Anthropology / Sociology

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Students receiving a BS or BA degree in Anthropology/Sociology will possess the following:

• A solid foundation in the core academic disciplines of anthropology and sociology
• A basic understanding of fundamental concepts in anthropology and sociology
• A basic understanding of cross-cultural and intracultural perspectives
• Ability to examine key issues affecting contemporary societies through the social science lenses of anthropology and sociology
• Effective skills in critical thinking and discourse within the disciplines
• Effective skills in analytical and reflective writing, and other types of appropriate writing
• An ability to function effectively in small group work settings
• Basic statistical and literacy skills
• General computer literacy

Learning outcomes

Students receiving a BS or BA degree in Anthropology/Sociology will be able to demonstrate the following:

1. Communication: Demonstrate a solid understanding of core concepts in anthropology and sociology through effective communication, including scholarly writing and public presentations.
2. Inquiry: Demonstrate and apply cross-cultural perspectives, rooted in inquiry-based knowledge, in the analysis of social, economic, and political issues.
3. Critical Thinking: Demonstrate effective skills in critical thinking, analytical and reflective writing, and appropriate discourse within the core disciplines.
4. Civic Engagement: Identify, analyze, and address real world problems through scholarly and structured civic engagement.
5. Integrated Learning: Learning involves making connections between one are or concept and another, or from one level to another.

Means of assessment

• Successful completion of required and elective course work (appropriate for each concentration), with at least a C- in every graded course counted toward the major, and a 2.00 GPA for all courses counted toward the major.
• Successful completion of the University Writing Requirement, in addition to writing-intensive courses in the major.
• Successful completion of a statistics course utilizing computers and of writing projects requiring the use of computer and word processing, demonstrating computer literacy.
• Successful completion of an appropriate senior paper, project, or practicum within one of the three concentrations, demonstrating the ability to research, practice, and/or analyze various topics within anthropology and/or sociology.
• Successful completion of the ANTH/SOC Senior Seminar demonstrating an understanding of anthropological and sociological concepts, and the ability to display and apply this understanding in a public setting of one’s peers.

To ensure that students meet the above program outcomes, they demonstrate proficiency by means of the following (depending on the course): research papers, essays, in-class exams (essays, short answers, objective questions), take-home exams, map quizzes, group projects, individual and group presentations, library skills assignments, critical autobiographies and oral histories, production and analysis of surveys, development of formal research proposals, ethnographic observations and field-based research, reaction papers, summaries/ analysis papers based on readings, quizzes, formal debates, book reviews, literature reviews, and class participation and preparedness. Each assignment is assessed by means of specific evaluative criteria.

Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Anthropology/Sociology

A “C-” grade or better is required in all graded Anthropology and Sociology courses that are used to meet program requirements. A 2.00 GPA or better in all transcripted Anthropology or Sociology courses, including both transferred courses and those taken at Eastern, is required for good standing within the program.

Students in all concentrations will be required to take a college-level statistics course of at least 4 credits with a grade of C- or better. Students must also complete a mathematics course at the 100-level or above, with a grade of “C-” or better. Each student must demonstrate computer literacy in a way appropriate to his or her individual plans and approved by the student’s adviser.

Anthropology program

For a concentration in Anthropology, students must complete Eastern graduation requirements, and at least 65 hours in Anthropology/Sociology to include:

• ANTH 203 Cultural Anthropology (5), and
• ANTH 220 Physical Anthropology (5)
• At least 35 upper division hours in Anthropology are required, including: ANTH 356 Language & Culture (5), ANTH 360 Intro to Archaeology & Prehistory (5), ANTH 454 Anthropological History & Theory (5), and either ANTH 391 Applied Ethnographic Research (5) or ANTH 395 Archaeological Research Methods (5).
• ANTH 499 Senior Seminar (1)
• A 5 credit faculty-approved capstone such as: ANTH 401 Research and/or ANTH 405 Reading and Conference and/or ANTH 409 Practicum.
• An additional 9 upper division elective credits in Anthropology to reach the minimum 35 credits.
• At least 20 hours in Sociology, including SOC 204 or SOC 205.

