Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Sections
You are here: Home › Graduate › Programs › Sociology › The Family Specialization

The Family Specialization

Penn State offers the largest and most comprehensive family sociology program in the country and is home to some of the top scholars in the field. The department offers specialized training in related areas such as demography, child and adolescent development, race and ethnicity, stratification, and education. Faculty members are eager to work one-on-one with graduate students. Student to faculty ratio is about 2:1.

Penn State is the site of the National Symposium on Family Issues, a landmark event each year in the ongoing study of families. Two hundred scholars and policy experts attend the two-day symposium to consider a theme of multidisciplinary interest. Students are exposed to some of the most important issues in the field and become better scholars and practitioners by learning about the dimensions and complexity of problems facing families.

The Sociology Department guarantees five years of funding for students making satisfactory progress. The Department has a strong record of placing graduates in excellent academic and research positions. An engaged faculty placement committee helps students locate and prepare for jobs.

Graduate Courses

    • Biosocial Perspectives on the Family
    • Demography of the Life Course
    • Family Disorganization
    • Family Demography
    • Family Sociology
    • Human Fertility
    • Social Gerontology
    • Sociology of Aging

Program Faculty

Duane Alwin

Duane Alwin

  • McCourtney Professor of Sociology and Demography
  • Director, Life Course Center
dfa2@psu.edu

(814) 863-0438

Paul R. Amato

Paul Amato

  • Arnold and Bette Hoffman Professor of Family Sociology and Demography
pxa6@psu.edu

Alan Booth

Alan Booth

  • Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Human Development, and Demography
axb24@psu.edu

(814) 863-1141

David Eggebeen

  • Associate Professor of Human Development and Sociology
e5x@psu.edu

(814) 865-2655

Diane Felmlee

Diane Felmlee

  • Professor of Sociology
dhf12@psu.edu

(814) 863-5509

Michelle Frisco

Michelle Frisco

  • Associate Professor of Sociology and Demography
mlf112@psu.edu

(814) 863-5507

Melissa A. Hardy

Melissa Hardy

  • Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Demography
mah38@psu.edu

(814) 867-4337

Rukmalie Jaykody

  • Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
rxj9@psu.edu

David Johnson

David Johnson

  • Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Human Development and Family Studies
drj10@psu.edu

(814) 865-9564

Valarie King

Valarie King

  • Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Human Development & Family Studies
  • Director, Family Demography Training Program, Population Research Institute
vek1@psu.edu

(814) 863-8716

Nancy Landale

Nancy Landale

  • Liberal Arts Research Professor of Sociology and Demography
nsl3@psu.edu

(814) 863-8342

Molly Martin

Molly Martin

  • Associate Professor of Sociology & Demography
mam68@psu.edu

(814) 863-5508

R.S. Oropesa ("Sal")

R.S. Oropesa ("Sal")

  • Professor of Sociology & Demography
  • Director, Undergraduate Program in Sociology
rso1@psu.edu

(814) 865-1577

Tetyana Pudrovska

Tetyana Pudrovska

  • Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography
tup3@psu.edu

(814) 867-4336

Personal tools
Log in