Family Studies - Albright College
Source: https://www.albright.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/family-studies
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:15
Family Studies - Albright College
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Family Studies
Understand families. Support communities. Improve lives.
Family Studies at Albright explores how social structures, relationships, and life circumstances shape family experiences. Students develop knowledge and skills that lead to careers in human services, counseling support, advocacy, and community programming.
About the Program
The program draws on sociology’s community-centered approach, offering interdisciplinary opportunities and strong internship pathways.
Hands-On Learning
Students engage with service organizations, internships, community gardens, and public programming.
Program Goals
Course Requirements
Opportunities
Faculty
Advising Sheets
Foster intellectual curiosity.
Achieve breadth of knowledge across socio-anthropological substantive areas and depth within one area
Write and speak clearly and fluently while also incorporating the socio-anthropological knowledge (i.e. terms, concepts, and theories) that they have gained in their socio-anthropological coursework.
Practice the skill of connecting social observations with theory so that the theories alluded to in #3 can be used by graduates throughout their lives to develop sophisticated assessments about the causes and effects of human actions.
Develop a foundation of socio-anthropological theory about the way humans interact with the social and physical world such that they can use them to understand and assess a variety of human actions around the world.
Develop the skills and knowledge to conduct basic socio-anthropological investigations. This would include being familiar with the process by which an individual can: develop sociological hypotheses; collect pertinent sociological data; analyze data qualitatively and quantitatively; develop conclusions about the issue(s) in question.
Find, understand, and critically assess scholarly and analytic socio-anthropological literature.
Break free from the leash of cultural conformity by learning to think critically and creatively about issues for themselves without relying on others (authorities) to make the assessments for them.
Full Course Catalogue
Course Descriptions
Major Requirements
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology (fulfills General Studies Foundations Social Science
course)
SOC 210 Research Methods
SOC 211 Statistics (fulfills General Studies Quantitative Reasoning course)
SOC 213 Social Theory
SOC 490 Senior Seminar
SOC 203 Human Services for Families and Children
SOC 261 The Family
SOC 302 Juvenile Delinquency
SOC 311 Domestic Violence
ANT 320 Sex, Gender, & Culture
SOC 382/482 Internship, travel abroad course, or a 400-level approved substitution
Two of the following:
SOC 201 Social Problems
SOC 230 Cultural Sociology
SOC 251 Crime & Deviance
SOC 262 Social Stratification
SOC 266 Sociology of Race
SOC 291 Environmental Sociology
ANT 101 Introduction to Anthropology
ANT 285 The Human Animal
Combined Major Requirements
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology (fulfills General Studies Foundations Social Science course)
SOC 210 Research Methods
SOC 211 Statistics (fulfills General Studies Quantitative Reasoning course)
SOC 213 Social Theory
SOC 490 Senior Seminar
SOC 261 The Family
One of the following intermediate courses:
SOC 203 Human Services for Families and Children
SOC 270 Parenting & Technology
SOC 302 Juvenile Delinquency
SOC 311 Domestic Violence
SOC 351 Race and Families
ANT 320 Sex, Gender, & Culture
Students are also encouraged to complete an internship as an elective.
Field Study Experiences:
The Albright College sociology and anthropology department hosts a variety of opportunities for field study within the City of Reading, and the city, in a way, becomes a socio-anthropological laboratory. Students have worked with faculty to assess local social service agencies, study changes in neighborhoods experiencing reinvestment, explore the impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on communities, measure gang involvement and risk factors for gang membership, interview community members on town-gown relations, and compare religious services, among others.
Some of the field studies in which students have engaged took place in:
Barber shops
Pet stores
Roller rinks
Childcare facilities
Nightclubs
Homeless shelters
Agricultural animal auctions
Abortion clinics
Internships and Career Support
Students can connect with the
Career Development Center
to find internships with social service agencies, schools, government programs, or nonprofit organizations while developing skills for careers in research, policy, or community work.
ACRE Undergraduate Research
Students in any major can engage in interdisciplinary undergraduate research through the
Albright Creative Research Experience (ACRE)
, partnering with faculty mentors to pursue independent research or creative projects and present their work beyond the classroom.
Carla Abodalo , M.S.
Senior Instructor of Sociology & Anthropology
Charles Brown , Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology
Brandon Clinton
Part-Time Faculty of Sociology & Anthropology
Erin Deneke
Adjunct Faculty
Tracey Estriplet-Adams
Adjunct Faculty
Sarah Gerloff
Adjunct Faculty
Jillian Gosselin
Adjunct Faculty
Julia Heberle , Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Kyle Hosking
Adjunct Faculty
Susan Hughes , Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Brian Jennings , Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology
Adrienne Lodge
Adjunct Faculty
1
2
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next page
showing 1 - 12 of 16 constituents
Curriculum Highlights
Participation in Sociology 211 for research training
Internships in social services, justice programs, and nonprofits
Opportunities for honors theses and applied research
Collaborative departmental initiatives
Skip To Main Content
Family Studies
Understand families. Support communities. Improve lives.
