Sociology


 

The Department of Sociology of Tarbiat Modares University is one of the first specialized scientific departments that started its activities immediately after the establishment of Tarbiat Modares University in 1982-3. The formation of this scientific department has been an attempt to develop and create the rationality of social science in Iran. The strategy of the sociology department is to institutionalize the sociology in Iran, and to work to attain scientific authority with an emphasis on inter-state studies; to improve social life through research on socio-political issues and to have an active presence in academic contexts of the world. In the early years of the establishment of the sociology department, many of the great Iranian sociologists were invited to teach at graduate and later in Ph.D. programs. In 1987, the department began admitting Ph.D. students of sociology and several years later, it became one of the few universities from which Ph.D. alumni graduated. From the middle of the 1990s, the first graduates of the sociology department served as the first full-time faculty members of the department. Dr. Hazeri, Dr. Saei and Dr. Shojaee Zand are among the first professors of this department. The Department of Sociology in addition to student education, has tried to institutionalize sociology in Iran. One of the most important achievements of the sociology department is the holding of the first specialized sociology seminar in the country with a focus on sociology and development. This department has also played a key role in the establishment of Sociology Association. Another valuable contribution of the sociology department concerns the recruitment of 90% of its graduates by the universities of the country during 2000s. Because of its competent faculty members, the Department of Sociology is now one of the best-known academic departments of Iran. It has also played a major role in the expansion of sociology in Iran by educating graduate and postgraduate students in the fields of theoretical sociology, political sociology and cultural sociology. The heads of the sociology department in a chronological order have been: Dr. Tavassoli, Dr. Tavakol, Dr. Azad, Dr. Chalabi, Dr. Hazeri, Dr. Mohseni, Dr. Shojaee Zand and Dr. Saee.