IMAGINE.
SOCIOLOGY NEWS VOLUME 9 . ISSUE 1. FALL 2014 DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
“BEFORE YOU ARE THROUGH WITH ANY PIECE OF WORK, NO MATTER HOW INDIRECTLY ON OCCASION, ORIENT IT TO THE CENTRAL & CONTINUING TASK OF UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE AND THE DRIFT, THE SHAPING & THE MEANINGS, OF YOUR OWN PERIOD, THE TERRIBLE & MAGNIFICENT WORLD OF HUMAN SOCIETY.” - from THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION by C.W. MILLS
CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUT
2014-2015 GRADUATE COHORT TUESDAY BARNES MELISSA BROWN PHILIP COHEN MILTON COSTEN III JONATHAN COX MARCEL DAVELOUIS SONALDE DESAI DANA FISHER MOLLIE GREENBERG EOWNA YOUNG HARRIS WENDY LAYBOURN HSIANG-YUAN HO ANGIE O’BRIEN JOANNA PEPIN MAREK POSARD SARA RALEY ROBERT REYNOSO GORDON RINDERKNECHT GEORGE RITZER GHEDA TEMSAH JOSEPH WAGGLE MEGAN WILHELM MORIAH WILLOW
Robert Reynoso & Megan Wilhelm
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS The Fall 2014 semester has been bright with change and growth for the Sociology Department at the University of Maryland. This semester brought the addition of another wonderful cohort of PhD students whose keen insights and curiosity are only overshadowed by their amicable down-to-earth nature. The GSF is now coled by the awesome Jessica Peña and Moriah Willow, who bring new energy and students. There have also been exciting changes in our faculty with the arrival of Dr. Andrés Villarreal and Dr. Wei-hsin Yu. We also welcome Milton Costen III as the new Graduate Program Coordinator and Dr. Liana Sayer in her newly minted role as Graduate Director. We celebrate the irreplaceable Karina Havrilla in her new position as Academic and Administrative Coordinator for the department and send well wishes to the always-pleasant and helpful Jessica Lee, as she leaves Many thanks go to our contributors, whose stories we are excited to share with you. In this issue, look for a host of insights from our students on their favorite places to spend their working and non-working hours as well as their experiences on how to maximize your professional social media presence using Twitter. Don’t miss an interview with Dr. Dana Fisher on her history and dynamic work, as written by Joseph Waggle, PhD candidate and former Imagine editor. This issue also highlights some of the wonderful work put forth by our own Mollie Greenberg, a second year graduate student. You can discover one of the Sociology Department’s inspiring undergraduates, Marcel Davelouis, and learn about Dr. Philip Cohen’s editorship of the American Sociological Association’s Contexts, another exciting development in the department this semester. Get to
know Milton Costen III who has taken up the mantle as the Graduate Program an update from one of our alumni, Dr. Sara Raley. Warm wishes to all in this New Year, Robert Reynoso & Megan Wilhelm rreynoso@umd.edu wilhelmm@umd.edu
Megan Wilhelm
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: MILTON COSTEN III Was there any reason in particular that you chose the Sociology Department? Was it that the job came up or did you have a particular interest? come up. Two, in choosing which department to work in, I do have a particular interest in sociology, particularly demography [and] racial inequality. So those things are interests of mine, which since I’m here now can grow and blossom. [Also,] in my This December, the department welcomed relationship with Karina as the [former] coMilton Costen III as our new Graduate Pro- ordinator here, the department seems to gram Coordinator. He graciously agreed to have a really good reputation for having participate in an interview with me during his be a good transition. What brought you to this line of work? I guess I have always had higher ed career intentions. Ultimately, my career focus is to What brings you to the department? be on the faculty side of things, so eventhe Graduate School doing graduate clear- tually I will get my PhD, but right now I’m ance for graduate students. Primarily, that deals with records, registration issues, special exception policies, and for gradu- that’s what my Masters is going to be in: ate students, making sure that dissertation requirements [or] formatting issues are all [from UMUC]. I thought it might be good, set, and making sure that you get your di- in regards to educational background, to ploma and get out of here! I assisted the be able to bring the connections for gradgraduate coordinators of over 60 programs. I worked with the department liaisons, the course with the ASA and all those things, department coordinators, so it was sort of to strengthen those opportunities. So we’ll a natural progression to specialize in one see what happens as time goes by. department. member!
Are you and your family from Maryland with? originally? All of them have been educational institu- Actually, I am from the Washington D.C tions, not [all] at the higher ed level. UMD area and Maryland because I’ve lived in the higher ed academia. Connected with sociology, my immediate position before coming here was with an organization called Phillips Programs. They support the educational, family, [and] social development of students with disabilities, primarily emotional disabilities, but there are also students who are on the autism spectrum and so on. Supporting them, they had two schools, which ranged from elementary on to secondary. They also had social work departments, such as foster care. Other-
Maryland as home, I also claim North Carolina because I spent junior high school, in North Carolina. We have some alumni in the department from UNC—Chapel Hill, grad degree. So now I’m back in the area -
gree”—are there more? I have an undergraduate degree in English from UNC, and when I came back after working for a while, I decided to go back for a music degree. That’s another side of me: performing arts. I got that degree and then a couple years later I started here.
called Community Systems, and they work with adults with emotional disabilities, but most of them have developmental disabilities and [they] also [work with] people with brain injuries. There are a number of things in the mix and really could be connected to I’d love to hear more about this performthe work that you guys are doing here. ing arts side! So, you’re working full-time and going mary areas are, of course, classical and orto classes. How does that work? chestral, but also jazz and gospel. I’m also It’s a juggle. I also have a pretty large fam- vocalist, so I’ve worked with choirs and orily. I have three children, a wife, and anoth- chestras. I also do a bit of composing and arranging and songwriting. Everybody in my family is pretty musical. to get it all done.
