SOUL stands for Sociology Opportunities for Undergraduate Leadership. The SOUL Program is the first department-level leadership program for first-generation college students at the University of Michigan. In Sociology, we recognize that first-generation college students at the University of Michigan face unusual social, academic, and financial challenges. But we also find that such students possess a unique set of qualifications and capabilities: curiosity, conscientiousness, persistence, risk-taking – in a word, grit. These are the characteristics of leaders. The Department of Sociology has created this program designed to cultivate and support our first-generation leaders in Sociology. Watch the video below to see what students have gotten out of the SOUL Program.
