The Luther College Department of Sociology recently announced the addition of a Criminology track to its major. The track was added in an effort to make criminology a more visible aspect of the sociology program and to recruit more current and incoming students to the major.
Professor of Sociology Char Kunkel explained that Luther has been offering criminology classes for 30 years without having a formalized criminology program or track. All of the courses required for the track are already being taught, but the addition of the track will make the student’s specialization more visible by including it as the second line on their transcript under their sociology major.
In addition to the courses required for the major, interested students will take three sociology courses focused on criminology — SOC-248 (Friend or Foe? Policing in the 21st Century); SOC-253 (Crime and Deviance); and SOC-345 (Constructs of Race and Racialization). Kunkel pointed to results from a 2023 program review and the struggles of staffing the program over the past five or six years as factors that led to the development of the track.
“As a program, we were trying to figure out ways to strengthen the program and increase enrollment,” Kunkel said. “The current administration, both the Associate Provost Robin Currey and Provost Brad Chamberlain, said ‘let’s do this.’ We got permission to pursue it, so we drafted a program, researched what’s happening at other institutions and proposed a track.”
As part of the review process, the full Luther faculty reviewed the drafted track and voted to endorse it. Kunkel intends for the track to more visibly prepare students for careers in criminal justice, law enforcement, investigation, counseling and social work and has noticed a consistent level of interest among sociology students.
“We have always had about a third of the students interested in sociology leaning towards criminal justice,” Kunkel said. “That’s what’s in young people’s consciousness. I think it will hopefully create renewed interest here. We’ve always graduated students who want this as a career, but now it can be more visible.”
Sociology major Justin Maas-Espinoza (‘25) is set to be the first student to complete the track. He explained his excitement at the opportunity.
“I was always interested in taking criminology even before I came to Luther, but when I learned that there wasn’t criminology here, I went for the next best thing, which is sociology,” Maas-Espinoza said. “I am interested in social structures and learning about issues related to systemic and social injustice.”
Students outside the sociology program have a similar level of interest. Social Work major Kaija Rice (‘25) expressed interest in the track and wished it was an opportunity earlier.
“If there was a criminology track when I was a freshman, I would have considered going that route along with social work,” Rice said.
In addition to the recruitment and enrollment factors that motivated the creation of the track, Kunkel also acknowledged the current events and public focus that influenced the decision to create the track.
“I think it’s a critical time for us to be offering this,” Kunkel said. “Since George Floyd’s murder, there’s great interest in what a just police force would look like. I think we have the momentum to make that kind of change.”
Kunkel will be teaching the course SOC-345 Constructs of Race and Racialization in the fall 2024 semester.
