OVERVIEW AND HISTORY
The University of California at Irvine is home to one of the premier research groups in the expanding field of social networks. With faculty in Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Criminology, Law, and Society, Information and Computer Sciences, Statistics, Public Health, and the Graduate School of Management, UCI maintains a large and diverse community of network researchers with a wide range of substantive interests. The School of Social Sciences has had a Graduate Program in Social Networks for more than 30 years. With an active community and numerous opportunities for research collaborations, UCI is an ideal place to study social networks.
The Sociology Department is the hub of social network activity at UCI. We offer coherent graduate training in social networks, with a field specialization in social networks and a core curriculum covering theoretical foundations, methodological approaches, and substantive applications. Through the Center for Networks and Relational Analysis (http://lakshmi.calit2.uci.edu/cnrawe host the UCI Social Network Research Group weekly meetings /) where graduate students and faculty discuss their on-going research projects. Graduate training in the field is supported by faculty in several departments and the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences.
Current social network research by faculty and graduate students covers a wide array of substantive topics, including: organizational improvisation in response to disasters; socio-spatial features of networks; effects of economic and social transformations on social networks; social networks of immigrants; global city networks; on-line social networks; international trade networks; network affects on health behaviors; residential segregation; crime and gang networks; animal social networks; and neighborhood networks, to name a few. UCI was founding home to the flagship journal in the field, Social Networks. In recent years the social network group has hosted a number of events including the annual one-day Workshop on Social Network Analysis for UCI graduate students.
FACULTY
Nina Bandelj
economic sociology, organizations, culture, social networks, comparative sociology,
central and eastern Europe
Susan Brown, Professor Emerita
immigration, inequality, urban sociology
Carter Butts (Cluster Coordinator)
mathematical sociology, social networks, quantitative methodology, human judgment
and decision making, economic sociology
Katherine Faust, Professor Emerita
social networks, comparative structural analysis, research methods
Matt Huffman
race/gender inequality, labor markets, organizations
Andrew Noymer (Home Department: Population Health and Disease Prevention, Public Health)
population, social networks, mathematical models, demography of health & mortality,
historical demography
social networks, social psychology, criminology, health, adolescent development
David Smith
world systems analysis, urbanization, development, comparative-historical sociology,
dependent development in East Asia
David Snow, Distinguished Emeritus Professor
collective behavior and social movements, social psychology, urban, social problems, culture and qualitative methods
Judy Stepan-Norris, Professor Emerita
labor unions, sociology of work, political sociology, American society, research methods
OTHER SOCIOLOGY FACULTY WITH INTERESTS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS
William Batchelder (Cognitive Science)
John P. Boyd (Mathematical Behavioral Sciences)
Victoria Basolo (Urban and Regional Planning)
Jan Brueckner (Economics)
Michael Burton (Anthropology)
John Hipp (Criminology, Law, and Society)
Cynthia Lakon (Public Health)
Athina Markopoulou (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
Michael McBride (Economics)
Bonnie Nardi (Information and Computer Science)
Andrew Noymer (Public Health)
A. Kimball Romney (Mathematical Behavioral Sciences)
Karen Rook (Psychology and Social Behavior)
Padhraic Smyth (Information and Computer Science)
Brian Skyrms (Logic and Philosophy of Science)
Mark Steyvers (Cognitive Science)
George Tita (Criminology, Law, and Society)
Douglas White (Anthropology)
FIELD EXAMS & GRADUATE COURSES
The Department of Sociology offers a field specialization in social networks, including
a core curriculum leading to the field exam. Core courses are taught annually or biannually,
with additional electives available both inside and outside the department. Students interested in the Social Networks field exam should contact the cluster coordinator.
CORE COURSES IN SOCIAL NETWORKS
Soc 281 Introduction to Social Network Analysis
Soc 212 Network Theory
Soc 280 Analysis of Social Network Data
ADDITIONAL SOCIAL NETWORK SEMINARS IN SOCIOLOGY
Soc 279 Networks and Organizations
Soc 289 Networks and Information Transmission
Soc 289 Informant Accuracy