Departmental News (last updated: 8/25/05)
Faculty news / Graduate student news / Alumni: Where are they now?
Faculty News
Congratulations to doctoral program alumnus Steve Poulson on the publication of his book Social Movements in Twentieth Century Iran (Lexington Books) and on his new (Fall 06) tenure-track position at James Madison University.
Congratulations to Terry
Kershaw and Ellington Graves,
on The Harvest Foundation’s decision to
fund a joint project between UVA’s Cooper Center for Public Service,
and
Virginia Tech’s Center for Race and Social Policy. The project is for
$166,316
over three years to develop leadership and training for grassroots
individuals
and government officials from the Martinsville and Henry County area. Terry Kershaw
is the recipient of the University 2005
Graduate Alumni Advising Award. The award is given annually to
recognize
an individual who serves undergraduates in exemplary ways. The
award
comes with a cash prize, a plaque and membership in the University
Academy of
Advising Excellence.
The department had a
very good year in the CLAHS grant competition. The
selection committee for the CLAHS Faculty Research
Grant program
voted to name Toni
Calasanti as a Dean's Faculty Fellow. This honor comes with
a $10,000 research grant. In addition, Stacy Vogt Yuan, Ted Fuller,
Jim Hawdon, and Don Shoemaker
all received CLAHS research awards.
Jim
Hawdon
presented “Social Capital,
Social Control and Crime” as Invited Speaker at the
University of
Virginia Sociological Colloquium Series.
The
March 2005 issue of Journal of Health and Social Behavior (edited by Mike
Hughes) contains an article “Anger in Black and White: Race,
Alienation, and
Anger” co-authored by K. Jill Kiecolt
and VT alumnus J.
Beth Mabry.
The Spring 2005 issue of the Sociological Quarterly contains an article, “Sex Differences in School Performance During High School: Puzzling Patterns and Possible Explanations,” by Douglas B. Downey and our own Anastasia S. Vogt Yuan.
Michael Hughes was the keynote speaker for the 23rd "SEUSS" (South-Eastern Undergraduate Sociology Symposium), held on February 27-28, 2005 at Emory University.
Michael Hughes was also named VT Faculty Scholar of the Week, August 23-30, 2005; and has been elected to serve as Publications Chair-Elect for the Mental Health Section of ASA. Marlies Overbeeke and William Snizek published their article, “Websites and Corporate Culture: A Research Note,” in Business and Society, Vol. 44, 2005, 346-356.Toni Calasanti was named Faculty Scholar of the Week, August 30-Sept. 5, 2004, and submitted a proposal, “Gender Influences on the Caregiving Experience Over Time” to the National Alzheimer’s Association ($239,954) in December, 2004. She delivered a talk, "Can we grow 'old?': Ageism, Anti-Aging, and Successful Aging," at the March Research Forum, Virginia Tech Roanoke Center, March 4, 2005.
Also, Toni Calasanti will be editing a book series on Diversity and Aging for Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, from 2005-2009
Congratulations to Alan Bayer, for his edited issue of New Directions for Teaching and Learning Number 99, Fall, 2004, titled “Addressing Faculty and Student Classroom Improprieties.” Alan is co-editor and author and co-author of several contributions within the volume. Don Shoemaker and Jim Hawdon submitted their proposal, “Evaluation of Nonviolent Communication Training at Tekoa Boy’s Residential program,” to W.T. Grant Foundation ($43,668) in March, 2005.Graduate Student News
Michelle
McLeese has received 4 years doctoral assistantship funding for
work on an NSF
funded research project (under the direction of Deborah Tatar of the
Computer
Science Department) examining the effectiveness of SimCalc software in
teaching
math concepts to 7th graders. The study involves an
experiment with
144 7th grade math teachers in Texas, half in the control
(really, a
delayed-treatment group) and half in the experimental group. In
the 2005-2006
school year, the teachers in the experimental group will be
implementing a
three-week replacement unit with SimCalc and a curriculum (tied
to state
standards) the research team has created and piloted.
Michelle and another student, Meg Dickey, will have the chance to do in-depth case studies in at least two schools The current plan is to investigate classroom practices in relationship to (1) success with the intervention and (2) the SES standing of the students’ families (on average). They will look at teachers who are successful under different circumstances with this same intervention and compare their practices.
Libbey Bowen
was
selected was selected to receive a $10,000 AARP Scholarship for
2005-06
to help support her dissertation work health
disparities among racial and ethnic minorities in old age.
Peg
Wimmer received a Graduate Student Assembly Graduate Research
Development
Project research award ($265) to help support her thesis research.
