The Sociology Senior Learning Community is composed of two courses:

1. SO 491 Senior Seminar (Summative Course)
2. SO 400 Senior Reflective Tutorial

In SO 400 Senior Reflective Tutorial, students simulate professional behavior and develop a sense of professional identity through an 8-hour-per-week experiential practicum at an off-campus organization or nonprofit agency. Students conduct a sociological and anthropological analysis of the goals, organization, processes, and other experiences of their agency, through written logs leading to a final paper, and through participation in a weekly seminar with their classmates and a professor at the college.

In SO 491 Senior Seminar, students draw on their acquired knowledge of the discipline to develop an independent research project. The topic is related to their agency practicum in the Senior Reflective Tutorial. Throughout the semester, students meet collectively to present reviews of published literature, make oral progress reports on their research, and peer-edit each other's drafts. The course culminates in a written “conference paper” presented orally at a department “conference.”