Total credit hours: 65

Sociology programs

Offering a concentration in Sociology / Social Welfare, students must complete Eastern graduation requirements and at least 65 hours in Anthropology/Sociology to include:

• SOC 204 Gen Soc Introduction, and
• SOC 205 Gen Soc: Problems
• At least 20 hours in Anthropology, including either ANTH 100 or ANTH 203 Cultural Anthropology
• At least 35 upper division hours in Sociology including: SOC 315 (Introduction to Social Welfare), SOC 327 (Introduction to Social Research) and SOC 454 (Sociological Theory)
• SOC 499 Senior Seminar (this 1 credit course counts in the 35 upper division hour requirement.)
• Senior Capstone project (Soc 403, two variations each with a practical and research component, with varying emphases depending on whether it is Sociology (research emphasized in applied setting) or Social Welfare (applied setting emphasized with research component)
• The additional requirements for the concentration:
  • Sociology emphasis: Students must complete a minimum of five credit hours in:  SOC 455 Practice of Social Research (3); and SOC 403 Senior Capstone (5); or, with consent of faculty adviser, SOC 401 Research (minimum 5 credits).  These courses count in the 35 upper-division credit hours requirement.
  • Social Welfare emphasis: Students must complete:  SOC 315 (Foundations of Social Welfare, now a requirement for the program), SOC 420 Social Welfare Practices, SOC 403 (Social Welfare Senior Capstone, requiring a minimum of five credit hours (or the equivalent experience) in a pre-professional setting with a social welfare/public services provider in the area). These courses count in the 35 upper-division credit hours requirement.

Total credit hours 65

Typical first year curriculum

Fall

• ANTH 100 Intro to Anthropology (5)
• General Education or Elective Courses (10)

Winter

• ANTH 201, 202 or 203 (Cultural, Biological Anthropology or Archaeology) (5)
• General Education or Elective Courses (10)

Spring

• General Education or Elective Courses (15)

Typical second year curriculum

Fall

• SOC 204 General Sociology Introduction (5) or
• SOC 205 General Sociology Problems (5)
• General Education or Elective Courses (10)

Winter

• ANTH 201, 202 or 203 (Cultural, Biological Anthropology or Archaeology) (5)
• SOC 205 (Soc. problems) or 204 (General Sociology)
• General Education or Elective Courses (5)

Spring

• ANTH upper division (5)
• SOC 204 or 205 (offered alternate terms, 5 cr)
• General Education or Elective Courses (5)

NOTE: 100 and 200 level courses in Anthropology and Sociology may be taken whenever offered in the freshman or sophomore years. These courses need not be taken in order, for example, SOC 205 may be taken before or after SOC 204.

Typical third year curriculum

Select courses from the following, depending upon program concentration:

Fall

• SOC 315 Foundations of Social Welfare (5)
• SOC 454 Sociological Theory (5) or
• ANTH upper division (300 or higher) (5)

Winter

• SOC 327 Introduction to Social Research (5)
• ANTH 356 or other upper division (5) or
• SOC upper division (5)

Spring

• SOC or ANTH upper division (5-10)
• ANTH 454 Anthropology History & Theory (5)

Typical fourth year curriculum

Select courses from the following, depending upon program concentration:

Fall

• SOC 401 Research (5) or
• SOC 455 The Practice of Social Research (3)
• SOC 454 Sociological Theory (Junior or Senior yr) (5)
• ANTH or SOC upper division (5)
• ANTH or SOC 499 (Senior Seminar, only Fall term) (1)

Winter

• ANTH 454 Anthropology History & Theory (Junior or senior yr) (5)
• SOC 420 Social Welfare Practices (5)
• SOC 403 (Applied capstone in Sociology) (5)
• SOC 456 Social Research Analysis(2)
• ANTH 407 Senior Capstone project (5)

Spring

• ANTH or SOC upper division electives (5)
• SOC 403 Capstone (5)
• Elective Courses as needed to reach 60 upper division

NOTE: 300 and 400 level courses in Anthropology and Sociology may be taken whenever offered in junior or senior years. A total of 35 upper-division hours are required for the Anthropology, Sociology, and Sociology/Social Welfare concentrations. For further advice on related topics such as General Education, University Writing Requirement or the Diversity Requirement, see the University’s Advising Page or the Anth/Soc Advising page.

