See Professor Berheide for "Official" Signatures

Need a signature for declaring a major in soc, anthro, or social work, or for transfer credit, or for study abroad?  Then see Catherine Berheide.  As the department's Associate Chair, she handles such matters. Dr. Berheide's office is 222 Tisch Learning Center. Her e-mail address is cberheid.

New Sociology Faculty Join Department 

Three sociologists will be at Skidmore this coming academic year.

Timothy Stablein has been appointed Visiting Lecturer in Sociology.  Professor Stablein  has a strong background in both quantitative and qualitative research; he specializes in deviance, youth culture, and homelessness.  He is completing his doctoral work at the University of Connecticut.  His dissertation research focuses on young people who hang out on Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Fall 2008 he will offer SO 101 Sociological Perspectives, SO 251 Juvenile Delinquency, and SO 314 Deviance.

Meika Loe, Associate Professor of Sociology at Colgate University, will teach at Skidmore in Fall 2008 as a Visiting Associate Professor in Sociology.  Professor Loe received her B.A., from the University of California at San Diego and her Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Her special areas of interest are gender studies, gender and sexuality, medial sociology, and the sociology of aging. Her recent book is The Rise of Viagra: How a Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America.  Professor Loe will teach SO 251 Gender, Aging, and Health this Fall semester.

Krista Bywater has received a Diverse Faculty Fellowship to teach at Skidmore this coming Fall.  She specializes in globalization and development studies, race, class, and gender, and feminist studies.  Professor Bywater is completing her dissertation at the University of California at Santa Barbara; her doctoral research is on globalization, development, and water struggles in India.  She grew up on the Caribbean island of Antigua and received her B.A. from Barry University.  Professor Bywater has done extensive ethnographic research in India.

Our department welcomes Tim, Meika, and Krista!

Sociology Awards to Kristin Harkness and Megan McAdams

Senior Sociology majors Kristin Harkness and Megan McAdams received awards from Skidmore faculty recognizing outstanding achievements in sociology. The Everett V. Stonequist Award in May 2006 went to Kristin for exceptional interest and achievement in the study of sociology.  Megan McAdams received the Nancy Beth Rautenberg '83 Memorial Award recognizing her commitment to the study of sociology combined with active engagement with social issues.

Our department congratulates Kristin and Megan on their outstanding achievements and contributions to the community over their four years at Skidmore.

Skidmore College has promoted John Brueggemann to full Professor of Sociology.  Congratulations, John!

Noted sociologist Sarah Willie of Swarthmore College visited Skidmore for a couple of busy days in mid October. Dr. Willie spoke to an overflowing audience in Gannett Auditorium. She lectured on "Acting Black: College, Identity, and the Performance of Race" and led a lively question-and-answer session. Professor Willie also visited several sociology classes during her visit, had dinner with faculty and senior majors, and met for lunch with other sociology majors.

Professor Willie received her B.A. at Haverford College and her M.A. and Ph.D from Northwestern University. Her research centers on issues of race, class, and gender. Routledge Press published her book Acting Black: College, Identity, and the Performance of Race. Addressing the question, "what's it like to be black on campus, his work reports on Dr. Willie's own experiences as well as her in-depth interviews with 55 African American college students. Dr. Willie is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Provost at Swarthmore.

Sarah Willie's visit is the latest in an annual series of visits by prominent sociologists. Previous fall speakers were Douglas MacAdam, Earl Babbie, Barrie Thorne. Patti & Peter Adler, Barbara Katz Rothman, and Paula England.

Rik Scarce in Prison!

Professor James "Rik" Scarce's Contempt of Court: A Scholar's Battle for Free Speech from Behind Bars has been published by Alta Mira Press. Rik chronicles his five-month incarceration for upholding the American Sociological Association's Code of Ethics. He refused to answer some of a federal grand jury's questions regarding his dissertation research on animal rights activists because doing so would have violated promises of confidentiality that he made to research participants.

Says the book jacket: Scarce tells of his jailing and the rationale behind his ethical stance, bringing an ethnographer's trained sensibility and a journalist's storytelling skill to his tale. Viewed as an outsider even by his fellow inmates, Scarce gained from his imprisonment a painful, rare glimpse of the jail world.

Writes Richard A. Leo of the University of California at Irvine: Anyone interested in the darker side of our criminal justice system, and the lives of all of those who are locked in our jail, will find in Contempt of Court a firsthand account like none other.

Rik is the author of two previous books: Eco-Warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement and Fishy Business: Salmon, Biology, and the Social Construction of Nature. He is engaged in ongoing research on the reintroduction of wolves and has launched a research on the social history of the Hudson River.

Click here for an excellent Skidmore Scope article about Rik and his research.

Brueggemann's Back! And with a New Book!

Tanned, rested, and speaking some Italian, sociology professor John Brueggemann is returning to full time teaching. John served as Associate Dean of the Faculty for over three years before taking a well-deserved sabbatical in 2006-07. While on leave, John spent three months in Orvieto, Italy, and then carried out research in Philadelphia, delving into the nearby Haverford and Swarthmore College libraries.

