Since 1998, Tracy Burkett has been opening students’ eyes to the complexities of the political process and its impact on society at large. We caught up with her to find out why she went into sociology, to see what advice she gives today’s students and to learn which sociologist she thinks we should all know.

Charleston isn’t just manners, magnolias and mansions. It’s not just hospitality, hoopskirts and horse-drawn carriages. Once you get past the grits and the gardens, the sweet tea and the cobblestone streets, it’s way more than meets the eye. Except that it’s exactly what meets the eye. “It’s the stuff that’s hidden in plain sight –

The memory may be more than half a century old, but the emotion it conjures remains strong. Wandering into a Greenville, S.C., liquor store, a young Alex Sanders had the meeting of a lifetime with its famous proprietor: retired baseball great Shoeless Joe Jackson. Then again, perhaps it was in the nearby Bolt Drug Store

If you’ve ever considered buying a Brita water filter, professors Wendy Cory and Vijay Vulava will help push you into a purchase. The pair has spent the last few years studying our waterways – and, in turn, our drinking water, which are filled with trace amounts of pharmaceuticals. Every time you turn on the tap,

Some students find self-confidence at college. Some find that special someone to grow old with. Some find their life’s calling, their purpose, their direction. Thea Kozakis and Laura Stevens found a planet. The planet’s name is Derek, or, to be technical about it, kappa Andromedae b. It exists 170 light years away from Earth, within

They are two sides of the same coin. The yin and the yang. The very archetype of symbiosis. And, now more than ever, they depend on one another for survival. Yet, as clearly related as they might be, the public and the environment have long been approached as unrelated academic disciplines: policy vs. science, social