Global Connections: The Zhengzhou Jiefu Mutual Aid Center for Parents with Exceptional Children

One of the Sociology & Social Work Department’s partner organizations, the Zhengzhou Jiefu Mutual Aid Center for Parents with Exceptional Children (Jeifu), was featured in China Daily, the largest English language news outlet in China.

Sociology & Social Work Research Symposium 2022

On March 29th, the Sociology & Social Work Department hosted a research symposium, where five undergraduate researchers presented on collaborative work done with department faculty throughout the academic year and the preceding summer. Collaborative faculty-student research is a hallmark of a liberal arts education at Hope College, equipping students with skills and experience that will …

Breakthrough in East Garfield Park

The Chicago Semester program gave me the opportunity to grow professionally, academically and personally. The internship aspect was a critical step for me to gain confidence and experience before entering the workforce. I was blessed to have interned at an organization called Breakthrough, whose mission is to help those “affected by poverty to build connections, …

Borderlands May Term 2022

Have you been overwhelmed by recent news reports of refugees gathered on our southern border seeking asylum? Haitian citizens escaping the devastation from hurricanes and political upheaval camping under a bridge in Texas. Central American adolescents trying to escape the gang and drug recruitment. Do you want to “deepen your understanding of borders, migration, and social …

Spring 2022 Courses

Senior Seminar: Learning from the Margins (IDS 492-04) MW, 4:00-5:20 with Professor Rodrigo Serrao Did you know that around the world, many colleges and universities read and reproduce eurocentric ways of knowing that are considered universal knowledge? Did you also know that such epistemologies only represent a small fraction of knowledge production? Hence, this course …

Casual Conversations on Race

With the hopes to create an intimate, safe space for students, faculty, and staff to come together, have fellowship, learn, and discuss issues of race, Professor Rodrigo Serrao started a weekly event called Casual Conversations on Race at the Keppel House for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. The hour and a half, every Thursday …

Purity and Danger in Japanese Religion and Everyday Life

This semester, the Department of Sociology and Social Work is hosting Dr. Tom Gill as a visiting professor in the department, joining us from Meiji Gakuin University in Japan. Dr. Gill is a social anthropologist trained at the London School of Economics. His scholarship in Japan has focused on ethnographic studies of casual labor, homelessness, …

Summer Research 2021

The Department of Sociology & Social Work has a deep commitment to fostering collaborative research between faculty and students and this was on full display at the recent Hope College Summer Research Showcase. Summer is always a busy time for research—when students work closely with professors whose research programs align with their interests and goals—and …