Obaid
Al-Modaf (Ph.D. 2003) is a member of the
Sociology Department, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Michael Ayers, (BS, Sociology 1999, MS Sociology, 2001), has published a book he co-edited entitled Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice. This innovative work on political activism in cyber space, to be published by Routledge, analyses the connection between online activism and political action. Among other subjects, the book examines the role the Internet played in the "Battle of Seattle" demonstrations in 1999, in protests at recent Republican and Democratic conventions, and at George W. Bush's presidential inauguration. It also analyses how groups such as the Zapatistas use the Internet to promote their causes. Mike is currently a Ph.D. student at New School University.
Rosario Bello Barros (Ph.D. 1993) is director of "Progenero," a development organization in Chile.
Tannisha D. Bell, (MS 2000) and graduate of The Ohio State University Law School, has been appointed Assistant City Attorney, Prosecutor Division for the city of Columbus, Ohio.
Alexandra Butterfield (BS, 1997) is Coordinator of Multicultural Affairs at Christopher Newport University and was recently elected Administrator of the Year by the student body.
Russell
Harrison (Sociology,
1992) has been awarded his MBA with honors from the University of Tampa
and has been inducted into the Sigma Beta Delta National Honor Society.
J. Randolph Jessee (Sociology, 1969) is Director of News Systems at the New York Times.
Li Li
(Ph.D., Sociology, 1993) has been named
from among the college's 40,000 alumni, the 2002-2003
Outstanding Young Alumna for the College of Arts and Sciences.
In addition, she has been asked by Dean Chang to serve on the College
of Arts and Sciences Roundtable. Li Li is working for the UCLA Center
for Community Health as a Project Director. Her major project is an
international HIV/STD prevention trial (NIMH) involving six countries:
China, India, Peru, Russia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Brittain Mallow (Sociology, 1977) is Deputy Commander of the Army Criminal Investigations Command.
Nancy Gard McGehee, Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Assistant professor in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Virginia Tech, received the 2002 Travel and Tourism research Association Keeling Dissertation Award. This international award is given every three years for the best dissertation that focuses on the tourism industry during that period. Dr. McGehee received her MS and Ph.D. in sociology from Virginia Tech.
Sughrue
Mion, PLLC, a leading intellectual
property law firm with offices in Washington, DC, Silicon Valley and
Tokyo, has announced that Mr. Mark Woodall has been named an associate
in the Firm. Mr. Woodall’s practice is focused on legal issues
affecting electrical mechanical patent issues. He graduated from
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with a Bachelor of
Science in 1990 (Sociology), George Mason University School of Law in
1998 and George Mason University with a Bachelor of Science in
electrical engineering in 2001.
Brad
Nash (Ph.D., Sociology, 2000) has taken a
position as Assistant Professor of Sociology at Appalachian State
University.
Vassiliki
Petoussi (Ph.D. 1998) is Lecturer of
Sociology of Law and Deviance, University of Crete.
Daniel Phillips (Sociology, 1994) is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Program at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia Kentucky.
Stephen
Poulson (Ph.D., 2003) is Assistant
Professor of Sociology at Washington & Lee University. He recently
published an essay, "Shi'i Religious Culture and Social Movement
Strategies: Framing Collective Action in Iraq" in "Critical Mass" the
newsletter of the Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements
of the American Sociological Association.
Trina Seitz (Ph.D., 2001) is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Appalachian State University (2001 to present) has received a number of honors, including an Archie K. Davis Research Fellowship for 2004-2005 (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), to conduct research leading to publication of book on the history of the death penalty in North Carolina, 1909-1936; and she was nominated for student advisor of the year, 2002-2003, by the College of Arts & Sciences, and for the William C. Strickland Outstanding Young Faculty Award, 2002-2003. She has also published the following:
- "The Wounds of Savagery: Negro Primitivism, Gender Parity, and the Execution of Rosanna Lightner Phillips". Women & Criminal Justice,16 (no. 1 &2, 2005).
- "The Killing Chair: North Carolina’s Experiment In Civility and the Execution of Allen Foster". The North Carolina Historical Review, 81 (1), 1-35 (2004).
- "Machismo, Misogyny, and Homophobia in a Male Athletic Subculture: A Participant-Observation Study of Deviant Rituals in Collegiate Rugby". Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 25 (4), 303-327 (2004, with Kenneth Muir).
Leigh
M. Vaughan, Pharm.D. (BS, 1967) is Senior
Director, Medical Affairs Biovail Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Anna M. Zajicek (Sociology, 1995) has published, "Race Discourse and Antiracist Practices in a Local Women's Movement." Gender & Society, 16(6)2002: 155-174.