Minor in Anthropology/Sociology

This minor is also available via through on-line/on-site courses.

View the Anthropology/Sociology Minor Checksheet

A minimum of 30 graded credits at the “C-” level or better in Anthropology and Sociology. Student must maintain a “C” (2.00) or better cumulative GPA in courses required for the major.

The above must include:
a. At least 10 graded credits in each of the two disciplines.
b. At least 20 graded credits in upper division.
A minimum of 10 hours counting toward the minor must be completed at Eastern Oregon University.

NOTE: It is recommended that a senior year integrating project be included in each minor. That project might, for example, be a paper completed as part of the regular requirements of an Anthropology or Sociology course but focusing upon some topic related to the student’s major.

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The Sociology Concentration: Social Welfare

This is the applied emphasis within the Sociology/Social Welfare concentration. Students choosing other areas of Sociology, such as public sociology or even graduate school, are advised into a set of courses less oriented toward the social welfare field. Students choosing the social welfare route are generally seeking a professional career in social work or more generally the social welfare arena. This includes a variety of disciplines–social work, direct therapy/counseling, public safety (law enforcement, parole/probation, corrections, juvenile justice), crisis response, advocacy for domestic violence survivors, sexual assault response, community development, child welfare, victims’ assistance, refugee assistance, hospice work, veterans’ assistance programs, school-based counseling and youth-in-transition programs, self-sufficiency programs and case work, public health worker, etc.

The following requirements exist for Anth/Soc students with a Social Welfare concentration (see Sociology/Social Welfare checksheet):

• Required lower-division courses: Soc 204, Soc 205, ANTH 100 or 203;
• Required Anthropology course work: 20 credits total (includes Anth 100/203)
• Required upper-division Soc courses: Soc 315, Soc 327, Soc 420, Soc 403, Soc 454, Soc 499 (1 credit)
  • The Soc/Social welfare degree is also offered online. Students should work with advisers—not all required classes are offered all terms, and some are specific to the on-campus or online populations.
• A total of 35 upper-division Soc credits (including those above–that means another 9-10 credits of Soc. Students usually take more courses than the minimal requirements, in areas of interest–you can take up to 90 credit hours in Anth/Soc)
• Soc 403–this is the senior capstone, which combines practical experience and research. Students seek placement with an organization in the social welfare field. This is treated as a pre-professional experience, students work in an agency/office, conduct a modest research project, and write up their experiences. A minimum of 5 credits (most students do more, and it is possible to have multiple practica/capstone experiences–this is critical to gaining practical experience, making professional contacts, building a network, and identifying specific interests within the social welfare field).
• A statistics course (either STAT 243 or PSY 327)
• Institutional requirements include:
  • College-level math course for BS (MATH 105, 211, 212 provide SMI gen-ed credit)
  • Two years foreign language for a BA degree (Spanish)
  • Diversity (DPD) requirement (complete list here and Anth/Soc courses that fulfill this requirement are on the checksheet)
  • University Writing Requirement (UWR) requires four approved courses:
    • WR 121 (or equivalent),
    • lower-division Soc (204), and
    • two upper-division Soc (327, 454, 338, 306, 350, 360, 460 all qualify, see checksheet)
• Recommendations/suggestions for social welfare students (for reaching 180 credit hours–which excludes any math courses numbered under 100–think of this as a pool of potential courses to choose from when trying to fill out your schedule with electives):
  • at least one course on gender (Soc 360, Soc 350, Anth 372, PSY 231, HIST 330)
  • Psych courses (for those pursuing a therapy or counseling career), neuropsychology, personality, child development, etc.
  • Drug and alcohol sequence (HWS 431-432-433) for those considering case work/counseling/therapy
  • HWS (online) courses on aging and gerontology (for those considering working with the elderly, a growing population in all industrial societies)
  • Upper-division Soc courses of particular value: Soc 338 (Soc of Families), Soc 306 (Social Psychology), Soc 334 (Work and organizations), Soc 345 (Media, Politics and Propaganda); Soc 365 (Communities), Soc 374 (Food and Society, 2 cr), Soc 375 (Sociology of Food, 5 cr), Soc 445 (Inequality and Diversity), Soc 460 (Women in Poor Countries); online offerings include Soc 318 (Death and Dying), Soc 336 (Social change and social justice, 3 cr).
  • Upper-division Anth courses of possible interest include Anth 312 (Native Peoples of North America), Anth 375 (Food and nutrition), Anth 335 (Culture, Health and Illness), Anth 380 (Native Peoples of Oregon), Anth 420 (Encountering the Other), Anth 430 (Medical Anthropology)
  • Courses from the Communications major, especially dealing with group interaction, conflict management.

