The University of Nevada, Reno College of Liberal Arts is pleased to announce the establishment of the Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis, formed through faculty-led consolidation of the Department of Sociology and the Department of Gender, Race, and Identity (GRI). Effective July 1, 2026, the new department brings together two of the College’s intellectually complementary units, creating a stronger, more sustainable home for empirical social science and critical cultural inquiry at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The merger reflects a long-recognized affinity between the two departments. Sociology and GRI share deep commitments to understanding social inequalities, the forces that produce and reproduce them, and the possibilities for transformation. The merger carries meaningful historical resonance: GRI was founded by Mary Stewart (1945-2021), a professor of sociology whose vision of interdisciplinary inquiry across gender, race, and identity helped define the intellectual character of both departments. The new department honors that lineage.

“After ten years as chair of the Department of Sociology, I can think of no more fitting culmination than for our department to join with Gender, Race, and Identity to create a stronger intellectual home for the study of social life, culture, and power," Foundation Professor of Sociology and outgoing Chair of Sociology Marta Elliot said. "Under the leadership of Drs. Lydia Huerta Moreno and Jared Bok, the Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis is exceptionally well positioned for the future. As someone who had the privilege of being mentored by Mary Stewart, I believe she would have been thrilled by this merger and by the ways it carries forward her vision of interdisciplinary scholarship across sociology and the study of gender, race, and identity.”

Faculty from both departments led the consolidation, and the proposal advanced through a faculty governance process with broad endorsement. The Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis will be formally established on July 1, 2026, under the leadership of Lydia Huerta Moreno (chair) and Jared Bok (associate chair).

“The faculty-led consolidation of our two departments presents an opportunity for us to learn from the growing volume and scope of unique talents, experience and knowledge brought to the table by our larger and more varied department. I anticipate that this mutual edification will inevitably strengthen the ways we teach students, increase the opportunities for collaboration, and expand the impact our work has within and beyond the University," Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis Associate Chair Jared Bok said.

Both departments have trained students to ask rigorous questions about race, gender, class, migration, health, labor, culture and power. The Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis unites these traditions, bringing together the systematic empirical study of social life with the intersectional, decolonial and humanistic methods that have distinguished GRI’s approach to identity and cultural politics. The new department also creates a more unified and visible institutional structure that better reflects the breadth of the scholarly community both departments have long served, and positions the department to advocate more effectively for faculty, students and resources.

“This merger is not a diminishment of either department’s identity. It is an investment in the durability and reach of the work we do. The Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis will be a place where rigorous social research and critical, decolonial scholarship inform one another and where students graduate equipped to understand and change the world they inherit,” Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis Chair Lydia Huerta Moreno said.

The Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis will house a robust array of degree programs, including undergraduate majors in gender, race and identity, sociology (both in person and online), social research analytics, secondary education and sociology (PackTeach), sociology/B.S.W. in social work dual degree, and minors in comparative ethnic studies, Indigenous studies, gender and queer studies, social justice and conflict studies, sociology (in person and online) and social research analytics. At the graduate level, the department will offer a master of arts in gender, race, and identity as well as in sociology. The department will also offer graduate certificates in cultural analysis and social justice, and social research analytics. Faculty whose work spans culture, gender, race, social class, health, migration, labor, sexualities, education and religion will find a shared intellectual community that preserves and strengthens the scholarly identities of both founding departments.

Together, the faculty and staff of the Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis, along with the College of Liberal Art's Dean's Office, carry forward a shared commitment to serving students across Nevada and beyond through rigorous and consequential scholarship that prepares graduates to understand the social world and contribute to its transformation.

“The creation of the Department of Sociology and Cultural Analysis reflects the very best of shared governance and faculty leadership,” College of Liberal Arts Dean Casilde A. Isabelli said. “By bringing together these two distinguished departments, we are building a stronger, more sustainable academic community in the humanities and social sciences that preserves their unique intellectual traditions while creating new opportunities for collaboration, innovation and student success."