Jay Watterworth’s primary interest as a sociologist since coming to CU as a graduate student in 1994 has been in the area of deviance and criminal justice. As a returning student, he spent 20 years in the private sector starting and running a variety of businesses, traveling extensively and raising a family before completing his PhD. These experiences and the excellent education he has received provide him with a unique perspective from which to study society and relate the fruits of his labor to his students’ education.
Watterworth’s goal in the classroom is to provide his students with the intellectual competence to successfully address social problems they find in their lives. He believes the key to education is critical thinking and the key to life is applying one’s education and experiences in grappling with social problems that range from getting the person in the next room to turn their stereo down to bringing about world peace or an end to hunger. He also believes the study of sociology offers tools to examine and understand social problems; to devise and implement solutions; and to assess how well we’ve done.
Watterworrth currently teaches a variety of classes at CU and at Metro State in Denver including deviance, juvenile delinquency, social problems, critical thinking, social action through art, drugs in society and others. His other academic interests include public policy and law, domestic abuse, politics, media, agricultural/food policy, culture and the arts including contemporary expression, drug policy, documentary films and music.