Only 10 years after it began, the Ph.D. program in UC Merced’s Department of Sociology made an impressive debut in U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings of graduate-level offerings.
The Sociology graduate program tied for No. 64 nationally, sharing the position with UC Riverside, Temple University, the University of Florida and Washington State University.
In its first decade, the program placed a remarkable 15 graduate students in tenure-track faculty positions, including at UC Davis, Louisiana State University, the University of Houston-Downtown and several California State universities and community college campuses. Others are serving in key administrative and research roles in higher education.
Nearly all of these alumni are first-generation college students.
The Sociology program became eligible for ranking by U.S. News by conferring a certain number of doctoral degrees.
“We are thrilled to be 64th in our debut on the U.S. News graduate program rankings. But we’re not surprised,” said Professor Nella Van Dyke , a founding faculty member of the Department of Sociology. “When we began developing the program, our goal was to be ranked in the top 100 as soon as we were eligible.
“We designed a high-quality graduate program and hired excellent faculty. We provide a supportive environment where our graduate students can thrive.”