Point. It’s actually still there. My dad’s North Carolina. We still do sailing and taking trips and doing those things. I love What are you up to currently? to kayak, and I live close to the Potomac of slowed down with the performing a lot, River near Fort Washington, MD, so I have and with school, my practice time has gone easy access to the water. Now I just have
Robert Rinderknecht
UNDERGRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: MARCEL DAVELOUIS
(www.jubalsmusic.org), and from there boat! What are you most hoping to accomplish during your time here with the Sociology Department? Anything that will cause the department to grow. I am under the direction of our graduate director, so [I hope] to support and information. her and make her job easier in any way I haven’t decided on what I want to get possible. I have the technical background my PhD in, but one of the things I want to as far as the processes for the Graduate or services and also a teaching studio for students. Again, I’ve slowed down and put everything on hold for a second, but my website is still up and there are YouTube
or used as an expression of freedom in several social movements. You can pick the Civil Rights Movement or Apartheid in South Africa or anything that’s currently going on in the world and [ask] how has music been a conduit for the expression of freedom? For example, spirituals, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” you know, [there are] double-meanings there. Once I have more time to sort of dive into those interests, I want to connect the music piece with some type of social issue.
Marcel Davelouis is currently a sophomore at the University of have strongly shaped his interests and aspirations. Here’s his story: Why did you decide to attend the University of Maryland? It is an interesting story. Even though I come from Peru I was always well aware that the University of Maryland--College Park was a great school. However, that was not exactly the reason that brought me here. I was living with my wife in Massachusetts while she served for two years as an AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer and subsequently entered and graduated from law school. The original plan was to stay in Massachusetts
assist with those.
Outside of that, [I hope to be] a person that helps with the strategic planning for the department. As they come up with strategic goals, how can I facilitate or administrate those goals or make connections for those things. That is one of the things I’m really interested in doing, and hopefully by the time my time here is done, if that be the case, we should see growth and development of the program and taking things out of the visionary realm and making them a part of Apart from performing and practicing, operational protocols for the department. what’s your favorite thing to do outside of work and classes? Well, we love water. Actually, growing up in Megan is a 2nd Year Graduate Student. D.C., maybe up until kindergarten, we lived
couple of them. Soon I learned that I had been accepted at George Washington University and at the University of Maryland--College Park. Moreover, I also learned that I had been awarded substantial merit scholarships at both schools. This was the time when I remembered something that I read during my school research about the importance of reciprocity in school selection. As much as it is important for you to be enthusiastic about a particular school, it is perhaps more important to consider how enthusiastic, if at all, the school really is about having you. Maryland consistently showed that they cared about me well as the design department professors and advisors that helped me throughout the
What led you to major in sociology? I am a double major in sociology and in studio art with a concentration in graphic design.
of advertising and marketing. Nonetheless, the more I study sociology, the more I realize that I have always been interested in the reasons behind social mobility and power elites and how the social apparatus works overall. My experience growing up in Lima, Peru, during the time of the civil war between terrorist groups and the military, served as an early introduction into the universe of severely dislocated societies. Despite the fact that I didn’t understand how inequality worked back then, I was aware that family, wealth, power, race, and status often determined people’s chances in life. At that point, I noticed that something had gone very wrong I became the only member of my family to immigrate to the U.S. This really triggered my passion for understanding the forces at the core of my decision to leave my home country as well as the complexities within my new host society. What brought you to the Group Processes Lab? During my time at the University of Maryland, I have found that my knowledge in sociology fosters a more complex understanding of the issues for which I am developing visual communication at the design department. This realization became more evident when I took Dr. Lucas’ class in social psychology (SOCY230). I decided to meet with my design psychology at the University of Maryland—and I asked her about research opportunities in the discipline. She was very excited about my interest in such opportunities and told me to discuss the matter with Dr. Lucas. So, I did. Dr. Lucas told me about his projects with the Lab, how it worked, what the requirements were to be selected for it (which included obtaining a letter grade of A in his class) and clever and highly motivated individuals, and almost immediately I knew I wanted to be part of it. I think the Group Processes Lab is a great opportunity for enthusiastic and inspired undergraduate students. This opportunity goes far beyond expanding
and dedicated intellectuals that take pride in what they do. It is certainly an utmost inspiring atmosphere. I am honored and thankful to Dr. Lucas for selecting me for this exceptional opportunity.
What valuable knowledge have you gained from sociology? I guess one of the most important aspects of my learning process is to be aware of our natural tendency to overestimate dispositional attributions over situational ones. Or in other words, our inclination to explain behavior by making assumptions over personal character instead of considering the situational factors that may have triggered such conduct. This is the fundamental attribution error. I feel like people would be a lot more tolerant and perhaps even less prejudiced toward each other if they genuinely made an
What are your plans after graduation? I plan on starting my own consulting company. Mainly oriented to image and brand support social design in local communities and, if possible, in Peru. Gordon is a 2nd Year Graduate Student.
