Secondary Story Headline

Spring 2010

I n t h i s i s s u e :

Advising Reminders 2

Independent Research Opportunity

2

J-Term 2011 Study Abroad Opportunity

3

Student Happenings 2 & 3

Faculty Notes 4

SocNotes

Sociology Students Join

Interdisciplinary Team

for J-Term Work in Mali

S o c i o l o g y

students Breanna

Alston and Jackie

Pavek joined UST

f a c u l t y a n d

students from

French, business

and engineering

and several Malian colleagues to continue efforts

to establish a new seed potato enterprise in the

Dogon village of Borko in Mali, West Africa.

U n d e r t h e

d i r ec t i o n o f

s o c i o l o g y

professor Susan

Smith-Cunnien,

s o c i o l o g y

s t u d e n t s

comple ted a

social assessment

of Borko last year, concluding that the village

was an excellent site at which to begin this

important enterprise. This year the sociology

team was charged with assessing the progress of

the project to date. After interviewing farmers,

elders, leaders and women in the village the

sociology team had some important feedback to

provide the Malian

project partners,

particularly the need

f o r a d d i t i o n a l

training on all

aspects of producing

seed potatoes.

N e w N e w ly R e v i s e d

C r i m i n a l J u s t i c e M a j o r

R e c e n t ly A p p r ov e d

After a nearly 2 year process, the University of St. Tho-

mas approved changes to the Criminal Justice Major and

Minor. Changes do not increase the overall number of

credits or courses required but do impact the content of

the curriculum. The department is transitioning to the

new major and minor as quickly as possible and will begin

rolling out the new curriculum beginning fall, 2010. Stu-

dents under the old major will still be able to complete

that major but may need to substitute courses from the

new curriculum. Criminal Justice majors should speak to

their academic advisors about course selections and see

the advising reminders in this newsletter. More informa-

tion will be sent to majors before spring registration. The

change in the curriculum strengthens the sociological con-

tent while still retaining applied courses that are geared

towards career preparation. Major changes include:

Providing a more comprehensive view of the criminal

justice system by requiring a 300 level course in polic-

ing and a 300 level course in corrections.

A practitioner based course on either police operations

or correctional practice. These courses will have a

CJUS prefix for Criminal Justice Studies. Students in-

terested in the courts will continue to take POLS312

Criminology and Juvenile Delinquency will be com-

bined into a single course, Crime and Delinquency

SOCI 200 will be renamed “Introduction to Criminal

and Juvenile Justice”

The internship will no longer be required but will be

offered as an elective course

Students will be able to choose one course from a list

of electives that include courses outside the depart-

ment

Students will take a single course in criminal law/

criminal procedure

What Are

Students Up To?

Breanna Alston has been named a

McNair Scholar at the University of St.

Thomas. The McNair Program prepares

first generation previously underrepre-

sented groups for doctoral studies after

the undergraduate experience. Alston

will pursue a major research project

around her interests in gender, education

and race, with a possible focus on world-

wide development, Native American

women's experience, and lesbians in de-

veloping countries.

Nate Minor has authored a paper on his

research on the underrepresentation of

the Somali-American community in local

media. Among his findings: too many sto-

ries focus on crime and terrorism and not

enough coverage goes toward explaining

who these new immigrants actually are,

leading readers to stereotype a whole eth-

nic group. He will present his paper at a

poster session at the Midwest Sociologi-

cal Society meetings in Chicago in April.

(Meg Wilkes Karraker is his faculty spon-

sor.)

Francis Skamser (senior in sociology)

will discuss the phenomenology of bipolar

disorder in a poster at the annual meet-

ings of the Midwest Sociological Society

in Chicago in April. Her research focuses

on how bipolar disease effects a person's

construction of realtiy. She is also inter-

ested in implications for treatment

and social interactions.

That paper is the basis for another inde-

pendent research project, in which she

will interview mental health professionals

to gain a sense of their knowledge of the

experiences of people with bipolar disor-

der.

Sarah Zimmerman (junior, Sociology

and Elementary Education) is collaborat-

ing with Dr. Karraker on a research pro-

ject studying social networks among

members of the board of directors of the

non-profit organization REAL. REAL

focuses on the education for Ethiopian

girls and women. We seek to determine

the quantity and quality of social net-

works, as REAL anticipates future

growth and development.

ADVISING REMINDERS:

GRADUATING NEXT YEAR?