John's sabbatical research dealt with three topics: The United Electrical Workers and American Communism; employer paternalism in four American firms; and the moral crisis of expanding market logic.

SUNY Press recently published John's Racial Competition and Class Solidarity, coauthored with Terry Boswell, Cliff Brown, and T. Ralph Peters, Jr. Observing that the 1930s and 40s saw interracial solidarity among in dustrial workers, Brueggemann and his coauthors compare patterns of race relations that accompanied nine American labor organizing drives and strikes. Writes Ohio State's Vincent Roscigno, "The authors ground the book in relevant rich theoretical perspectives, provide good historical narratives of each case, and employ cutting-edge comparative analytic techniques."

Welcome back, John!

 New Alpha Kappa Delta Members   

The following Skidmore juniors and seniors were inducted into Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society, in Spring 2007:

Election to AKD recognizes excellence in the study of sociology. Click here for additional information about AKD at Skidmore.

Several sociology seniors presented their research at Skidmore's Academic Festival in May 2006. Gillian Connell described her project on Blacks' perceptions of racial discrimination. Emily Mastellone-Snyder discussed how education, race, and class affect feelings of environmental empowerment. Katie Largo reported her research exploring relationships between resources and emotional abuse. Tamara McEwan's research concerned confidence in the government and political participation. Aaron Tester described his work on poverty and internationsl development.

Aaron Tester also presented and discussed his video, Bolivian Rural Adolescence. Exploring the lives of two Bolivian teenagers, Aaron made his video while studying in South America on an SIT program.

Juniors Karina Perez and Asja Culpepper took part in an Academic Festival discussion of experiences on study abroad travel in East Africa during spring break.

Fly by Night Press published Black Ice Poems by Barbara Purcell '01. Hal Sirowitz, former Poet Laureate of Queens, notes that Barbara's "able to achieve something unique among writers -- self-expression that never sounbds confessional." Writes Colette Inez: "There's nothing fake here. This is a fresh and gritty . . . book announcing a gutsy presence in our midst."

Barbara is the author of An Egg on the Sill, published by Alibris Press. Barbara chronicles the colorful life and adventures of Raymond Brooks, a former aviation insurance broker who has roamed the world and now lives in Saratoga Springs. Publicity accompanying release of Barbara's work notes that she "reveals the enormity of a man who is simultaneously low-key and extraordinary."

Barbara majored in sociology at Skidmore. She now lives in Manhattan. Barbara has published both poetry and film reviews and has performed her poetry in New York City and Europe. Her work appears in Tribes Magazine published by A Gathering of the Tribes.

Greg Huska, a sociology major in the Class of '94, served four five months in Iraq as a member of a team protecting high-level Coalition Provisional Authority officials. His team was stationed in al Hillah north of Baghdad, but traveled extensively. Greg reports that his team covered over 11,000 miles in their first four months.

Click here for details on Greg's Iraq adventures, including mortar and AK-47 attacks.

Greg is now a special agent with the Department of Defense's Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He provides "dignitary protection" for a senior DOD official.

Bill Fox's beagle Emmylou ate much of Bill's Skidmore ID card. Skidmore "Card Lady" Barb Kerr entered the half-eaten card in the NACCU's Abused Swipe Card Contest, where the card earned second place. This was Emmylou's proudest moment. Click here for details, including a photo of the mutilated card.

Emmylou attended Mahogany Ridge Puppy School, where she failed the puppy training program.

"Emmy remains largely preverbal," Bill reports, "but strangely, given her limited vocabulary, she likes to be talked to and cocks her head when directly spoken to. However, she seems more pleasantly baffled, perhaps amused, than comprehending. Neverthless, Emmy has taught me to take time to smell the roses (while she sniffs everything else)."

Click here for more on Emmylou, including another photo, in a Fall 2004 Skidmore Scope article on "Teachers' Pets".

 Parlez Vous Statistics?

William Fox's Social Statistics text has been translated into French by Professor Louis M. Imbeau of the University of Laval. Published in English by Wadsworth, the French version is published in Canada by the University of Laval and in Belgium by De Boeck University.

David Karp co-edited (with James Acker) Wounds That Do Not Bind: Victim-Based Perspectives on the Death Penalty, published by the Carolina Academic Press. David also wrote the introduction and a chapter on "The Role of Victims' Families in Capital Juror Decision-Making." The latter is reprinted in a forthcoming Criminal Law Bulletin.

David's "Restorative Justicve and College Student Misconduct," co-authored with Suzanne Conrad, appears in Public Organization Review.

David, Rebecca Herman '06, and Tamara McEwan '06 published "Recent Research on the Families of Inmates" in Perspectives, a journal of the American Probation and Parole Association.