NOTES FROM FACULTY & STUDENTS the responses to our call for news and noteworthy events from the past semester: Dr. Sonalde Desai and Dr. Gheda Temsah published an article in Demography: Desai, Sonalde, and Gheda Temsah. 2014. “Muslim and Hindu Women’s Public and Demography 51(6):2307-2332. Dr. George Ritzer writes that he: • World Service’s Forum program on “uniformity” • The 8th edition of the McDonaldization of Society has just been published with a 2015 pub date • Published two articles on prosumption (Sociological Forum, Journal of Consumer Culture) with another major piece on prosumer capitalism forthcoming in Sociological Quarterly • Gave a featured public lecture at the “Futura Festival” Civitanova Marche, Italy, July, 31, 2014 • Gave the keynote address at the Academy of International Hospitality Research Conference, Stenden University, Netherlands, November 26, 2014
Melissa Brown
A GUIDE TO MAXIMIZING YOUR PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE: TWITTER Melissa developed an interest in social media during her ny in Georgia. She also spent the summer as the social media coordinator for UMD Dining Services. In addition this year she built our own Critical Race Initiative’s (CRI) social media accounts from the ground up and is helping CRI develop a strong social media presence. Based on her ate students and faculty interested in creating a professional presence on Twitter and engaging others in their research. The beauty of Twitter lies in its ability to get across information of interest in just 140-character tweets. Many Twitter users access this social media platform on their Twitter app or Tweetcaster. These users look at tweets when they are on the go or have limited down time. That said, the key to success on Twitter is maximizing your ability to engage users instantaneously, if possible. presence is choosing the correct time to tweet. Activity on Twitter peaks on Mon-
days and Thursdays between the hours of 9am and 3 pm. During this time, people tend to be busy at work or in class and usually look at Twitter to distract from their work. Avoid posting tweets any day after 8 pm and especially Fridays after 3 pm. This may seem counterintuitive, but when people have left work and no longer need to social media. Furthermore, weekends are a bad time simply because people tend to get more active on the weekends and choose not to access any media in general. It’s the same reason why your weekend television choices tend to be reruns of reality television shows or Law & Order. The second step to maximizing your Twitter presence is your choice of content. In general, you should aim to limit your tweet content to just one tweet. 140 characters may seem like a constraint, especially for sociologists, but the messages with fewer characters are more impactful and are more likely to receive a response or retweet. Make sure that the content of your tweets is current and relevant to your desired audience. Remember, this is your “sociologist” Twitter account. In addition to having appropriate content, you should use tweets with images if you would like to generate more interest in your account. Infographics, graphs, and tables are just a few of the ways that a sociologist can em-
ploy images in their tweets. If the image is not originally your own, be certain to ask the creator of the image if you can put it on your account and give credit to them when you do.
news source or institution/association and retweet their tweets. Retweets alone will not get attention so mention their accounts with comments, questions, and pieces of information that substantiate their content. After a little back and forth, you will likely get followed back. Furthermore, these accounts will retweet you and share your tweets with their followers, ultimately helping you gain more followers without any
The third step is to make use of hashtags. Using the ‘#’ before a word links that word to a directory of tweets (from public accounts only) that contain the exact same word. This will allow people interested in that particular content to see what other have a public account for this process to interactivity between people who do not to turn into a hashtag. Depending on how already follow each other. you might uncover tweets completely unrelated to what you’re interested in. For Melissa is a 2nd Year Graduate Student instance, using #ASA links you to tweets made by the American Society of Appraisers, which more than likely isn’t of interest to you when you would like to know more about the upcoming American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. When you’re year or location can help your tweets stand out from more general, unrelated ones. The fourth step to maximizing your Twitter presence is to engage others. This includes your fellow sociologists at UMD, as well as scholars in other departments and at other institutions. The golden rule applies here! Follow your favorite academic,
“Creative Commons Social Media” by Yoel Ben-Avraham is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Megan Wilhelm
ALUMNA SPOTLIGHT: SARA RALEY Dr. Sara Raley graduated from the department in 2007. She is now an Associate Professor of Sociology at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. Her research interests include
Marriage and Family, the Annual Review of Sociology, and the SAGE Teaching Innovations & Professional Development Award.
at a small, liberal arts college, and her advice for current graduate students who might be interested in following a similar career path. What have you been up to since graduating from UMD? After graduation (2007) I went straight into a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor at McDaniel College in the Sociology department. I got tenure two years ago and went on sabbatical--which was glorious--last spring. I’ve kept busy teaching and
I’ve thought about this a lot over the years and am still not sure of the answer. My mom Ourselves at a young age while she campaigned for Geraldine Ferraro helped to push me in the direction of gender issues, but I’m not sure about the rest (work, family, and demography). In college, I was always fascinated by the idea that it seemed as if some women were selecting majors and careers with the thought of tending to family responsibilities in the future whereas this did not seem to be the case for men. So, that may have been where I began thinking about the intersection of gender, work, and family. And then I have always loved numbers and statistics, so demography sort of makes sense in light of that interest. Why did you choose to attend UMD, and how did the program help you get to where you are now? I’m not ashamed to admit that I was utterly clueless about graduate school programs and was generally looking locally (I was a Virginian resident at the time). I wanted to teach college, but I was so naive about what being a professor involved and had almost no idea how to conduct research (or that I would even be expected to do so as a faculty member... I know... utterly clueless). It was dumb luck that I ended up at Maryland and
sabbatical. What is the focus of your current research, and where do you think it is headed in the near future? I may sound like a huge bore, but I haven’t moved that far from my focus in graduate school which was (is) on family time use, the gendered division of labor in the home, and father involvement. I have started to paying closer attention to issues of racial variation in the gendered division of labor in some of my work as well as variation by educational attainment, but I still research in the same general area.