SOCI 480, Senior Seminar in Criminal Justice is required for all Criminal Justice

majors and will only be offered Fall, 2010. Contact Dr. Sue Smith-Cunnien for

more information ( slsmithcunni@stthomas.edu ).

SOCI 405, Internship for Criminal Justice will be offered Spring, 2011. While

not required for the new major, a student graduating with the old major still

needs this class and it is strongly recommended for those planning on entering

criminal justice careers after graduation. Students should start planning now for

next year. Contact Dr. Peter Parilla ( pfparilla@stthomas.edu ) for more infor-

mation.

SOCI Police and Society is a required course for the new Criminal Justice major

and will be offered Fall 2010. Recently declared majors are encouraged to take

courses from the new curriculum. For more information, contact Dr. Tanya

Gladney, ( glad1025@stthomas.edu ).

CJUS Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure is required for all Criminal Justice

majors that HAVE NOT taken IDSC 340 (Criminal Law and the Social Order)

and will be offered Spring, 2011.

POLS 314, Constitutional Rights and Liberties, needs to be taken by students

who previously took IDSC 340. This course is offered Summer I 2010.

SOCI 350, Power and Privilege, is required for all Sociology majors and is only

offered Spring, 2011.

SOCI 474, Seminar in Sociology is required for Sociology majors and is offered

only in Spring, 2011.

Contact Dr. Buffy Smith with questions about either SOCI 350 or 474

( bsmith@stthomas.edu ).

SOCI 470, Sociological Theories, is required for sociology majors and is offered

only Fall, 2010. Contact Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker for more information

( mwkarraker@stthomas.edu ).

INTERESTED IN

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH?

APPLY FOR A YOUNG

SCHOLARS AWARD

Doing research with a faculty member and either presenting or publishing

the results is a great way of building credentials for graduate school. Fac-

ulty members in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice are al-

ways looking for students interested in doing research either as an inde-

pendent project or working with a faculty member on one of their research

projects. Students can submit their work to professional conferences and in

some cases have their work published. The Young Scholars program at the

University of St. Thomas supports student scholars over the summer by

providing free housing and a summer stipend. Students must write a pro-

posal that is co-sponsored by a faculty member. A faculty panel decides

which proposals will be funded. Funding for summer is very competitive so

those interested should speak to a faculty member now to have the best

chance of developing a funded proposal. Application are due on Friday,

April 9th. See the web for more information and forms.

http://www.stthomas.edu/urcs/youngScholars/default.html

If you have been thinking about doing a study abroad and wanted to

do something relating to sociology, this may the option for you. So-

ciology professor Susan Smith-Cunnien and Director of Multicul-

tural Student Services Denise Dieffenbach are co-directing a new

course that will focus on Ghanaian society. Ghana is often held up

as one of the success stories of Sub-Saharan Africa. Recently cele-

brating 50 years of independence, Ghana has experienced almost two

decades of democracy and peaceful regime change and boasts a rela-

tively strong economy. It is a nation that is trying to find ways to

continue to modernize without become “Western;” it is working to

forge social institutions that will reflect – and sometimes create – a

“Ghanaian way.”

But Ghana also has a special relationship with the United States.

Many Americans trace their roots back to lands that are now part of

the nation of Ghana, having been forced to come here as part of the slave trade. There are many other cultural, political

and economic ties, from the intellectual connections between W.E.B. Du Bois and Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first Presi-

dent, to President Obama’s selection of Ghana as the destination for his first presidential visit to an African country.

All of these will be explored in this J-term course. After a week’s preparation here on campus, we will spend almost three

weeks in Ghana. We will spend a few days acclimating ourselves in

Accra, and then will travel to the very northern part of the country

to explore aspects of life in a more rural and traditional setting, in-

cluding a two-night home stay with families in the city of Bolga-

tanga and a chance to have a cultural exchange with a school in a

local village, meet with village elders and assist villagers in their

daily work for a day. We will visit the historic site where slaves

who were brought from the northern areas were held before they

began the long journey south. We will then travel back down to the

central region, to Kumasi, center of the Ashanti or Asante kingdom.

We will travel to the coastal towns of Cape Coast and Elmina, visit-

ing two famous slave forts, and will end our visit with another few

days in Accra, the capital and largest city in Ghana.

For more information, please check out the UST Study Abroad web-

site (http://www.stthomas.edu/studyabroad/) or contact Dr. Smith

-Cunnien or Ms. Dieffenbach. Applications will be accepted starting April 6, but start exploring your options now!

