Ph.D Program

Beginning Fall 2023 

Applications for admission to the PhD program should be sent to the Graduate School at https://www.utep.edu/graduate/apply-now/apply-now.html. 

The final deadline for applications is March 15 but complete applications will be reviewed as they are received. 

The PhD in Sociology at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a unique and innovative doctoral program that draws on our distinctive location along the U.S.-Mexico border and focuses on the department’s outstanding expertise in migration, environment, and health.  The Ph.D. program specializes in the comparative study of national and social processes that connect and transcend the boundaries of the United States and Mexico, as well as other divided global societies. 

The faculty in UTEP’s Sociology & Anthropology Department have a strong record of publication and research in each of these fields.  Moreover, as an interdisciplinary department that contains Sociologist, Anthropologists, and Geographers, we provide training that goes beyond more narrowly focused Sociology departments.  Additionally, UTEP, with a majority Latinx student body, is on the cutting edge of filling the clear need for more Latinx scholars with Ph.Ds.

The department houses an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program in “Immigration and Border Community”, is a member of the Rocky Mountain Research Data Center Consortium, and houses the Socio-Environmental & Geospatial Analysis (SEGA) Lab which provides training in GIS.  It has established, world-leading experts on borders, spatial analysis, and political economy.  Its faculty have also won three Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards for excellent teaching and numerous outstanding book awards from national and international associations.

 UTEP Sociology Faculty by Specialty Area       

Three Concentrations: Borders and Mobility, Culture and Health, Environment and Society

Borders and mobility.  This concentration focuses on the broad social phenomena of human mobility, and the specific social context of geopolitical borders. Mobility includes movement of people of diverse social categories and varied spatial and temporal ranges; migration is an important subcategory of mobility. The concentration takes advantage of UTEP’s place at the U.S.-Mexico border, but is not restricted to that site. The concentration is allied with existing UTEP research units such as the Socio-Environmental and Geospatial Analysis Laboratory, the Center for Environmental Resources Management, Center for Law and Human Behavior and notably the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies. The latter unit is the foundational site for border studies, and has active research collaborations in Mexico, Canada, Chile, Spain, and Italy, as well as across the United States. Close collaboration with community organizations on both sides of the border is a notable asset of this concentration. Department faculty have a proven record of securing external funding from NSF, DHS, USDA, and other agencies to conduct research on topics such as bilingualism in the economy, child migrants, effects of deportation, transboundary water, and impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations (in the latter two instances, combining forces with the environment and the health concentrations).

Culture and health.  This concentration focuses on understanding how cultural and historical forces and social institutions affect individual and collective health behaviors and outcomes. Sociological theories, methods and research reveal how social conditions shape vulnerability and resilience to health conditions, medical training and practices, access to health resources, and experiences of seeking health care in relation to race, ethnicity, gender, (dis)abilities, socioeconomic status, and other markers of social status. The Culture and Health concentration utilizes a transdisciplinary approach to study these issues, allied with existing UTEP research programs such as the Border Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center, the Public Health and Nursing Programs, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Ph.D. program, the Department of Social Work, Border Biomedical Research Center, and Texas Tech Health Science Center-El Paso. Department faculty have a proven record of funded research from NSF, NIH, TxPEP and other funding sources to conduct research on topics such as immigration and reproductive health, differential access to health care, global health inequities, environmental injustice and health, gender-based violence, mothers with disabilities, major health threats to Hispanics and immigrants, fertility, and other issues.

 Environment and society. This concentration focuses on understanding how environmental processes affect and are shaped by social relations and practices. Sociological theories and methods examine the intersections of human and non-human environments in local and global contexts. We use a multidisciplinary approach to study the spatial and socio-demographic dimensions of environmental issues, allied with existing UTEP research units such as the Socio-Environmental and Geospatial Analysis Laboratory, Center for Environmental Resources Management, Center for Inter-American and Border Studies, NIH Building Scholars, and the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Environmental Science and Engineering. Department faculty have a proven record of securing external funding from the EPA, NSF, NIH, USDOT and other agencies to conduct research on topics such as environmental justice, border environments, food and water related inequalities, urban infrastructure, vulnerability to hazards and disasters, and other issues.

Admissions Standards

Applicants may apply to the program with either a bachelor's or master's degree in Sociology or in a cognate area of study in the social sciences.  Non-UTEP applicants will be evaluated in terms of UTEP standards but also vis-à-vis the specific program from which the student originates. The 61 credit curriculum (see below) is designed for students admitted with B.A. degrees. Students possessing M.A. or M.S. degrees obtained in related areas may be admitted to the program with graduate credit hours transferred and accepted in substitution for UTEP courses included in the required curriculum if they are deemed by the admission committee and the Graduate School to be equivalent to UTEP courses in the degree plan.  Applicants without a social science background may be admitted on the condition of additional course work to make up any training deficit. 

 Admission to the program requires:

• A letter of intent and research interests
• Three letters of recommendation, and
• A minimum GPA of 3.0 
• Transcripts and diploma/certificates of all universities and colleges attended prior to application
• TOEFL/IELTS if all degrees are conferred in non-English speaking countries

GRE results will be encouraged but not required. A writing sample will strengthen and help the admissions committee to evaluate your application.  Writing samples should be sent to SocPhd@utep.edu.

Applications for admission to the PhD program should be sent to the Graduate School at https://www.utep.edu/graduate/apply-now/apply-now.html. 

The final deadline for applications is March 15 but complete applications will be reviewed as they are received. 

  Degree Requirements

Semester Credit Hour Requirements by Category

Students in this program will engage in empirical research to produce new understandings of social processes impacting the world in a unique and highly dynamic context. Research will be conducted via one of the three concentrations that reflect the expertise of our faculty and the major social issues of our region: (1) Borders and Mobility; (2) Culture and Health; and (3) Environment and Society (described above). This tripartite structure maximizes the synergistic talents of a highly-productive faculty with a shared commitment to place-based research.

 The curriculum will begin with graduate-level class work and finish with independent research. Our curricular sequence and educational objectives will provide rigorous social science training and “real world” applications concerned with culture, borders, and transnational migration and their social, environmental and health manifestations. Each prescribed course and elective, as is standard in the field of sociology, will combine substantive learning and discovery with assignments that build on the research plans of the student.

The educational objectives of the 61 credit program are:

1. To provide all students a core knowledge base in Sociological processes;
2. To provide all students a core knowledge base in quantitative and qualitative Sociological research methods and the research conceptualization/implementation process;
3. To provide all students a core knowledge base in classical and contemporary Sociological theory;
4. To provide each student with education in one particular substantive area (borders, environment, or health) so they can bring those strengths and perspectives into the shared topical and conceptual core, and to prepare them for academic, governmental, or organizational jobs;
5. To provide students with educational flexibility via free electives at the doctoral level. This may include a practicum or other experience with applied work, leading to advanced professional capacity;
6. To require of the student an autonomous product of the most advanced level possible, an extended research project and then dissertation.
7. Graduate-level Language Training, preferably in the Spanish language.