entire career to the opportunities that my advisor Suzanne gave me and the preparation I got from the faculty at UMCP. I worked hard when I got those opportunities, but I really see myself as having lucked into them. Seeing as how my advisor was also a tough which I think is key. Strong advisors are to be loved and feared. What would you say was the most useful class you ever took at UMD? I’m going to cheat because I can’t pick just one. In terms of my areas of interest, Harriet Presser’s “Gender, Work, and Family” course will always be legendary as well as Suzanne
demography if it weren’t for Joan Kahn’s “Demographic Techniques” and I could not function as a quantitative sociologist without the statistics courses. Even though it isn’t ultimately my area of interest, George Ritzer’s theory courses helped me to think creatively about the importance of theory, and I even published a chapter in his McDonaldization reader which remains one of my favorite things I’ve ever published. What is your favorite thing about being a professor? Mentoring. I am passionate about teaching, but even more than that, I get the most out of making a connection with a student and mentoring him/her. I was just a reference for a former student who got a job with the UMCP campus police to address issues related to Title IX and rape culture as well as another former student who is just wrapping up her law degree and plans to work with issues related to gender and immigration law. It’s so energizing to help coach students into careers where they are applying their sociological training. Given that sociology is engaging but not always the most uplifting subject to teach, students who are inspired to get directly involved in issues of social justice make all of the little frustrating aspects of my job worthwhile. I know you only asked for one thing (see, faculty members are just as bad--if not worse-than students when it comes to following instructions!), but I also think a lot about my autonomy and how valuable that is. I have autonomy to teach classes how I please and think I fully appreciated this until several of my graduate school friends went to work for
of prep and a few hours a week in the classroom, with lots of extra time for research. No. Good, strong teaching requires a lot of prep both in terms of time and emotional energy. I did not anticipate how much I would worry about presenting the lesson in the class, and how much I would second-guess and fret about my classroom experiences (e.g. “Well, *that* discussion didn’t go as I intended... I should’ve framed it this way instead!”). What advice would you give to current graduate students who are interested in a career similar to yours? Come shadow me. Seriously, this is how I got into the job I have now--I shadowed a professor at McDaniel College. If you are thinking about a job at a small, liberal arts school, come follow me around for a day and see how I spend my time. It truly is the best way to get a sense of what this job is like. My email address is: sraley@mcdaniel. edu If you weren’t a sociologist, what would you be? I would probably work as a consultant doing diversity training (which I do on a very limited basis right now)... unless I became independently wealthy in which case I would quit my job and just do some volunteer work. Mayyyyyybe I would adjunct every once and a while, but I am not one of those people who would “just keep working.” What do you enjoy doing outside of your work? Spending time with my friends and family. I also enjoy watching movies, knitting,
do the kinds of things I do without any real oversight. It’s hard to put a price on that. Of course, my friends also make substantially more money than me, so I guess there is a tangible price!
Pumpexercise class, and rooting for the Orioles (recognizing how sociologically weird it is to have a favorite sports team, “Gee, I’ll root for these guys because they play in the stadium near my residence but otherwise have no real connection to me”). Perhaps the most important thing I learned in graduate school and from my mentor, Dr. Suzanne
People are both the most enriching and most exasperating part of my job, as well as life
aspects of life.
but then of course there are also the energy-zapping people that drive me bonkers for various reasons (the top one being a sense of entitlement).
Megan is a 2nd Year Graduate Student.
working as a professor, it comes with some challenges. One is the constant public
Robert Reynoso & Megan Wilhelm
GRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: MOLLIE GREENBERG Mollie Greenberg is a graduate student in her second year of
research areas that are of interest to me. Although our department does not have a dedicated medical sociology or disability specialty area, I never felt that I would be discouraged from pursuing those here. On the contrary, I chose to come to UMD because when I talked about my proposed specialty areas, I received nothing but interest and
at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Mollie brings disability and ability in society. Here we highlight Mollie’s research What is the focus of your current research? Why? of the President’s Commission on Disability Issues. relates to physical disability. Right now I’m working on a project where the goal is to What undergraduate institution did you attend, and how now? I attended Smith College, a historically all-women’s college in Massachusetts, for
to delight and motivate non-disabled people) on implicit attitudes about physically disabled people.
sociological research on the non-explicit attitudes about physically disabled individuals held by the non-physically disabled. Research tends to focus on explicit attitudes, which I’d always been interested in human behavior, the ways people think and act and the
to measure implicit attitudes (gathering data through means other than interview), I hope
a number of sociology courses from a number of compelling professors who obviously
toward those with physical disabilities.
the environment of Smith and it’s sociology department that helped me move toward disability and medical sociology as a specialty. I was given the opportunity to create and give a series of lectures about the sociology of disability during my last couple
You were recently featured in the Diamondback. Can you tell us more about that and what you’ve been up to on campus this year? I was featured in the paper as a part of the “Rise Above Ableism” campaign put on at UMD during the month of October (which was Disability Awareness Month). The campaign featured a series of events and panels with the goal of making disabilities of all types the focus of discussion. I was featured in the Diamondback as a co-leader of one of these events. It was an “accessibility tour” where my co-leader Christopher Gaines (an undergrad at UMD) and I took people on a tour to showcase the more
what I’m still doing work in today. Why UMD?
(Graduate Student Spotlight continued from previous page...)
physically inaccessible parts of campus. The point was to illustrate that physical accessibility is about more than ramps or automatic doors. And that having these things does not automatically make a building or a campus completely accessible. In addition to the accessibility tour, I’ve been involved with a number of disability awareness events so far this year, including a panel where I and three other graduate students discussed our work through the lens of critical disability theory. Aside from campaign events, I’ve been busy trying to roll out my disability-focused master’s thesis. What do you hope to accomplish during your time here at UMD? That is an intense question. I suppose what I’d most like to accomplish is establishing an interest in disability theory and disability studies, both in the sociology department as well as on campus at large. Personally and professionally, I’d like to keep on the track I’m on currently and aid in establishing better ways to collect and analyze data on attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. What do you enjoy doing outside of your graduate studies? When I do get time to do things non-graduate school related (however small that may be thrillers. I also enjoy hanging out with friends and having dinner or board game nights, especially if Taboo is involved.
Mollie is a 2nd Year Graduate Student. Robert Reynoso is a 3rd Year Graduate Student. Megan Wilhelm is a 2nd Year Graduate Student.
Joseph Waggle
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: DANA FISHER what pushed her to move from New Jersey to Washington, D.C., armed with only a dual undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and East Asian Studies, an interest in politics, and a desire to make some real change.
