News Archive
Summer fellows can have big payoff (read on...)
Animal Studies: Social Science & Humanities Perspectives Graduate Specialization (click here)
MSU Researchers Study Globalization with NSF Grant
By Andy McGlashen
10/23/08
MSU researchers have received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s program in Coupled Natural and Human Systems to study the effects of globalization on remote communities.
The researchers will conduct a five-year study of “globalization from the perspective of households,” said principal investigator Dan Kramer, an assistant professor jointly appointed by Fisheries and Wildlife and James Madison College.
Also working on the project are Andrea Allen, Anthropology; Aaron McCright, Lyman Briggs College and Sociology; Jiaguo Qi, Geography; and Gerald Urquhart, Lyman Briggs College. (read more)
Three committees: Science, Mitigation, and Adaptation to conduct a six million dollar study on "America's Climate Choices." Dr. Tom Dietz (below), along with Pam Matson, Dean of the School of Earth Sciences and member of the NAS, as chair.
The chairs and co-chairs of the committees will form a leadership group that will oversee the process. A summit will be held March 30, 31 and April 1, 2009. Given the change in administration, and that both Obama and McCain take climate change seriously, everyone is confident that this study will set the direction for climate research for the next decade and will have substantial influence on U.S. policy.
Consistent with MSU's approach to climate change, and reflecting the future direction of climate research, about one third of the panel will be social scientists, one third physical scientists and one third from ecology, engineering and other fields.
Dr. Tom Dietz photo by Kurt Stepnitz
(9/08) Sociology professor and crop and soil sciences and director of the university's Environmenetal Science and Policy Program, chaired the panel that discussed environmental issues.
Anything from cleaning up a polluted river to dealing with Superfund sites--public input, when handled correctly, can make the process smoother and lead to better outcomes, says a new report from a National Research Council panel that was chaired by Dr. Dietz.
But critics claim that including people with limited scientific knowledge can slow the process and lead to poor decisions. (read more)
More than 60 Funding Sources for International Dissertation Research and Writeups
***Deadlines for Important Awards***
RECENT PH.D.'S IN SOCIOLOGY
(August 11, 2008) The health of people who never marry is improving, narrowing the gap with their wedded counterparts, according to new research that suggests the practice of encouraging marriage to promote health may be misguided.
Hui Liu, assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University and lead researcher on the project, said sociologists since the 1970s have emphasized that marriage benefits health more so for men than for women.
“Married people are still healthier than unmarried people,” Liu said, “but the gap between the married and never-married is closing, especially for men.” (continued)
TEAM AWARD...
Professor Jualynne Dodson, Sociology faculty and Director of the African Atlantic Research Team, received a Sustained Effort Toward Excellence in Diversity award.
The team's mission is to ensure African American students, other racial ethnic students and those engaged in studies of people of African descent will have the needed specialized mentoring, advising and career information to become strong graduate students in programs that lead to achieving a doctorate.
The team, a mentoring collective and research group made up of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and community members, strives to help increase the number of American Indians, Chicanos and Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans who have successful academic careers.
NEW SOCIOLOGY MINOR EFFECTIVE FALL 2008 - This Fall 2008 the department will launch a new academic minor in Sociology.
The Academic Minor, which is administered by the Department of Sociology, provides a fundamental understanding of the linkages between agency and structure in society. Students obtain knowledge of the principles of sociology, sociological inquiry, diversity in society, and, the ways in which global forces are transforming modern society.
This academic minor is available as an elective to students who are enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs at Michigan State University other than the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology.
With the approval of the department and college that administer the student’s degree program, the courses that are used to satisfy the minor may also be used to satisfy the requirements for the bachelor’s degree.
Professor emeritus Christopher Sower passed away on May 30, 2007 at the age of 94. During WWII, he held various administrative positions in Red Cross offices throughout Europe. He joined MSU sociology department in 1946 and competed his dissertation on Adolescent Youth in Flint, MI from Ohio State in 1948. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Sri Lanka in 1955-56, conducting an evaluation study of the Rural Development Program. His last book, Formula for Change was published in 1994.
Thomas Lyson who received his doctorate in sociology at Michigan State University in 1976, passed away on December 28, 2006, in Ithaca, N.Y., at the age of 58. Dr. Lyson was an Endowed Chair at Cornell, a sociologist who studied rural towns and small farms. He was noted for what he felt was globalized agricultural production and its withering influence on independent family farms. He also argued in favor of rural community schools that should not be consolidated with suburban schools; keeping open the need to educate rural children where they live. Many of is ideas are explored in the book "Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food and Community" (2004).
Tom Dietz (PI) and Christopher Oliver were awarded a National Science Foundation (Science and Society) grant to study the consequences of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) pollution in various locations throughout the US. More...
Jualynne Dodson, professor of Sociology, African American and African Studies graduate program and director of the African Atlantic Research Team, was helped to research and develop the international touring exhibition, "Lest We Forget: The Triumph Over Slavery," currently at the MSU museum through March 2007. More...
Lori Baralt has been awarded the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Human Ecology in Bar Harbor, Maine, for her excellent service to Human Ecology Review.
Erin Heyboer, a sociology major undergraduate was awarded a Dean’s Fellowship this year to study the ways people present themselves on the Internet. Along with Toby A. Ten Eyck, Erin is studying the presentation of the self on Facebook.com, DateMyPet.com, and WetCanvas.com.
Nan Johnson has just been elected Secretary-Treasurer for the Sociology of Population section of the ASA. During her tenure,she will be publishing a newsletter for this ASA section and she is interested in hearing about recent achievements to publish in this newsletter and possible topic suggestions.
Rachael Shwom, Lori Baralt, and David Bidwell recently presented papers at the 14th International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology. More...