A student pursuing the Social Welfare concentration can graduate with either a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. Our program is not a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). We provide a more robust-sociologically informed curriculum, but an MSW will generally take two years (often MSWs are possible in one year with a BSW). BA is preferable because of the foreign language requirement (at least two years)–students who are bilingual, especially with Spanish as a first or second language, have certain comparative advantages on the job market. However, many students pursue the BS as well (which requires lower-division math and science coursework). To finish in four years, without enrolling for summer terms, students must average 15 credits per term, 45 credits per year (4 x 45 = 180, the minimum required to graduate). As a four-year degree program the Social Welfare concentration generally looks something like this:

• Year one:
  • General education requirements (recommendations for social work include introductory courses in psychology (SSC, PSY 201), communication (AEH and GTW), writing (GTW and APC), Spanish (AEH), information literacy (GTW Lib courses), economics (SSC, especially 115).
• Year two:
  • Introductory Soc (204 and 205) and Anth (100 or 203)
• Year three:
  • Soc 315, Soc 327, Soc 454, upper-division Anth and Soc electives
• Year four:
  • Soc 454, Soc 420, Soc 499, Soc 403, upper-division Anth/Soc electives

What are students doing?

Currently, in 2021, just in La Grande, Baker and Umatilla Counties, we have students working in the following areas:

• Drug and alcohol counseling (many of these positions require further schooling, usually a Masters in Social Work or MSW)
• Mental health counseling (private practitioners and the county MHO)
• Sex offender therapy (working with county-based community corrections programs)
• Case work with developmentally/intellectually delayed (advocating for clientele and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations)
• Victims assistance services (through the County District Attorney’s Office)
• Adult Protective Services (through Oregon Dept. of Human Services)
• Child and family Services (through Oregon DHS)
• Adult probation and parole (through County Community Corrections)
• Domestic/interpersonal violence advocacy and shelter (Union and Umatilla Counties)
• Hospice (end of life) care
• Wraparound Services through Community C.A.R.E. program (works in schools and with families to help stabilize children’s family situations)
• Union County’s Community Action Agency 
• Juvenile Justice (working with juvenile offenders)
• Juvenile counseling (through the Oregon Youth Authority)
• Self-sufficiency programs (including SNAP, TANF, Medicare, etc., administered through Oregon DHS)
• Training and employment consortium/Worksource Oregon
• Therapy and counseling with Veteran clients at the VA outpatient clinic
• Veterans Advocacy through local MHO
• Law Enforcement (La Grande Police, Union County Sheriff, Community Corrections, Oregon State Police)
• Community Health Network (Union County’s NEON)
• Education-related (alternative education program, special education, community outreach, community care coordinators in LG School District, counseling anchored in the Center for Human Development, behavioral specialists, skills trainers)
• Inform yourself about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and social welfare careers

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Program Objectives

The Native American Studies Minor integrates a wide variety of academic areas, including anthropology, history, political science, economics, business and law. The overall objective of the program is to increase the diversity of the EOU educational process. Students can complete their minors both on and off campus due to the diversity of offerings in both teaching areas. The minor will lead to a greater understanding of Native American peoples who have had significant roles in the history and tenure of North America. Knowledge of Native American people’s general and specific belief systems benefits EOU students in all fields of study. Awareness of their continuing political role in tribal, federal, state and local government activities enhances the overall knowledge of our students, including people in applied fields of study such as anthropology, education and business. It is also important for our students to recognize the U.S. Government’s federal trust responsibility toward treaty rights.