New Sociology J-Term 2011 Option:

Ghana Today and Yesterday

U S T S O CI /C J S t u d en ts P res en t at

t h e Mi dw es t S o ci o lo gic al S o c i ety

Four UST students will be presenting their research at the annual meetings of the Midwest Sociological Society on

March 30-April 3 in Chicago. Jackie Pavlek and Breanna Alston will be participating in an undergraduate re-

search poster session. The title of their work is: “Assessing the Impact of Seed Potatoes in a Rural Village” Their faculty

sponsor is Dr. Susan Smith-Cunnien. Francis Skamser’s poster is titled "How am I not You?": A Phenomenological

Approach to Bipolar Disorder.” Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker is her faculty sponsor. Nate Minor is participating for the

second straight year. His poster is titled “Seen, but not known: A postmodern analysis of media coverage of the Minnesota

Somali community” and is also sponsored by Dr. Karraker. The undergraduate research poster session has been or-

ganized by Dr. Lisa Waldner for the past five years and this year has 39 students from 21 institutions. If you are

interested in participating next year, speak to any faculty department member.

Department of

Sociology and Criminal

Justice

Campus Location: OEC 4th Floor

Campus Mail: 5021

SOCI Resource Room: OEC 436

Phone: 651-962-5630

Fax: 651-962-5682

FACULTY NOTES:

Dr. Tanya Gladney graduated with a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her dissertation was

titled - Social Disorganization Theory: The Role of Attenuated Culture on Crime

Dr. William Kinney returned from a sabbatical in Fall 2009. His research project involves the changing formative

impact that popular culture and technology is having on Generation Y.

Dr. Buffy Smith was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.

Dr. Lisa K. Waldner is a co-author of “Authentic Self-Expression: Gender, Ethnicity, and Culture,” published in Silencing

the Self Across Cultures: Depression and Gender in the Social World (Oxford University Press, 2010) and “White Separatism in

the United States: Framing of Love and Hate,” published in Global Politics in the Dawn of the 21st Century (ATINER 2009).

Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker continues her research on social networks in communities serving migrant women and

children. Her most recent project, with sociology major, Sarah Zimmerman, examines networks among board members

of an organization that provides education for girls in Ethiopia.

On the web:

http://www.stthomas.edu/sociology/

Undergraduate Spring 2010

Academic Calendar:

Attention Sociology and Criminal Justice

Majors and Minors:

Apply for the John C. Gessner

Memorial Scholarship

Sociology and Criminal Justice majors and minors are invited to apply for the John C. Gessner Memorial Scholarship. Dr. Gessner was a popular member of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice from 1985-1991. Dr. Gessner died in 1991 while serving as chair of the department. After his death, his family established a scholarship in his memory.

Scholarship amounts will be no less than $1,500.

To apply for the scholarship, you will need to complete the attached appli-cation, provide your academic transcript (unofficial is fine), and complete a one-page, single-spaced essay on how you think sociology will be useful later in your life. The application is also available on the department’s web-site at - http://www.stthomas.edu/sociology/resources/scholarships/default.html

Hard copies of all application materials must be submitted to Dr. William J. Kinney, 446 OEC, by 12:00 noon on Thursday, April 8. Late application will not be accepted. If you have any questions, contact Dr. Kinney at wjkinney@stthomas.edu

Undergraduate Summer 2010

Academic Calendar:

Mar 29-Apr 5 Mid-term & Easter break(s)

April 21 Last day to withdraw from class without a grade of F

April 19-April 30 Early registration for summer sessions & fall semester

May 3 Incompletes due from fall semester & J-term

May 14 Classes end

May 17 Study day

May 18-21 Final exams

May 22 Commencement

Summer Session 1

Extended Session

Double Session

Summer Session 2

First day of classes 26-May 26-May 26-May 12-Jul

No classes (Memorial Day) 31-May 31-May 31-May 31-May

Last day to drop a class without a "W" appearing on transcript

1-Jun 4-Jun 9-Jun 16-Jul

Last day to add a course without instructor approval

1-Jun 4-Jun 9-Jun 16-Jul

Last day to withdraw from a course 18-Jun 28-Jun 19-Jul 4-Aug

No classes (Independence Day observed)

5-Jul 5-Jul 5-Jul N/A

Last day of classes 8-Jul 22-Jul 19-Aug 19-Aug