Professor Dana R. Fisher is approaching her fourth anniversary here at UMD Sociology, and it has been a busy four years for her and for the grad students straight line.
her for Imagine. Now, four years later, we’re her time here has been so far; what frustrates
And one of those jobs was as a junior (spoiler alert: her answers will probably be lobbyist. She started out doing the “hopeless work,” lobbying conservatives in the 103rd Clinton on environmental political issues. She realized then that lobbying didn’t have quite the world-changing impact that she of sociology. Her work on politics and expected. the environment has broadened our understanding of how governance, civic “There was no substance there,” she says. engagement, and democracy intersect with “It was just wrong for me.” environmental and ecological concerns. And She needed a change of job, a change of she’s not done yet. pace, and a change of scenery. So she “We were going to change the world,” she started a research job at a think tank in degrees from Princeton University. That was
(Faculty Spotlight continued from previous page...) became a calling. “I didn’t really want it,” she says, nose “I read Habermas and took a class with wrinkling slightly. “I didn’t want to live in sociologist.” [Author’s note: on behalf of Cal grads with her passion for East Asian Studies and a fortuitous travel opportunity, sent her to Japan, where she gathered some of the Dana found that she liked the work but had worst data that she has ever collected. outgrown the experience. “This was before I knew what ‘empirical’ or “I remember that I used to always come up ‘method’ was,” she says. “I was in Japan on with these really great ideas for research my own dime, so I grabbed everything they projects, and my boss would say, ‘Yeah, threw at me. Reports, charts, everything. I that’s a great idea. Only you can’t lead it, wanted to study technology and Internet in because you don’t have a PhD.’ So I decided to get a PhD.” environment. I had a ton of data, but none of it was useful at all.” and Environmental Science to Sociology was not a natural step to take. On the advice the seeds of a project. With Freudenburg’s help, she found a thesis about sustainability she applied to the University of Wisconsin and resource management, which later Department of Sociology to study under became the foundation for some NSF Summer Institute studies in Japan. This later snowballed into a project comparing civil society, governance, and market actors “I didn’t know about sociology before that, so working in sustainability, from Japan, the I got stuck in a bunch of undergrad remedial United States, and the Netherlands. This classes.” She calls this “dehumanizing,” would later become her dissertation, and and remembers that it put some emotional National distance between herself and her work. Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime.
quickly as possible because I wanted to changes. Her second major book—the one leave Wisconsin.” she calls “the most sociology book I’ve ever
written”—was on professional canvassers, and received a lot of attention, both positive and negative. She has also worked on social movements and social change, and has contributed to literature on qualitative research methods.
Her work in the department—particularly as founder and executive director of the Program for Society and the Environment (PSE)—is characterized by working very closely with graduate students who have some interest in studying the societyenvironment relationship.
And therein rests one of the most important pieces of advice that she would share with “The idea [behind the PSE] was to create a graduate students now: home to cultivate smart social science on the environment.” “It’s important to have a good idea of what And, in that respect, at least, the PSE is a of what happens is luck and good timing, so success. It has grown since Dana’s arrival four years ago into a major center of research on UMD’s campus. The Program brings together grad students and faculty from across the department and from universities That’s a lesson she learned from her advisor, in the greater Washington, D.C. area, to collaborate on a diverse range of dynamic carries with her today. Her experience with environment/society research projects. The Freudenburg, as both his student and his bi-weekly workshop provides a forum for friend, has informed her own mentorship students and faculty to share, critique, and philosophy as a professor. improve their work. “The only way to learn is by doing,” she “It’s also home to all of my research grants,” she notes. understood that. So that’s how he mentored, and that’s how I mentor.” Those grants are many, and they are varied. She brought with her to Maryland her research That apprenticeship model has characterized on the Comparing Climate Change Policy her relationships with students ever since. Networks (COMPON) Project, studying And working with graduate students is her relationships and opinions among climate favorite part of the job. policy actors in the U.S. at the federal level. She is currently funded through Maryland “I came to [the University of Maryland] Sea Grants to study watershed stewardship because there were great grad students academies in Maryland. She is also funded here that I wanted to work with. And they through the U.S. Forest Service, using social, have not disappointed!” spatial, and network mapping techniques to understand local-level environmental
Anything that can wear me out. It’s kind of stewardship organizations in cities along the East Coast. She’s on the verge of a project studying the implications of school gardens for learning and environmental education.
And hitting the reset button is more important now than ever for Dana. She’s working on two new grants through NSF, and
All of her grants provide opportunities for Dana to work with grad students, and the word of advice. diversity of her grants allows for a variety of grads and research interests to become “Rejection happens to everybody. I think the most important thing you can learn is PSE fellows. patience and resilience. I love my career... “I’ve kind of been wavering between the but there’s a lot of time sitting alone, waitextremes. ‘I want to do international com- can still laugh about rejection, and she cal [work]. Now I want to do more about does, a little. governance. Now I want to do something that’s more about activism.’ I guess I’ll “I know a lot of grad students spend a lot keep doing that until I regress to the mean. of time wondering if this life is for them. That’s a personal choice, but you should know that it happens to everyone. Just be And following the funding frustrates Dana more than anything else. “I was on this politics path, but it didn’t go that way. Here I am now. Didn’t work out she says. “The ideas outpace the process. By the time a book comes out, I’ve moved on to a hundred new ideas. And the research that excites me the most is the Joseph is a Doctoral Candidate.
And that is the source of Dana’s second piece of advice. side of work to do. I do Pilates, spinning. I like to go hiking with my kids [daughter Margot, age 7, and son Conrad, age 3].
GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS & HONORS
her current projects. All of this comes with opportunities, but it comes with plenty of
• Moriah Willow (read more at http://socy.umd.edu/news/congratulations-moriah-willow-recieving-national-science-foundation-research-fellowship) • Jonathan Jackson • Summer/Fall PhDs: Scott Albrecht: Lori Reeder: Kathleen Denny: • Fall MA Degrees: Greg White Yangzi Zhao
Keep an eye on the UMd Sociology Department website for future awards and accolades: tions
ADVICE FROM GRADUATE STUDENTS: Margaret Austin Smith A SUMMER WELL HUGER SPENT STAFF SPOTLIGHT: ORIENTA WENDY LAYBOURN: ICPSR SUMMER PROGRAM
MAREK POSARD: RAND CORPORATION I was a summer associate at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA. I worked on a project that advised the U.S. Department of Defense about gender integration in the U.S. Special Operations Forces. Much of my research advances theories from the group processes tradition of sociology. I also have done work in military sociology. My time at RAND gave me the opportunity to incorporate group processes research with military sociology. I hope to continue this line of research in the future. I would advise other graduate students to think about the policy implications of their own research. We don’t learn about that kind of thing a whole lot in PhD school, at least not explicitly. But, there are tons of constituencies out there, like the Department of Defense, who need sociologists to help them design and implement new public policies. The D.C. metro area has tons of these constituencies looking for the skill sets that we learn at the University of Maryland. Marek is a Doctoral Candidate.
This summer I attended both 4-week sessions of the InterUniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research at the University of Michigan. I took classes on regression analysis, structural equation modeling, categorical data analysis, and methodological issues in quantitative research on race and ethnicity. Attending ICPSR contributed to my graduate work in a methodology and developed skills to critique quantitative research. These skills will allow me to incorporate mixed
Second, I was able to network with other scholars and professionals and learn how they employ quantitative methodology in their own work. This enabled me to think about other ways to utilize my quantitative skills and gave me the opportunity to build connections that will hopefully lead to collaborations in the future. I encourage grad students to talk to their advisor/mentor and other faculty about opportunities as well as to talk to faculty about their research interests. I would not have known about ICPSR’s summer program had it not been for my advisor, Rashawn Ray, and I think part of the reason why he suggested this program to me was because he
Wendy is a 3rd Year Graduate Student.
JONATHAN COX: SESYNC & THE CIVIC LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE most of the summer, I was a qualitative research assistant for a post-doc at the University of Maryland’s National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis. The quick and dirty of it is that I sat in on various group work meetings as a non-participant observer, taking
JOANNA PEPIN: SUMMER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP a solo-authored paper to a major peer-reviewed journal. of the summer I received a rejection notice for an article I had submitted a few months prior. I therefore spent the summer substantially reframing and revising this paper and resubmitted it for review to another journal.
used for a qualitative layer to her analysis of mental models. My second job was a teaching position for the Civic Leadership Institute, a three week service learning program for high school students that is a collaboration between Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University. For the second summer in a row now (I love this job!), I served as the instructor for about 16 students, teaching everything from leadership to social justice. It’s very intense—I taught 2-3 sessions per day, everyday, for the entire 3 weeks—but it is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. As long as they have a position for me, I’ll probably keep going back.
desire to do qualitative work, mostly involving interviews and observation. The teaching was especially helpful, as I love teaching, and the subjects I covered were very similar to the material I teach in my social problems course on campus. The practice is invaluable. My advice to other graduate students is to network like crazy. Both positions I was able to secure came about because of connections between the individual(s) looking university. Talk to your professors, let them know about your professional aspirations. Also check with other friends or colleagues not in sociology—you never know what might come up! Jonathan is a 3rd Year Graduate Student.
potential publication, the summer funding also enabled me to be productive in numerous other ways. I submitted the paper I initially planned to focus on over the summer to a conference (awaiting results). I also presented two co-authored projects at two of the three professional conferences I attended. I learned much from the conference sessions I attended and I made invaluable connections with some of the leaders in my areas of interest. I continued to advance these conference papers, another research project, and submitted a co-authored paper for review.
Talk with your advisor early and often about your intentions for applying for summer funding. You’ll need a strong endorsement from them that your project is sound and that you will be productive over the summer. Also, you’ll need to be fairly far along in your research and writing early in the spring semester in order to make a case that your goals are feasible. In my opinion, getting the funding is only half the battle. The other half is making good use of the unstructured summer time. Strategically planning how to build structure into your days and weeks is critical (recurring meetings with your advisor, start and end times to work days, planned vacations, mini-deadlines, etc.). Joanna is a 3rd Year Graduate Student.
EOWNA (E) YOUNG HARRISON: AARP This past summer, I began working as a research intern at AARP’s Research Center in the State Research quickly began serving as Content Manager of Livability reports. I prepared and assisted on numerous state and county level reports that assess the presence and need for community resources that allow persons to age inplace. In the time I spent at AARP, I was trusted enough to contribute meaningfully to projects, which has led to my authorship. Okay, but here are the real perquisites: the building is in downtown D.C., they have an amazing cafeteria, and do many free giveaways. Oh, and let’s not forget that the internship is paid; and pays well. AARP studies topics that align with the current demographic concern on the aging America. I’ve built a great deal of knowledge on age distributions, which is handy for my graduate concentration in demography. The perspective that I developed while interning at AARP has increased my understanding of how important it is to incorporate a life course perspective into my work. Do not underestimate yourself. You currently have the skills to adequately perform the required tasks. If you can dedicate 40 hours a week this summer, you should apply! I’m still in contact with one of the hiring managers. When the summer research intern position is posted, I can send the information out to the department. In the meantime feel free to check out their intern’s page: http://states.aarp.org/tag/ internship/
Angie O’Brien :
CONTEXTS: REFRAMING SOCIOLOGICAL JOURNALISM Philip Cohen, the world-renowned sociologist and admired blogger, can add another accomplishment to his extensive CV: Contexts editor. Contexts, a journal published by the American Sociological Association, is reputed by both in-depth features and concise summaries on the latest breakthroughs. However, Cohen plans to take the journal in a new direction. “Contexts is supposed to be the magazine that the sociologist uses to speak to the communicate their research to each other at the general level.” However, Contexts readership predominantly consists of sociologists. As editor, Cohen aims to broaden the journal’s readership. “We would like to make it so that non-sociologists read it more often. Two ways we want to accomplish that are by revamping the website and putting more timely, short and generally-interesting content up there. Most of the subscribers are ASA members who can read a lot of [Contexts]. Some already do, such as students. However, we really want to open [Contexts] up and get more readers.” Cohen’s plans include: easy-to-read listicles, larger social media presence, and videos. Contexts seminar in the spring open to UMD graduate students interested in writing for the journal. Contexts can be accessed at http://contexts.org/.