Learning Outcomes

Students, depending on the courses selected, will have the ability to:

• Develop a general understanding of Native North American history.
• Develop a general understanding of the diversity of North American Indian culture through an in depth consideration of different Tribes and Nations.
• Provide an opportunity to explore North American Indian mythology and spiritual beliefs.
• Provide an opportunity to discover how North American Indians have been affected by culture change.
• Provide an opportunity to learn about the diversity of Native American governments.

Means of Assessment

To ensure that students meet the above program outcomes, they demonstrate proficiencies by means of the following (depending on the course): research papers, essays, in class exams (essays, short answers, objective questions), take-home exams, map quizzes, group projects, individual and group presentations, library skills assignments, critical autobiographies and oral histories, production and analysis of surveys, development of formal research proposals, ethnographic observations and field-based research, reaction papers, summaries/analysis papers based on reading, quizzes, formal debates, book reviews, literature reviews, and class participation and preparedness. Each assignment is assessed by means of specific evaluative criteria.

Minor Checksheet

Requirements for the Minor in Native American Studies

1. A minimum of 30 graded credits at the “C-“ level or better with an over all GPA of 2.00.
2. The above must include at least 20 graded credits in upper division.
3. A minimum of 10 hours counting toward the minor must be completed at Eastern Oregon University.

Required courses:

ANTH 312 Native Peoples of North America (5)
HIST 483 History of Native Americans and the U.S. (5)
NAT 370 Native American Law (5)

Elective Courses:
ANTH 330 Ethnology of Hunters & Gatherers (2)
ANTH 360 Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory (5)
ANTH 380 Native Peoples of Oregon (5)
ANTH 390 Public Archaeology (5)
BA 347 Workplace Diversity (3)
HIST 338 Comparing Frontier Cultures (5)
POLS 477 Gambling Policy (5)
NAT 401 Research (1-5)
NAT 405 Reading & Conference (1-5)
NAT 407 Seminar (1-5)
NAT 409 Practicum (1-10)
Other appropriate electives as approved by faculty.

Native American Course Descriptions

NAT 110 – Selected Topics
Credits: 1.00 To 6.00
Discussion based course based on Native American cultures.

NAT 210 – Selected Topics
Credits: 1.00 To 6.00
Discussion based course based on Native American cultures.

NAT 310 – Selected Topics
Credits: 1.00 To 6.00
Discussion based course based on Native American cultures.

NAT 370 – Native American Law
Credits: 5.00
This course will survey the development of Native American Law in the United States. It will include a historical look at sovereignty issues along with the relationship of the Federal Government, State Governments and the various tribes in the areas of supremacy and jurisdiction in both civil law and criminal law. In addition recent developments in the area of gaming, self-determination, civil rights as well as religious rights will be examined. This course will give students the ability to evaluate how the culture of the U.S. has interacted with native peoples by looking at historical contexts, social paradigms and the legal system as it has evolved. Student must have at least sophomore standing to register for this course.

NAT 401 – Research
Credits: 1.00 to 5.00
Individual research project. Student must have at least junior standing to register for this course.

NAT 405 – Reading & Conference
Credits: 1.00 to 5.00
Individualized study. Student must have at least junior standing to register for this course.

NAT 407 – Seminar
Credits: 1.00 to 5.00
Seminar. Student must have at least junior standing to register for this course.

NAT 409 – Practicum
Credits: 1.00 to 10.00
Supervised experience (while enrolled in college) designed to offer opportunity to explore career areas and learning situations through field placement that parallels one’s academic major. Student must have at least junior standing to register for this course.

NAT 410 – Selected Topics
Credits: 1.00 to 6.00
Discussion based course based on Native American cultures.

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