Opportunities/Support for Graduate Students


Financial Support and Travel Funds

  • The Department of Sociology attempts to provide financial support to as many students as possible by awarding graduate assistantships (click here) to its most qualified students. Graduate assistants gain valuable experience by working with faculty on teaching and/or research projects.
  • The Department provides some travel funds for students who present papers at professional meetings. In addition, students can apply for travel funds through the University of Memphis Graduate Student Association and through the Donovan Travel Enrichment Fund.

Teaching and Professional Development/Enrichment

  • Some of our more advanced graduate students have an opportunity to teach their own introductory sociology courses. Students who have 18 hours of coursework and who have taken SOCI 7210 (Theory Seminar) may be considered for a teaching assistantship.
  • We offer a professional development course every semester that covers such topics as publishing, submitting grant proposals, developing good teaching skills, reading papers at professional meetings, preparing resumes and vitas, applying for non-academic jobs, and applying to doctoral programs. The course is required of all graduate assistants, but students who are not on assistantships are welcome to attend.
  • The Department of Sociology sponsors a Research Colloquium Series. Well-known scholars, departmental faculty, and our own graduate students present as part of the Series.
  • The Department encourages students to present their research as part of the Research Colloquium Series and at professional meetings. In recent years, our students have presented at such regional and national associations as the Southern Sociological Society, the Association for the Sociology of Religion, the Pacific Sociological Association, the Southwestern Social Science Association, the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, the First Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the Association of Black Sociologists. Click Graduate Student Accomplishments for a list of student publications, presentations, and honors.

Support for Thesis and Other Student Research

  • To carry out thesis projects, students may need financial assistance to cover the costs of such things as supplies, printing, and data sets. The Department makes every attempt to provide financial support for these projects.
  • The University of Memphis is a member of the Inter-University Consortium on Political and Social Research (ICPSR). This membership gives students ready access to a wide range of data sets that can be used for thesis and independent research projects.
  • Students have access to two large computer labs and a wide array of current software programs.

Student Paper Competition

  • Every year we have a graduate student paper competition. The winner receives $200.



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