Campus Collaboration as a Gateway to Public Sociology: A Guide For “Unmuzzling” Graduate Student Instructors

Abstract

Graduate students face obstacles when attempting to pursue public sociology in general, but specifically when they desire to utilize public sociology as both a research and teaching orientation that fully incorporates undergraduate students. Drawing on a two-year public sociology project on student financial security challenges, the author advocates for graduate students interested in public sociology to engage in campus collaborations, where connections between undergraduate students and campus partners are forged based on relevant campus resources easily accessible to graduate students. Based on the specifics of the author’s campus collaboration, six tips emerge for graduate students interested in replicating this approach to public sociology early in their careers. Gaining familiarity with conducting public sociology that fully incorporates undergraduate students in graduate school, a model that has been shown to benefit students, community partners, and sociology as a discipline, will prepare graduate student instructors to implement the model when they become faculty.