Sociology/Anthropology Newsletter, Spring 2017
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SOCIOLOGY/ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER SPRING 2017 In this issue: Spotlight on Student GREETINGS FROM THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR Success 2 Warm spring greetings to all of our staff, students, faculty, and alumni! Outstanding Seniors This past year has witnessed a bounty of change, challenge, hope, and promise across 2016 3 seemingly every dimension of social life. And, while the university continues its efforts to manage WSU’s fiscal challenges, our department marches on and continues to focus Distinguished Alumni 4 upon our central mission--delivering a rich array of quality courses and degree programs to our amazing students. SOC/ATH Graduates 5 Programmatically, this past fall we added a new and very popular undergraduate Dean’s List 6 Sociology Certificate in Diversity and Social Inequality (see page 9). This credential highlights students’ proficiency in these high demand arenas and should be a strong selling point our students can showcase for prospective employers. We also created a parallel Anthropology Field graduate Diversity and Social Inequality credential for high school educators seeking to teach Sociology under the School 7 state’s College Credit Plus program. ATH Society 8 Other curricular enhancements in 2016-2017 included the development of new courses for our Anthropology and Sociology programs including two new archaeology courses offered by Dr. Lance Greene – America’s Buried Past and Diversity and Social the Archaeology of Conflict, as well as a new Sociology course, Pop Culture- Race, Class, and Sexuality created by Dr. Inequality Cert 9 Julianne Weinzimmer. Another big highlight was the successful return of the Archaeology Field School (see page 7) which garnered a good bit of well-deserved media attention for Dr. Greene and his students. Faculty News 10 This fall brings another curricular innovation to the sociology curricular inventory – The Sociology of Disability— Politics, Power, and Privilege. This course will be offered by Dr. Jessica Penwell-Barnett (see page 10) and will be part Donors 11 of a new interdisciplinary disability studies minor currently in the works. Some Good Advice 12 We have had several changes in our faculty since last spring’s newsletter. Sadly, I have to share the hard/heart felt departure of two remarkable and much beloved instructors, Cathy Cooke (Anthropology) and Jonathan Varhola (Sociology) whose positions were eliminated as part of the budget remediation process this year. Those of you who Resources 13 have had the pleasure of enrolling in their classes know what a great loss this is for the department and the university and we wish them the secure and successful futures they both so richly deserve. We also said goodbye Summer 2017 14 to Dr. Rob Carley who departed to a new post at Texas A & M. We wish him and his family the best of luck!. In brighter news, we are proud to announce Shelby Frideger has been named as the recipient of our 2017 Fall 2017 15 Outstanding senior award and Parris Carter was named as our 2016 Outstanding Alumnus (see page 4). And, one of our 2016 Outstanding Seniors, Sarah Bostick-Kelley’s also notched a Friend of the Library’s Top Scholar Award Faculty List 16 this spring (see page 2). We also extend congratulations to Dr. Frank Eguaroje who was nominated for the President’s Award for Outstanding NTE Faculty for 2017. And while we are handing out accolades, an enthusiastic ‘hats off’ is also in order for Dr. Laurel Monnig for her promotion to the rank of Lecturer and Dr. Julianne Weinzimmer for her appointment as Interim Director of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program for the 2017-2018 school year. We also extend our congratulations to the faculty promoted to the rank of professor this year-- Drs. Karen Lahm and Lafleur Small. I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments of our staff, students, and faculty and am particularly impressed and inspired by the resolve and activism of our students who have fought for a number of social justice causes this year-- not the least of which is the future of their education at WSU. Please take a few minutes to look inside this newsletter to read more about these, and the other notable bits of news and accomplishments that you – our faculty, students, alumni, and staff, have achieved this year. Tracey Steele, Chair 1 Spotlight on Student Success College of Liberal Arts 2016 -2017 Top Scholar Award—recipient Sarah Bostic -Kelley The University Libraries, Friends of the Libraries and Wright State Parents’ Association sponsor the annual Top Scholar Awards event, in which one student is selected by the dean of each college. A book is purchased and added to the University Libraries permanent collections in honor of each student and includes a book plate with the student’s name and college. The subjects of the books are chosen from within the students’ majors and the books are selected by the libraries’ collection management