In February David joined with Thom Allena to present "Restorative Practives on the College Campus": at the annual conference of the Association for Student Judicial Affairs in Clearwater, Florida. David and Thom Allena also teamed up to facilitate a full-day symposium "Restorative Justice: Theoretical and Practical Implicatiuon for Colleges" in Potsdam, New York. The symposium drew faculty and staff from Clarkson and St. Lawrence Universities and SUNY at Potsdam.

February also found David in Florida providing technical assistance for the development of a restorative judicial board for campus discipline and restorative practices for workplace conflict at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Meyers.

Tricycle Press, an imprint of Ten Speed Speed Press, has published three books by Michelle Sinclair Coleman '94 -- Urban Babies Wear Black,and Country Babies Wear Plaid, and, her latest, Beach Babies Wear Shades. Over 30,000 books in the series have been sold.

From Ten Speed's announcement of Michelle's Urban Babies:

Infantus urbanus (defn.): Young mammal raised in city environment. Infantus urbanus love nights at the opera, modern architecture, and fine cuisine. Difficult to spot at night due to their penchant for black clothing.

And of Michelle's Beach Babies:

The babies are back, and this time, they're slathered with sunscreen and headed for the beach. They'll hang ten, boogie down, and keep it cool--all in their sweetly incomparable urban baby way.

Michelle is an urban mom living in Chicago with her husband and her urban baby. And, yes, Michelle majored in sociology at Skidmore (and received an M.A. in sociology at the University of Minnesota).

Susan Walzer teamed up with Pat Oles, Dean of Student Affairs, on two papers dealing with divorce accounts. Managing Conflict After Marriages End: A Qualitative Study of Narratives of Ex-Spouses is published in Families in Society. Accounting for Divorce: Gender and Uncoupling Narratives appears in a special issue of Qualitative Sociology.

Professor Walzer also has a chapter entitled "Encountering Oppositions: A Review of Scholarship about Motherhhood," in the Handbook of Contemporary Families, a forthcoming volume to be published by Sage.

Lisa B. Meyer '93 sociology major, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at SUNY at Geneseo. Lisa majored in sociology at Skidmore. In 1993-94 she had a Fulbright Grant to Trinidad and Tobago where she studied the roles of women. Lisa received her PhD from Emory University. Her dissertation was on "International Trade Liberalization and Gender Relations: Cross-National Effects of Global Trading.

Click here to listen to a podcast in which Lisa takes part in a panel discussion of "Race, Class and Poverty: Reflections on Katrina."

Lani Radack '99 receiveed her M.A. from Wheelock College's Teacher of Reading program. She now works as an early childhood language and literacy specialist in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Last spring Lani presented a workshop -- Calling All Parents: Involving Parents in Home Literacy -- at the Massachusetts reading Association's annual conference.

Lani is also a poet. She has won Cambridge Poetry Awards and present her work at the Lizard Lounge and the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge and, at Bentley College's Take Back the Night. Lani has won numerous poetry slams in and around Boston. She is a three-time Amazon Super Slam champion.

Click here to read Lani's poetry.

Heather Santmire Denkmire, a '91 sociology major, publishes a weekly column called "All About Me." Topics range from religion to racism, bikinis to bulimia, Kosovo to Congress. The column appears each week in the Greenwich Gazette and on-line. Click here to go to Heather's column. Heather also writes for Teen Celebrity and the Houston Business Journal.

Heather is living in Houston. Last October she married Josh Denk. Heather and Josh then became Denkmires.

 Soc Majors Studying Around the World

Sociology majors Mai-leen Colon '06,. Asja Culpepper '07, and Karina Perez '07 took part in a Skidmore spring break study program in East Africa.

Mario Galvin '06 participated in a Skidmore travel program in Ireland in January.

In Spring 2006 Alicia LaPorte '07 studied in Ireland, Megan Noyes '07 studied in New Zealand, and Synae Wang studied in Spain

In fall 2006, Susanna Cooper will study in Italy, Asja Culpepper in Ghana, Emilie Kershaw in Scotland, Sarah Kornblum in England, and Jessica Liebov in Ireland. All are senior sociology majors.

Accompanied by Professor Susan Walzer, several sociology majors presented their Senior Seminar research projects at the annual meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society in Boston in March 2006.

Katie Largo

Tamara McEwan
The Effects of Religiosity on Confidence in the Federal Government

Gillian Connell

Emily Masellone-Snyder

Aaron Tester

SO 375/Senior Seminar in Sociology is taught each fall by Professor Catherine Berheide. Seniors have presented their seminar research at the ESS meetings in each of the last nine years. Click here for more information on the Senior Seminar and past projects.

In a presentation at the American Sociological Association's annual meetings, Robert E. Wood of Rutgers University at Camden cited Skidmore's Sociology Web Site (you're there now!) as "a nicely designed website [offering] a variety of resources in direct support of teaching." Thank you!

Click here for an on-line summary of Dr. Wood's ASA presentation.

The American Sociological Association publishes a semi-annual newsletter for sociology students. It is now available as a PDF file on the ASA Web site. Click here for the latest newsletter.