Family Studies at Albright explores how social structures, relationships, and life circumstances shape family experiences. Students develop knowledge and skills that lead to careers in human services, counseling support, advocacy, and community programming.
About the Program
The program draws on sociology’s community-centered approach, offering interdisciplinary opportunities and strong internship pathways.
Hands-On Learning
Students engage with service organizations, internships, community gardens, and public programming.
Program Goals
Course Requirements
Opportunities
Faculty
Advising Sheets
Foster intellectual curiosity.
Achieve breadth of knowledge across socio-anthropological substantive areas and depth within one area
Write and speak clearly and fluently while also incorporating the socio-anthropological knowledge (i.e. terms, concepts, and theories) that they have gained in their socio-anthropological coursework.
Practice the skill of connecting social observations with theory so that the theories alluded to in #3 can be used by graduates throughout their lives to develop sophisticated assessments about the causes and effects of human actions.
Develop a foundation of socio-anthropological theory about the way humans interact with the social and physical world such that they can use them to understand and assess a variety of human actions around the world.
Develop the skills and knowledge to conduct basic socio-anthropological investigations. This would include being familiar with the process by which an individual can: develop sociological hypotheses; collect pertinent sociological data; analyze data qualitatively and quantitatively; develop conclusions about the issue(s) in question.
Find, understand, and critically assess scholarly and analytic socio-anthropological literature.
Break free from the leash of cultural conformity by learning to think critically and creatively about issues for themselves without relying on others (authorities) to make the assessments for them.
Full Course Catalogue
Course Descriptions
Major Requirements
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology (fulfills General Studies Foundations Social Science
course)
SOC 210 Research Methods
SOC 211 Statistics (fulfills General Studies Quantitative Reasoning course)
SOC 213 Social Theory
SOC 490 Senior Seminar
SOC 203 Human Services for Families and Children
SOC 261 The Family
SOC 302 Juvenile Delinquency
SOC 311 Domestic Violence
ANT 320 Sex, Gender, & Culture
SOC 382/482 Internship, travel abroad course, or a 400-level approved substitution
Two of the following:
SOC 201 Social Problems
SOC 230 Cultural Sociology
SOC 251 Crime & Deviance
SOC 262 Social Stratification
SOC 266 Sociology of Race
SOC 291 Environmental Sociology
ANT 101 Introduction to Anthropology
ANT 285 The Human Animal
Combined Major Requirements
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology (fulfills General Studies Foundations Social Science course)
SOC 210 Research Methods
SOC 211 Statistics (fulfills General Studies Quantitative Reasoning course)
SOC 213 Social Theory
SOC 490 Senior Seminar
SOC 261 The Family
One of the following intermediate courses:
SOC 203 Human Services for Families and Children
SOC 270 Parenting & Technology
SOC 302 Juvenile Delinquency
SOC 311 Domestic Violence
SOC 351 Race and Families
ANT 320 Sex, Gender, & Culture
Students are also encouraged to complete an internship as an elective.
Field Study Experiences:
The Albright College sociology and anthropology department hosts a variety of opportunities for field study within the City of Reading, and the city, in a way, becomes a socio-anthropological laboratory. Students have worked with faculty to assess local social service agencies, study changes in neighborhoods experiencing reinvestment, explore the impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on communities, measure gang involvement and risk factors for gang membership, interview community members on town-gown relations, and compare religious services, among others.
Some of the field studies in which students have engaged took place in:
Barber shops
Pet stores
Roller rinks
Childcare facilities
Nightclubs
Homeless shelters
Agricultural animal auctions
Abortion clinics
Internships and Career Support
Students can connect with the
Career Development Center
to find internships with social service agencies, schools, government programs, or nonprofit organizations while developing skills for careers in research, policy, or community work.
ACRE Undergraduate Research
Students in any major can engage in interdisciplinary undergraduate research through the
Albright Creative Research Experience (ACRE)
, partnering with faculty mentors to pursue independent research or creative projects and present their work beyond the classroom.
Carla Abodalo , M.S.
Senior Instructor of Sociology & Anthropology
Charles Brown , Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology
Brandon Clinton
Part-Time Faculty of Sociology & Anthropology
Erin Deneke
Adjunct Faculty
Tracey Estriplet-Adams
Adjunct Faculty
Sarah Gerloff
Adjunct Faculty
Jillian Gosselin
Adjunct Faculty
Julia Heberle , Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Kyle Hosking
Adjunct Faculty
Susan Hughes , Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Brian Jennings , Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology
Adrienne Lodge
Adjunct Faculty
1
2
>
next page
showing 1 - 12 of 16 constituents
Curriculum Highlights
Participation in Sociology 211 for research training
Internships in social services, justice programs, and nonprofits
Opportunities for honors theses and applied research
Collaborative departmental initiatives