The Senior Program

The Senior Program is an integrating, culminating academic experience for all sociology majors. Drawing on the methodology, research and thinking skills that they have developed during the first three years of study, seniors work closely with at least one faculty member to plan and complete the senior thesis. Work on the thesis includes an oral presentation in a public forum, where the audience includes visiting faculty members from other colleges and universities as well as faculty and students from the Hamilton program.

Recent projects in sociology include:

• Decolonizing Spaces: A Comparative Study of Two Art Museums Initiatives Towards Inclusivity and Representation
• A Sexual Utopia: Three Words that do not Describe College
• Loud Cheers and Quiet Whispers: The Impact of Leadership and Gossip on a Collegiate Soccer Team’s Cohesion and Motivational Climate
• Crossing Borders, Bridging Care: Examining Reproductive Healthcare Access and Health-seeking Behaviors among Migrant Women in Utica
• Understanding the Achievement Gap: The Effects of Race and Gender on Educational Attainment and Income
• It’s a (Parasocial) Love Story, Baby Just Say Yes: A Procedural Exploration of the Creation and Maintenance of the Taylor Swift
• The Gender of Parenting: Parent-Child Relationships in Post-Divorce Families
• Trust Dynamics between the Unhoused and their Service Providers
• The Digital Persona: The Role of Strategic Self-Presentation Among Emerging Adults on Instagram
• “We’re All Just Kids!”: A Sociological Exploration of The Meaning of Play for Individual Actors
• “Where Does the Distinction Lie?” The Impact of Public and Private High School Resourcing on Students’ Transition to an Elite College
• Consuming Identity: The Intersection of Consumer Culture and Student Identity in Elite Academia
• Contested Classrooms: How Partisan Politics Shape the Discourse on Inclusive Education in Public High Schools
• Know Thyself? Network Creation in Postgraduate Urban Environments
• Underground Sound
• Primary Care Provider Practice Patterns and Perspectives in Health Provider Shortage Areas (HPSA) and non-HPSAs
• Inside an Urban Charter School: What are Marginalized Students Learning?