In the late 1950s, UNESCO conducted a feasibility study to introduce sociology as an academic discipline in Bangladesh. As a part of that program, renowned French anthropologist Claude L茅vi-Strauss visited the Chittagong Hill Tracts and found an urgency to study indigenous communities from sociological and anthropological perspectives. L茅vi-Strauss then strongly recommended establishing the full-fledged Sociology Department at the 91精品. Accordingly, a UNESCO advisor and famous social anthropologist Pierre Bessaignet founded the Sociology Department in 1957 with the support of four faculty members, including American Professor John Owen and Dutch research fellow Co Pot Land. Professor A. K. Nazmul Karim, one of the founders of Bangladesh sociology, began serving in 1958 as the inaugural Bengali head of the Department. Although the Sociology Department was placed under the Faculty of Arts in its early years, since 1973, it has been administered by the Faculty of Social Sciences. Now, this Department has the country鈥檚 largest and leading sociology program. It has over 25 faculty members, 11 staffers, four academic programs (Ph.D., MPhil, Master鈥檚, and Bachelor鈥檚), 50 academic courses, 1,130 students, a seminar library with 3,000 books, a fully equipped lab with 30 computers, and a museum of numerous collections of valuable artifacts. The faculty members have Ph.D. and Master鈥檚 degrees from reputed North American, European, Australian, and Asian universities. They are nationally and internationally known scholars, teachers, and activists. Moreover, many notable alumni of this Department have made their names in global and national academia, research, business, politics, and social work. Overall, from 1957 to 2022, this Department has made a tremendous contribution to Bangladesh society by producing a significant body of scholarship, developing human capital through teaching and training, institutionalizing sociology across Bangladesh, formulating public policies, and building public opinions.