Hands-On Learning Every Year
Hands-on learning experiences are built into your core major coursework! You might also work with faculty on their research and projects. Just ask them!
1st year - Working with Real Data
CRIM 125 Introduction to Criminology and Justice Studies or SOC 104 Introduction to Sociology
Use web-based data sources to answer your own social science research questions.
For example: Does earning a BA impact average lifetime earnings and health? (The answers are “yes” … find out more by looking closer at the data.
2nd Year - Learning and Working in the Community
CRIM 225s Inequalities/Criminalization or SOC 225s Social Issues and Action
As part of your core service-learning course, and supported by a faculty service learning coordinator, you will pick a site on or off campus that fits with your interests and schedule. Our service learning goal is for you to develop experience and ties to our community that relate back to your academic study. A few recent service learning sites included:
California Highway Patrol
Humboldt Brain Booth
Humboldt YES House - all programs
Humboldt OH Snap (Food Bank)
SCRAP Humboldt (Recycling)
Sequoia Humane Society
Sequoia Park Zoo
Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT)
Potawat Community Garden
Jefferson Community Center
Community Access Project Eureka
Planned Parenthood
Friends of the Dunes
Patrick's Point State Park
Arcata Elementary School
Sunny Brae Middle School
Food for People
Centro del Pueblo
In addition to the 3 units earned in the lecture/discussion portion of their service learning course, students will earn 1 "additional" unit for their service work. Students participate in 2-4 hours of common scheduled classroom time linked to the service learning unit. During these meetings students will identify and contract for 15 hours of service time at a community site. Service hours are usually flexible. But in scheduling service hours, students will need to consider possible additional constraints (e.g. transportation, family needs, paid work and other class schedules). The hours involved in the 1-unit service learning experience are equivalent to those required for any other 1-unit class.
3rd Year - Planning for Career or Graduate School - Hands-On Research
SOC 372 Proseminar or SOC 472 Graduate School Planning
Students research employment fields or graduate schools. They build/improve resumes and work on networking and keeping track of internship, job, or graduate school connections. They also meet with potential employers and recent graduate students.
SOC 382 Introduction to Social Research
Students conduct real-life observations in natural settings, hold interviews, administer a real-life survey and learn how to interpret the results of each.
4th Year - Capstoning with an Internship or Research Project
Supported by a faculty internship coordinator or thesis supervisor, you will complete more than 90 hours of work with a community organization (perhaps in your hometown) or design and carry out your own research. For details on applying for an internship or to submit for your thesis proposal, see Capstone Planning
POPULAR CJS/SOC INTERNSHIP (SOC 482) SITE LOCATIONS
- Juvenile Hall
- HAF: True North Organizing Network
- Patrick’s Point State Park
- Probation Department
- Humboldt ITS Department
- Sequoia Humane Society
- HACHR
- Redwood Teen Challenge
- Boys & Girls Clubs
- McKinleyville Family Resource Center
- HSCO/HCCF Re-entry Program
- Humboldt NCAA Compliance Office
- 2-1-1 Humboldt
- Peer Health Education
- Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives (AHHA)
- Food for People
- SCRAP Humboldt
- YES House
- Area 1 Agency on Aging
- Breast & GYN Health Project
- Planned Parenthood
RECENT SENIOR THESIS (SOC 492) RESEARCH TOPICS
- Mass Incarceration in the African American Community
- The Humboldt County Home-Birth Study: Experiences & Accessibility
- Defining Social Interactions on Social Media Food Sites
- Immigration Health Indicators Following 1996 Welfare Reform
- So Stereotypical: The Recurrence of Native Americans in Film
- Battling the Plague Known as Abusive Relationship
- Socio-Economic Status and Arrest Rates in Adults
- Conceal and Carry on Humboldt Campus
- Identity Issues in the United States
- Racial and Ethnic Identity and Voter Turnout in California
- Biracial Individuals and Their Position within Society
- Hidden Exploitation: Human Trafficking
- Hair Texture and Women’s Self-Esteem
- Minorities Facing Discrimination
- Non Medical Marijuana Regulators and the Medical Marijuana Community
- First Generation Student Struggles
- The School to Prison Pipeline
