UR Now: STUDENT EXPERIENCE
UR’s career conferences help students stand out in the marketplace
Students polish their professional skills and make valuable connections at Robins PRO, Jepson EDGE, and A&S NEXT.
Department News
New Policy - Sociology courses: All students who have taken SOC 101 are eligible to take sociology electives. A student no longer needs to have SOC 211 or SOC 221 to take 300-level courses.
UR Here Giving Day!
April 8-9 marks Giving Day at the University of Richmond. Your support helps sociology and anthropology majors and minors access the same opportunities and experiences that enriched your time here. No gift is too small-please consider making a contribution to support our current students.
Marina Valentine receives 2026 James A. Sartain scholarship
Congratulations to Marina Valentine, recipient of the James A. Sartain scholarship for a student majoring in sociology. Professor and Chair Matthew Oware presented Marina with the award at the department’s Spring Celebration on April 2.
Students form Sociology Club
University of Richmond students are organizing a new Sociology Club on campus. This club hopes to bring more students into the Sociology and Anthropology department, have innovative discussions about sociological topics, connect with both faculty and alumni, and have fun, interactive events on campus! Students of any major or minor are welcome to join and/or help plan events.
Anth 310 Ends Semester on a Culinary High Note
To conclude the fall semester, students in Anth 310: Food and Culture shared dishes inspired by nostalgia and personal favorites. The menu featured old-school mac and cheese, Poulet DG (a Cameroonian dish with vegetables, fried plantains, and chicken), Chicken Tikka Masala prepared from a cherished family recipe, lemon pound cake, homemade garlic focaccia, and œufs en meurette—a classic dish from Burgundy (pictured). Students reflected on the course with enthusiasm. One noted that the class revealed that “food is never just food,” highlighting how each reading, film, and assignment uncovered stories of migration, loss, resilience, capitalism, and community—whether discussing corn and NAFTA, the global coffee trade, or Black food justice. Another student wrote that the course showed how politics, culture, and history shape even the most routine act of eating, influencing access to nutritious food and the tastes shaped by class and culture. They added that food connects us to family, home, and personal history, carrying meanings far beyond nourishment.
Panel Discussion: Prison Education in Virginia
This semester in our Sociology of Higher Education class we discussed race, history and inequality recognizing the immense privileges and disadvantages within the system and beyond it. To conclude our unit on Resistance Reform we invite the campus community to join us for a discussion on Prison Education featuring Terri Erwin, PhD, Director of Virginia Consensus for Higher Education and Kenneth Hunter, Organizer with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. This panel discussion and Q&A will explore current legislation in Virginia, locate prison education policies nationally, and grapple with the challenges of justice, access, and reform. Tuesday, December 2 2:30-4:00 PM Weinstein 314
Modeling Sovereignty: Martine Gutierrez’s "Indigenous Woman" Series
Blending photography, performance, and other media, Martine Gutierrez (American/Mayan, b. 1989) transforms her Indigenous heritage into a bold and imaginative world of high fashion that challenges ideas of identity, beauty, and power. Professor Miguel Diaz-Barriga with independent curator Christina Burke will lead an engaging, image-rich conversation about Gutierrez’s work.
Anthropology class travels to Oaxaca
In May, Anthropology professors Dr. Miguel Díaz-Barriga and Dr. Margaret Dorsey traveled with their Encompass students to Oaxaca, Mexico for a week-long immersive visit. The trip served as the culmination of a half-credit EnCompass course, giving students the opportunity to explore, firsthand, the region’s vibrant farm-to-table movement, indigenous food sovereignty initiatives, and the revitalization of small-scale indigenous agriculture. As the following photos illustrate, Oaxaca’s rich artisanal culture and deep-rooted heritage offered the students a week full of unforgettable and eye-opening experiences.
Honors Program & Honor Societies
The goal of the anthropology and sociology honors programs is to allow students with superior interests and talents to explore these fields, personal intellectual interests, and themes beyond the limits of typical courses.
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology also offers students the opportunity to join two honor societies. Alpha Kappa Delta seeks to acknowledge and promote excellence in the scholarship and study of sociology, the research of social problems, and other social and intellectual activities that will lead to improvement in the human condition. Lambda Alpha supports scholarship and research by acknowledging and honoring superior achievement in the discipline among students engaged in the study of anthropology.
Upcoming Events
Feature Stories
Rankings
University of Richmond Named Top Producer of Gilman Scholars
Richmond is among the top 25 institutions in the small colleges category supporting Gilman Scholars. Since the program started in 2001, 118 University of Richmond students have been offered Gilman Scholarships.
UR Now: ALUMNI
University of Richmond Alumni Professional Network creates connections
Emily Ward found her dream job through Spider networking.
UR Now: Student Experience
University of Richmond students take a road trip to NYC to learn about job options
Spiders travel to the Big Apple to meet alumni in creative careers, including at NBCUniversal, Amazon Ads, and the NBA.
Faculty Highlights
Sweis invited to present at University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, has been invited to present "The Politics of Medicine in the Middle East" at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago in honor of National Arab American Heritage Month.
Sweis joins editorial board
Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, joined the Editorial Board of the International Journal for Middle East Studies (IJMES), the flagship interdisciplinary journal in the field of Middle East studies.
Sweis presents at Yale global health conference
Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, presented “The Making of Syrian American Medical Humanitarians” at the Global Health in a Turbulent Middle East and North Africa: Anthropological Perspectives conference hosted by the Yale MacMillan Center Council on Middle East Studies.
Oware publishes on how environment influences rap personas
Matthew Oware, Irving May Professor of Human Relations, published “Race and Space in Rap: Conceptions of (Multi)Racial Identity and Urban Life in Rap Music” in The Arts and Urban Development.
Scholarship Repository Readership
The University of Richmond's Scholarship Repository shares faculty publications with a world-wide audience. The map below shows where articles from sociology and anthropology faculty are being read around the globe.
Mailing Address:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
302 Weinstein Hall
231 Richmond Way
University of Richmond, VA 23173
Phone: (804) 289-8067
Fax: (804) 287-1278
Department Chair: Dr. Matthew Oware
Administrative Coordinator: Diane Zotti