Julie Neufeld, BA in Sociology (2022)

My pathway to an undergraduate degree hasn't been a straight line from high school to my BA. As a mature student, I returned to KPU a few years ago determined to get a university degree but I had no idea what I wanted to do or what courses I wanted to take. I initially took a sociology course as a breadth elective and it changed the entire trajectory of undergraduate experience. I was already benefiting from the smaller class sizes and access to classes across different campuses, but the amazing and passionate professors in the sociology department were game changers for me. Having 1:1 access to our professors that not only know us by name, but actively engage with us, and are invested in our success in the classroom and beyond will forever be the foundation that I build upon as I look towards graduate school.

I have benefited from many professors in our department over the past few years and their support and encouragement have made my experience at KPU all the better. Dr. Yoshizawa seeks to inspire us to be endlessly curious about life and challenges us to reconsider social life in multiple ways for a fuller and more nuanced understanding. Dr. Mitchell fosters class environments that are brave spaces where we can engage in lively class discussions with him and our classmates and helps us wrestle with seemingly intangible concepts by using our sociological imaginations. Professor Ahluwalia pushes us to dig deeper in understanding feminisms, racism, and volunteerism so that we can bring new levels of analysis to our coursework and to our personal lives. Dr. Gatzeva is incredibly dedicated and passionate about her area of expertise and actively seeks to support our success in her class. Dr. Mirfakhraie lays bare how education can simultaneously be fraught with oppressive structures and strategies and also full of liberatory potential. Together the courses I took with them have been enriching and have provided me with an education and opportunities that have far exceeded what I imagined a few years ago when I embarked on this journey. I highly recommend KPU for the quality education that comes from having smaller class sizes and amazing professors, and beyond that I hope that every student has the opportunity to enroll in sociology courses because our department is truly an outstanding one.