTEs to 3. By this time, Bob Herman was
ready to teach part-time, and until he retired fully in
1998, there were 3.5 faculty positions in sociology. The
position held by Gilbert Cadena became a joint position with
Chicano Studies, and Lynn Rapaport and Jill Grigsby
introduced Women's Studies courses into the sociology
curriculum.
By the late 1980s: Sociology was contributing to several
interdisciplinary programs at Pomona College, in addition to
Chicano Studies and Women's Studies. Students could major in
Sociology and Public Policy, a concentration that includes
courses in politics and economics, and a semester-long
applied internship in a government or private organization.
Jill Grigsby's population course was an elective for
International Relations majors, and several sociology
courses were electives for American Studies majors. Pomona
College introduced the Critical Inquiry Program in 1986
requiring all first year students to take an ID 1 seminar in
the fall semester. At least half of the years since the
program began, sociology faculty members have taught ID 1
seminars on topics related to the transition to adulthood,
family, race and ethnicity, cities, and terrorism.
By 1995-96: Sociology electives included: Population Trends
and Issues, Life Course of Women, Urban Sociology, American
Family, Social Aspects of Aging, Popular Culture,
Sociological Perspectives of Immigration, Sociology of
Childhood, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Race and
Ethnicity, Social Stratification, Women's Roles in Society,
Latinos and the Politics of Religion, Diversity and
Ethnicity in Education, and Mind, Culture and Sport (taught
by Pat Mulcahy, a Physical Education faculty member with a
Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA and a Pomona alumnus). The
sociology major by this time had increased to 9.5 courses --
Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Research, Classical
Theory, Contemporary Theory, a statistics course, Senior
Seminar (.5 credit) and Senior Thesis (1.0 credit), along
with three electives.
1997: Gilda Ochoa (Ph.D. from UCLA) began her tenure-track
position, with a joint
appointment in Chicano/a Studies. She was hired to teach two
cross-listed courses in sociology and Chicana/o Studies and
three strictly sociology courses. She has added courses on Chicanas/Latinas, Chicanos/Latinas and Education, and Los
Angeles Communities to the curriculum. Several of her
courses offer service learning options in the areas of
education, labor, and migration.
1998: Bob Herman retired from the College.
2000s: Andrew Roth (Ph.D. from UCLA), initially a visiting
Mellon Postdoctoral Scholar at Pomona College from
2000-2002, was hired from 2003 to
2005 and taught sociology courses that were part of Media
Studies and Environmental Analysis.
2001-2002: Hung Cam Thai, who was working on his
dissertation in Sociology from U.C. Berkeley, was selected as
the Minority Scholar in Residence at Pomona College. In this
position, he taught Transnationalism, Migration, and the
Family among Asian Americans and took students to Vietnam
during spring break.
2003: The Department of Sociology modified the methods
requirements for the major. Instead of taking Sociological
Research (which covered both qualitative and quantitative
research) and a course in statistics, sociology majors are
now required to take Qualitative Research Methods (Sociology
102) and Survey Research Methods (Sociology 104). The other
requirements remained the same -- Introduction to Sociology,
the two theory courses, Senior Seminar, Senior Thesis, and
three electives.
2006: Hung Thai rejoined the Department as Assistant
Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies. He has
contributed new courses on Immigration & the Second
Generation and Asian Americans. As a joint appointment, he
teaches two sociology courses, one course cross-listed in
Sociology and Asian American Studies, and one Asian American
Studies course each year.
*The early department history (until 1983) is taken in large
part from a faculty lecture given by Robert Herman during
the 1987-88 Pomona College centennial celebration.
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