Mission Statement
The mission of Cameron University’s Department of Social Sciences is to provide high quality instruction to students at the undergraduate level using a multi-disciplinary approach that emphasizes active learning, problem solving, and critical thinking.
The department is dedicated to excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service, offering degrees and minors in Criminal Justice, Geography, History, the Humanities, International Studies, Political Science, Pre-Law, Social Studies Education and Sociology, along with a broad array of required and elective general education courses.
Our academic programs empower students to explore their interests, express their ideas, and experience the pride of uncovering new knowledge.
The department strives to develop students into scholars, mentors, and responsible citizens of their community, state and country who make a positive difference in society through their involvement in their particular field in the social sciences.
Welcome to the Department of Social Sciences at Cameron University!
Ours is a community of faculty, staff, and student workers dedicated to excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service. We offer bachelor’s degree programs in Political Science, History, Criminal Justice, Sociology, and Social Studies Education, minors in Political Science, History, Geography, Pre-Law, Sociology, Criminal Justice, and the Humanities, and a broad array of required and elective general education courses.
We believe passionately in the importance of our general education classes, and in the study of our academic disciplines. They prepare students to make sense of the modern world, train them to recognize questionable scientific claims, unfounded political assertions, the impact of intolerant or inaccurate world views, and help them place current events in a larger historical context. We vigorously promote the development of strong reading, writing, study, and critical thinking skills, and do so in small classes which promote strong professional relationships between our faculty and students. And, because we combine classroom learning with the opportunity for internships and off-campus educational experiences, and because our faculty combine practical experience with formal academic training, we feel confident that ours is an educational environment in which students can prepare for whatever career they choose after graduation. The proof of that statement lies in the success of our graduates. Over the years they have become teachers, graduate students, lawyers, military officers, law enforcement professionals, professors, lawyers, social workers, and leaders in business, and many have let us know that the broad education they completed through the Department of Social Sciences at Cameron was critical to their success. They left the university more broadly informed about the human experience, and with enhanced analytical skills that have allowed them to confidently face professional, educational, and personal challenges throughout their lives.
We see teaching, scholarship, and service as interrelated, and therefore strive collectively to demonstrate excellence across the entire spectrum of professional academic achievement. Our faculty have won teaching awards, published a wide array of books and articles, presented papers at countless conferences, sponsored workshops and seminars, conducted guest lectures and public presentations, supported undergraduate research, sponsored local, regional, and national trips for students to conduct research, deliver presentations at conferences, and visit historic sites, and served in myriad administrative, special purpose, and governance capacities on campus, throughout Oklahoma, and across the nation.
We seek, above all else, to disseminate knowledge, to inspire research and service, and to serve our students with distinction.
If those are the attributes you seek in an academic department, or if you have questions about what we do or who we are, then we invite you to contact us at your convenience. We would be happy to discuss the prospect of your joining us!
Sincerely,
Lance Janda, Ph.D., Chair
Department of Social Sciences
