The Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš started to operate on the 1 November 1971, as one of the initial seven academic study programmes available at the newly founded institution. The first generation of students enrolled themselves in the study programme named sociology of culture and education, while the following generations studied the programme dedicated to sociology in general.
The Department of Sociology studies started off with three associate professors (Miodrag Cekić, Đuro Šušnjić and Gligorije Zaječaranović) and two teaching assistants (Ljubiša Mitrović and Veselin Ilić). In the Department’s early years, a great number of notable Yugoslav sociologists and philosophers participated in the programme.
In early 2018, the Department staff includes: Ljubiša Mitrović, professor emeritus, Natalija Jovanović, full professor, Branislav Stevanović, full professor, Dragana Zaharijevski, full professor, Danijela Gavrilović, full professor, Jasmina Petrović, full professor, Gorana Đorić, associate professor, Dragan Todorović, associate professor, Suzana Marković Кrstić, associate professor, Gordana Stojić, assistant professor, Jelena Petković, assistant professor, Miloš Jovanović, assistant professor, Jelena Božilović, teaching assistant, Aleksandra Nikolajević, teaching assistant, Nina Pavlović, teaching assistant, Nenad Stanojević, junior researcher.
So far, the following professors have been the Heads of Department: Miodrag Cekić, Milan Damjanović, Jovan Ćirić, Gligorije Zaječaranović, Miomir Ivković, Momčilo Stojković, Dragan Žunic, Veselin Ilić, Ljubinko Milosavljević, Vjekoslav Butigan, Nikola Božilović, Miomir Naumović, Dragana Stjepanović-Zaharijevski and Branislav Stevanović (the current Head).
The Department of Sociology is further divided into two units: one for general sociology and the other for specific branches of sociology.
The Department of Sociology has successfully licenced sociology study programmes for the BA studies (4 years), the MA studies (1 year), and the PhD studies (3 years). As for the undergraduate and graduate studies, all the courses are one-semester courses, with a great number of electives, which enable students to shape their education the way they want to. When it comes to the PhD studies, along with the compulsory subjects from general sociology disciplines, students choose courses from the offered specific branches of sociology and specialized subjects that lead them towards finalizing their PhD dissertations.
All the research activities are done within the Centre for Sociological Research (founded in 1982 as the Research). The members of the Centre all come from the Department of Sociology, while different consultants, both domestic and foreign, participate in their research activities.
The Heads of the Centre for Sociological Research have so far been professors Ljubiša Mitrović, Miomir Ivković, Dragan Žunić and Dragana Stjepanović-Zaharijevski (the current Head).
The Centre carries out scientific research projects, organizes scientific conferences and publishes scientific publications. The realization of one of Centre’s main projects, “Tradition, modernization and national identities in Serbia and the Balkans in the process of European integration” (179074), headed by Ljubiša Mitrović and financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia, is in progress.
When it comes to publishing, the Department of Sociology has been publishing monographs and textbooks, publications related to the projects of the Centre for Sociological Research, and the Sociology Annual journal.
The Sociology Annual has been in print since 2005 and it is fully available for free on the official website of the Faculty of Philosophy. The editors-in-chief have so far been professors Natalija Jovanović, Danijela Gavrilović, Branislav Stevanović, Gorana Đorić and Dragana Stjepanović-Zaharijevski (the present editor).