E is a 2nd Year Graduate Student. Angie is a 1st Year Graduate Student.
A GRAD STUDENT’S GUIDE TO D.C. & BEYOND Kramer Books & Afterwords If you’re looking for: Highlight: Death by Chocolate Closest Metro Stop: Dupont Circle Website: http://www.kramers.com/index. the vibrant neighborhoods in the city and its html surrounding areas. their favorite destinations and neighborchoices with a grad student stamp of approval!
Enticing Food & Drinks Baked & Wired If you’re looking for: Highlight: Decent cappuccino Closest Metro Stop: Website: http://bakedandwired.com/
Bistro Bistro If you’re looking for: French Cuisine Highlights: Authentic, fancy or casual Closest Metro Stop: Dupont Circle Website: http://www.bistrobistrodc.com/ Round Robin at the Willard Hotel (and other historic hotels near the Capitol) If you’re looking for: Drinks, Late-night Eats Highlights: Gorgeous lobby, wonderful old Washington feel, open late (gourmet food even at 3am!) Closest Metro Stop: Gallery Place Website: http://washington.intercontinental.com/food-drink/round-robin-scotchbar
“Creative Commons Untitled” by Chris Staley is licensed
The Mad Hatter If you’re looking for: Highlight: Closest Metro Stop: Dupont Circle Website: http://www.madhatterdc.com/ Bistro Bohem If you’re looking for: Central European Cuisine Highlight: Pierogies Closest Metro Stop: Shaw Website: http://www.bistrobohem.com/
Mark’s Kitchen If you’re looking for: Vegetarian & Vegan Food (Non-vegetarian options too!) Highlight: Great place to go if you can’t make up your mind what to eat Closest Metro Stop: Takoma Website: http://www.markskitchen.com/ ordereze/splash.html Martin’s Tavern If you’re looking for: Highlight: Have a pint where the Presidents do! Closest Metro Stop: Website: http://www.martinstavern.com/ Sign of the Whale If you’re looking for: Cheap Happy Hours Highlight: Free happy hours if you put your name down--you actually win them! Closest Metro Stop: Farragut North Website: http://www.signofthewhaledc. com/
“Creative Commons The Willard Hotel” by
The Republic If you’re looking for: Drinks, Organic Food Highlight: High-end cocktails and delicious organic food Closest Metro Stop: Takoma Check it out: http://www.republictakoma. com/
“Creative Commons Sign of the Whale”
Busboys & Poets If you’re looking for: Quality Sustainable Food, Arts & Culture, Working Space Highlight: Good, versatile food and drink options, low key spot where you can work, relax, or enjoy a night out, built-in book store, live poetry readings, multiple locations, open mike nights Closest Metro Stops: U Street, Gallery Place, Mt. Vernon Square Website: http://www.busboysandpoets. com/
Neighborhoods & Areas
Places to Explore
Historic Shaw & Howard University Highlights: Awesome African American history, live music (9:30 Club--intimate concert venue), U Street shops, bars, and restaurants Metro Stops: Shaw-Howard University, U Street, and Mt. Vernon Square Learn more: http://washington.org/topics/ arts-district-u-street-shaw
Dumberton Oaks Highlight: Absolutely stunning, 6th on National Geographic’s Top 10 World Gardens List Metro Stops: Dupont Circle, tom Learn More: http://www.doaks.org/
Dupont Circle
Highlights: embassies, outdoor chess games, tons of bars and restaurants, shops and galleries Metro Stop: Dupont Circle Learn more: http://washington.org/topics/ dupont-circle
Bilbo Baggins Global Restaurant If you’re looking for: Highlight: Lord of the Rings themed bar w/a special selection of beers and drinks Closest Metro Stops: King Street Website: http://www.bilbobaggins.net/ Adega Wine Cellars & Cafe If you’re looking for: Delicious Food, Good Service Highlight: Low key atmosphere, good wine selection Closest Metro Stop: Silver Spring Website: http://www.adegawinecellars. com/
Adams Morgan Highlights: Great for a pub crawl or a good bite, many happy hour and brunch options, international food, boutiques Metro Stops: Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Dupont Circle Learn more: http://washington.org/topics/ adams-morgan Highlights:
Georgetown
front or through canals, M Street shops, bars along the riverbank Metro Stops: tom Learn more: http://www.georgetowndc. com
Sakuramen If you’re looking for: Highlight: You might actually see yourself and then some! Closest Metro Stops: Columbia Heights Website: http://sakuramen.info/web/
“Creative Commons Georgetown - M Street” by Roger
-
Downtown Silver Spring Highlights: Awesome for live music in the square on the weekend, American Film Institute (AFI) where you can get a pint and a popcorn for a reasonable price and Metro Stop: Silver Spring Learn more: http://www.downtownsilverspring.com/
Smithsonian’s National Zoo Highlights: Free entrance, visit the animals and walk the surrounding trails, baby panda! Metro Stop: Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Learn more: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ “Creative Commons It’s A Wonderful Life” by Kevin Harber is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Takoma Park Highlights: Has a super laid back un-D.C.