The department would like to thank everyone who attended this year's Sociology Department Picnic! Pictures and more...
Khalida Zaki, Conference Chair, thanks all who generously supported the March 17-18 conference on Islam and Gender: Social Change and Diversity in Muslim Communities. More...
Brendan Mullan is one of six individuals from MSU named as Committee on Institutional Cooperation Academic Leadership Program (CIC-ALP) fellows for 2006-2007. More...
Congratulations to Jason Konefal and Elisha Marr! Both have received the Dissertation Completion Fellowship for Fall 2006. The award is in the amount of $6,000.00.
Women and International Development is pleased to introduce Carmen Bain as new WID Assistant Director and Coordinator of the Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change (GJEC) graduate specialization program. Carmen is an ABD Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Sociology with a Graduate Specialization in Ethics and Development. More...
ESPP is pleased to announce that Rachael Shwom has been selected to participate in the National Academies Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences. More...
Sad News
Kimberly Rosario Perez, MSU Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and African Studies, died in a vehicle accident in Accra, Ghana,on August 14. Kim was in Ghana on a short break from her intensive research in Kano in northern Nigeria. More...
2005-2006 Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges
More...
The Senior Class Council has awarded sociology professor, Jualynne Dodson, the Oustanding Faculty Award for the 2005-2006 year.
REMEMBERING KIMBERLY ROSARIO PEREZ
Kimberly Rosario Perez, MSU Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and African Studies, died in a vehicle accident in Accra, Ghana, on August 14. Kim was in Ghana on a short break from her intensive research in Kano in northern Nigeria.
She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alberto and Estrella Perez and is survived by two brothers, Kenneth Perez and Kevin Perez. She was 30.
After completing her BA at University of California-Santa Cruz, Kim served in the Peace Corps in Phokoane, South Africa, north of Johannesburg, on HIV/AIDS awareness and community development. She then completed an M.A. in Public Diplomacy and International Affairs at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston - and in 2003 enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Michigan State.
In 2005, she completed all requirements of the Ph.D. in Sociology except for her dissertation -- completing her comprehensive exams faster than any of my graduate students that I can remember. After receiving several Title VI African Language and Area Studies Fellowships and reaching advanced proficiency in Hausa language, in a national competition in 2005 she was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education. In 2006, the U.S. National Science Foundation granted her a Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Award in Sociology.
Since January 2006, Kim has been living in Kano, Nigeria where she was consulting with faculty at Bayero University and conducting field research on "Decentralization and Representation in Nigerian Local Government: Bridging Ethnic, Religious, and Gender Cleavages in Kaduna, Nigeria," a topic she had developed at MSU from her extended travels in West Africa in 2004-05.
In Accra, visiting on holiday, Kim was riding a "passenger lorry" near the center of the city. The driver swerved to avoid a vendor's pushcart in the road, and the vehicle flipped over. The vendor was hit and killed, and Kim also died immediately. Several other passengers were badly injured, and she and they were rushed to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the premier national referral hospital in Ghana.
The funeral or memorial service for Kim was held in San Diego, CA where her family lives on Saturday, September 2, 2006.
We have created a memorial website with photos, remembrances, and documents to help us to remember her and her truly unique and wonderful 30 years of life - as well as the loss that we have experienced in this last year. You can see it at: www.africa.msu.edu/kimperez - and you can send your own memories and photographs for us to add to the website.
Our hearts go out to Kim's family and all who knew this very intelligent, creative, venturesome, courageous, and industrious woman. She was one of the good people, making many contributions to the human community during her too few years among us. We have been enriched by Kim's presence, and we are lessened by her absence. We shall miss her very much and hold dearly to our memories of her.
Condolences
If you wish to send condolences to the family, you can reach them at: Kim's brother: "Kenneth Perez" <atzin@earthlink.net>; Kim's parents: Mr. and Mrs. Alberto and Estrella Perez, 4286 Del Sol Court, San Diego, CA 92154.
Congratulations to Juan Jose Bustamante who recently received the "American Sociological Association's Travel Award Grant (SES-0548370) supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to present a paper in the International Sociological Association XVIth World Congress of Sociology in Durban, South Africa July 23-29, 2006!
Alex Dovlatov, Rachael Shwom and Colleen Wilson, along with Professor Brendan Mullan, have co-authored two papers which will be presented at the upcoming ASA Meetings in Montreal. More...
Alejandro Gradilla, Laurel Hilliker, Elisha Marr and Gabriela Saenz have been awarded 2006 Summer Retention Fellowships.
University of New Orleans faculty Valerie Gunter and Thomas Andersen will be visiting professors in the Department of Sociology during spring semester 2006.
Steve Gold, Assoc. Chair and Graduate Program Coordinator, recently gave a talk entitled "Contemporary Topics in the Study of International Migration." at the Program for Research on Black Americans of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan .
Sociology professor Carl Taylor has been appointed to Mayor Virg Bernero's Transition Task Force team as the Vice Chair for Public Safety and Homeland Security. More...
Sociology professor Sabrina McCormick has been selected as a Fellow of the United Nations Global Environmental Outlook Project (GEO). More...
Fourteen of our department's students, both graduate and undergraduate, were recognized on March 30th with a reception in honor of their induction into the prestigious honor society Alpha Kappa Delta. More...
Alan Rudy has accepted a faculty position in the Department of Sociology at Central Michigan University.
Amy Fitzgerald has accepted a faculty position in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Windsor.
Zhenmei Zhang accepts position as assistant professor in the Department of Sociology.
Stephanie Nawyn accepts position as assistant professor in the Department of Sociology.
Maryhelen D'Ottavi accepts position as assistant professor in the Department of Sociology.
Daniel Jaffee accepts position as assistant professor in the Department of Sociology.
