Judith McDonnell, Associate Professor of Sociology, remembers when she decided to make sociology her life's work. As an undergraduate, she was spending a semester in Harlem, establishing sustainable volunteer programs in a public housing project. "The lives of the people I worked with, mostly children, were so incredible," she explains. "Their ability to defeat the odds was different from anything I had experienced before."
The experience led McDonnell to study topics of public housing and racial inequality, earning both her Ph.D. (1990) and M.A. (1983) from Brown University. She also holds a B.A. in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
The intrigue of teaching sociology to, what was then, all business students is what initially drew McDonnell to Bryant. Now more than 15 years later, she has been integral in the development and launch of the Sociology degree program in Bryant's College of Arts & Sciences.
McDonnell calls the program "bold" and "one-of-a-kind" because of an integrated service-learning focus and a required business core. "We are sending students out into the community who bring back this wonderful and different knowledge of sociology. They're also learning about the way complex non-profits and business organizations work," she says. Students may alternatively choose to focus on social research in their Sociology degree, which McDonnell explains is a "traditional research program with an emphasis on how to 'do' sociology."
Currently, McDonnell teaches Sociology of Gender, Illness and Health and Social Theory: The Study of Isms and Phobias. In addition to being part of the Sociology curriculum, the courses can be taken by students who choose to pursue a Women's Studies minor.
McDonnell also teaches "Race and Ethnicity," a course students take as part of Bryant's Africana/Black Studies minor.
McDonnell notes that knowing the ways in which women come to occupy the world - the way they see the world - can be a very important part of a business student's education: "Women make up more than 50% of the population. Studying women's issues makes sense for business people who are looking at how complex institutions operate, how to manage change and production, and much more."
Cooperation between academic affairs and co-curricular organizations at Bryant have created activities and guest speakers that enhance both the Woman's Studies and Sociology programs, among others. For example, when author Jenny Boylan, a trans-gender female, spoke at Bryant, McDonnell encouraged her students to attend. "Cross-over programming outside the classroom that links to different aspects of courses helps us to enrich the intellectual and socio-developmental university atmosphere," she says.
McDonnell goes on to say that the chance to work closely with students, and develop programs that will enrich their lives and careers, is what has kept her at Bryant. "We have a gem here in that classes are still small enough that I can really get to know students," she shares. "I feel like I'm the luckiest person in the world to be able to listen to students as they learn."