2, 2014” by Abby Wood, Smithsonian’s National Zoo is
the country, Sligo Creek is a great walk Metro Stop: Takoma Park Learn more: http://www.takomaparkmd. gov/
Union Market Highlights: A foodies dream with tons of deliciousness around every corner! Metro Stop: Noma-Gallaudet U Learn more: http://unionmarketdc.com/ Eastern Market Highlights: Loads of fun for the shopping and people watching, market is vast and to an absolutely awesome food market, exterior is surrounded by mom-and-pop shops selling anything from soap to goat cheese Metro Stop: Eastern Market Learn more: http://www.easternmarketdc.org/
“Creative Commons sligo.” by brian hefele
Contributors: Tuesday Barnes, Melissa Brown, E Young Harris, Hsiang-Yuan Ho, Gordon Rinderknecht, Robert Reynoso, Megan Wilhelm, Moriah Willow
Meet the 2014 Cohort
Audra BColeman
Nicole Bedera
Jocelyn Coates Jisun Min Amanda Nguyen
Elizabeth “Betsey” Blair
Hometown /Country
Undergraduate Institution & Degree
Why Sociology?
Zhiyong Lin
Angie O’Brien
Peter Rydzewski
Fatima Zahra
Reno, NV
Huntington, WV
Cookeville, TN
Gaithersburg, MD
China
Seoul, South Korea
Gaithersburg, MD
Cedar Rapids, IA
Niagara Falls, NY
Pakistan
Sociology (B.S.), Westminster College (Saltlake City)
Behavioral Sciences (B.S.), U.S. Air Force Academy
Journalism (B.A.), University of Missouri
Women’s Studies (B.A.), University of MarylandCollege Park
Sociology (B.A. & MA), Tsinghua University
Sociology (B.A. & M.A.), University of Manyang University-Seoul
Criminology & Criminal Justice (B.A.), Sociology (B.A.), University of MarylandCollege Park
Sociology, Spanish and Hispanic Studies (B.S.), Creighton University
Sociology (B.A.), The College at Brookport: S.U.N.Y.
Communication, (M.A.) University of Southern California
I took SOCY100 with Les Andrist and Linda Moghadam was my undergrad advisor-both helped hone my interest in SOCY.
Why not?
I’ve always wanted to be politically active and I’ve always enjoyed educating. Now I want to collect new knowledge to share.
My first job, I worked as recruiter for the Air Force and was frustrated that only a narrow profile of applicants were qualified to enter the Air Force Academy I want to know why.
2D Design (MFA), Cranbrook Academy of Art
I am interested in ways to connect sociology theory, methods and perspectives to social design.
I felt that sociology would offer a rewarding/produ ctive balance between quantitative & qualitative methods, while also allowing for great flexibility in subject/ specialty methods.
Using data to describe what’s happening to correct society.
My interests in racial-intergroup relations got me interested in pursuing a graduate. Conducting research gave me a sense of fulfillment.
Business (B.A), National University of Sciences & Technology
I simply enjoy learning about the social world.
Working in public health through Glaxo Smith Kline in Pakistan, an interest that was further refined into a fundamental curiosity about issues of population and society during my graduate degree.
2014 Cohort
Nicole Bedera
Elizabeth “Betsey” Blair
Audra BColeman
Jocelyn Coates
Zhiyong Lin
Jisun Min
Amanda Nguyen
Angie O’Brien
Peter Rydzewski
Fatima Zahra
Kinsey
Thomas Moore
My great grandmother
Impossible to pick one person, but… Audre Lorde or Toni Morrison
Peter Blau
Georg Simmel
---
Zelda Fitzgerald
Judith Butler
M. Ali Jinnah
Keep building my bucket list, Go to Belize, Learn guitar
Visit Rome and all of Greece, white water raft in New Zealand, Brew my own beer!!
Attending the French Open, Traveling to Iceland, Learning another language
Live in another county, Learn to speak at least two additional languages (fluently), Meet Beyoncé
…PhD Degree?
Traveling around the world, Having a reunion with Reasmus friends in Germany, Living in Switzerland for a year.
Completing a half Marathon, Getting my skydiving certificate, Visiting Spain
Travel to South America Travel to Africa Travel through Eastern Europe
Finish PhD in Sociology, Purchase a home on the pacific coast (any state), Find something to add to my short “bucket list”
Skydiving, Backing through South America, Learning different types of dance-modern, salsa, hip-hop.
Independent of graduate school, what lifestyle (i.e. hobbies, food, travel, leisure, family, etc.) would you like to have or maintain while you are a graduate student?
I want to do a lot of now things including seeing more of the east coast, eating new foods, and perhaps learning guitar or some sort of dancing.
I would like to continue swimming competitively, seeing family, experiencing the local area.
A combination of family, design work, photography, travel, and play.
Stay healthy (running, eating healthily), Take small trips/travel, Spend time with loved ones
Play tennis, taste different styles of food, Shop in the supermarket
I would like to keep a good work-life balance while maintaining my hobbies (watching Indiemovies and having good meals at nice restaurants
I’d like to maintain a good relationship with my family and boyfriend. I’d like to continue to live a healthy lifestyle-running and paddle boarding often
If I could spend the rest of my life traveling, running, eating, and socializing I’d be one happy individual.
Running, fiction, Reading, Learning to cook
Take a variety of classes at the art and learning center for much needed “metime”, Explore D.C., Cook and Bake
If you were trapped in the data lab for a year and only had one CD/ album to listen to, what would it be?
Frank by Amy Winehouse
Ace of Base – Greatest Hits/ Fleetwood Mac Rumors
Spotify, I listen to most types of music and prefer the variety.
The Lumineers
None
Adele
Any Bob Marley CD
Billy Joel…My mom listened to him non-stop for my first 18 years of life I figured I can handle another year.
Revolver- The Beatles
An album of my favorite songs from Coke Studio Pakistan
If you could have a drink or coffee with anyone from history, who would it be?
What are the top three uncompleted items on your “Bucket List”?
SOCIOLOGY NEWS . VOLUME 9 . ISSUE 1 . FALL 2014 DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY . UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND