The Department of Sociology, one of the oldest Post-Graduate Departments of Kumaun University, has been providing teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels since 1974 and research programmes since 1977. The Department of Sociology has been doing pioneering work in the field of teaching, research and extension activities meant for knowledge generation, knowledge sharing and knowledge dissemination. Major thrust areas of research are rural and urban sociology, gender studies, contemporary social problems, socio- economic and cultural changes among tribes and weaker sections of the society with special reference to Uttarakhand. Senior faculty members of the department are conducting major research projects on various contemporary issues, providing consultancy services to public and private sectors. The Department has been conducting seminars, workshops and refresher courses on contemporary issues. Special lectures by eminent scholars have also been organized from time to time. Few activities carried out during current session are as under:-

1. Refresher Course on Recent Trends of Globalization for Social Sciences from 27 August to 09 September 2019.
2. Special Lecture by Prof Aanand Kumar (Retd Professor of CSSS, JNU, New Delhi.)on 28 August, 2019.
3. Workshop on Research Methodology on 01 June, 2019. Theme Lectures were delivered by Prof Nilika Melhotra, CSSS, JNU, New Delhi and Prof Sukant Chowdhary, Deptt of Sociology, Lucknow University, Lucknow.
4. Special Lecture by Prof S.M. Patnayak, Honourable Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University, Bhubneshwar, Odisha on Recent Trends of Methodology in Social Sciences, on 01 June, 2019.
5. Workshop on Gender Responsive Budgeting sponsored by National Institute of Financial Management on 25/26 March, 2019.
6. Special Lecture by Prof Anand Kumar on 'Challenges of Nation Building' on 14 March, 2019.
7. National Webinar on Reverse Migration : Perspective Prospects and Challenges (With Special reference to Covid-19 on 19, June 2019)

The vision of the department is to impart students with the theoretical and substantive knowledge in order to make them grasp the nuances of social reality and participate as future academicians and sociologists.

The adopted tagline of the department is D³ : DEVELOPMENT with DIGNITY and DEDICATION.

Head of Department

Name : Dr. Archana Srivastava

Phone : 7983441308

Email : dr.archanasrivastava@yahoo.com

Dr. Archana Srivastava is currently Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, Kumaun University, Nainital. She completed her M.A. in Sociology at the Institute of Social Sciences, Agra University (now known as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University), Agra. She obtained her M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in Sociology from the Institute of Social Sciences, Agra University, Agra in 1994 and 1999 respectively. She started her career as Lecturer at the Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University), Agra and then taught as Lecturer at the postgraduate Department of Sociology, the Institute of Social Sciences, Agra University. Subsequently, she joined as Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Kumaun University, Nainital and became Professor there in 2016. Her main area of interest is feminist sociology. She has taught several courses, such as, sociology of development, Indian sociology, social demography, sociological thought, sociological theory and research. She has published book and about thirty five papers in reputed journals and chapter in books. She has participated and presented papers at over fifty national and international seminars/workshops/conferences. She has delivered invited lectures at different institutions and also chaired sessions in seminars. Currently, seven research scholars are pursuing their Ph.D. study under her supervision.

Course Offered : BA and MA Courses in Semester Mode and Ph D Course.