team. Students’ names and colleges are also added to the online catalog record of their Top Scholar Award book. Congratulations Sarah Bostic-Kelley! Sarah Bostic-Kelley will be graduating summa cum laude with a double major in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Sociology. She was the recipient of the 2016 Most Outstanding Senior (see page 3) in Sociology and the 2017 COLA Outstanding Graduating Senior in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Sarah is extremely passionate about issues pertaining to economic inequality, racial injustice, and gender and sexuality based oppression. She is very politically involved, both on and off campus, in local social activist efforts for women’s rights, LGBTQA+ rights, and racial equality. In the Fall, Sarah plans to begin the Master of Humanities program at Wright State. After completing her masters, she hopes to continue on to a doctoral program in either Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies or Sociology. She aspires to a career in academia, hoping to one day become a professor. Graduates Going Places Shelby Frideger ('17) has been accepted to the Master’s Program in Anthropology at Ball State Universi- ty with a fully paid Graduate Assistantship. She will be working with Drs. Mark Groover and Cailin Mur- ray. Dr. Groover’s research focuses on the rural life on farmsteads and plantations in the United States from the 1700s to the middle 1900s. Dr. Murray's research examines indigenous studies, environmental studies, ethnohistory, postcolonial studies, applied anthropology, the Pacific Northwest, and nation- building. A brief note from Shelby: In my education at Ball State I hope to explore topics of gender and race in historical archaeology. Without the staff and student body of WSU’s Anthropology department I would never have thought this opportunity possible. To my professors, thank you for your spectacular work, the valuable if not difficult lessons you've provided, and for always being available for my questions. To my fellow students, thank you for the inspiration, the comradery, and the thousands of laughs. Anthropology has taught me the immense diversity of human culture, the value of small and forgotten things, and the unfathomably deep roots of humanity. 2 OUTSTANDING GRADUATING SENIOR (ANTHROPOLOGY) —AUGUST 2016 TYLER HENEGHAN Tyler graduated magna cum laude and University Honors Scholar with a B.A. in Anthropology, as well as a B.S. in Biological Sciences. During his time at Wright State, he has focused on prehistoric archaeology and volunteered with the Dayton Society of Natural History at SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park and the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. In addition, Tyler has been a Teaching Assistant and Supplemental Instruction Leader for Dr. Amelia Hubbard and Dr. Cathy Cooke. For ATH2100. After excavating at Fort Ancient in Oregonia, Ohio through WSU’s “Field School in Archaeology” in 2014, Tyler was accepted to a National Science Foundation: Research Experience for Undergraduates fellowship for the summer of 2015. During this two month period, he excavated in Illinois and later designed a research project involving projectile point diversity that was presented at the Midwest Archaeological Conference in November of last year in Milwaukee. It was this research that he expanded upon for the completion of his honors thesis which investigated the effects of warfare on projectile point production. Tyler has been a supervisor for WSU’s field school and is continuing his education at Illinois State University’s Master’s program in Anthropology under WSU alumni Dr. Logan Miller. Tyler hopes to obtain his PhD in Anthropology and become a professional archaeologist in order to pursue a career in academia or contract archaeology. OUTSTANDING GRADUATING SENIOR (SOCIOLOGY) —AUGUST 2016 SARAH BOSTIC-KELLEY Sarah is a Sociology major and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies minor. She became interested in Sociology after realizing that the field focused on several political issues that she is especially passionate about. She is particularly interested in the issues of income inequality, gender and sexuality based oppression, and racial inequality and is very politically involved. She passionately participates in local social activist efforts for women's rights, LGBTQA+ rights, and racial justice. Sarah is happily married with five cats. In her free time, she enjoys writing and performing music. She sings and plays guitar, bass, and ukulele. She is currently teaching herself music production and drums. Sarah hopes to earn her masters degree and eventually a PhD in Sociology. She is in the process of applying to graduate school and she plans to attend after graduating in the fall. She aspires to a career in academia and hopes to be a professor of Sociology. IN MEMORIAM Joseph Anthony Smith (aka Jas) passed away on March 24th. He had recently transferred to WSU from Sinclair, pursuing the Sociology major. He was very passionate about social inequalities and social theory.