Sociology

Professor of Sociology

University of Illinois at Urbana\Champaign

James P. Sikora had been Chair of the department for 16 years before he stepped down in 1995 to concentrate on community work. Community policing, the victim-offender reconciliation program, the United Way, Habitat for Humanity, and the community needs-assessment survey are just a few of the operations he has helped to start, steer, and seed with grant money. Bom in Chicago, Dr. Sikora served in the Marine Corps before completing his B.A. in Sociology at Southem Illinois University--Carbondale in 1968. Following completion of his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1972, he quickly established himself at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where his successes in administration and grant-writing led to a two-year stint managing and evaluating economic development projects for the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. Since coming to Illinois Wesleyan in 1979, Dr. Sikora has shaped the curriculum, faculty, and philosophy of the department. An esteemed teacher and advisor, Dr. Sikora is campus coordinator for the Chicago Urban Semester. His courses include Social Problems, Criminology, Juvenile Delinquency, and the popular May-term offering, Forgotten Subcultures.