Unlv Sociology
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VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD In this issue … FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: GRADUATE STUDENT NATIONAL RESEARCH FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: DR. CASSAUNDRA SUCCESS AWARD WINNERS DR. MICHAEL IAN BORER RODRIGUEZ PAGES 12-13 PAGES 14-16 PAGES 31-33 PAGES 7-8 UNLV SOCIOLOGY From the chair, Dr. Robert Futrell Throughout this newsletter, you will read about some truly outstanding and wide- ranging faculty, staff, and student accomplishments. You’ll also see in the myriad photos, the great people who make UNLV Sociology such a vibrant department. Our efforts continue to demonstrate our resolute commitment to top-notch teaching, important and innovative sociological research, and serving our communities. I’m very honored and grateful to work with such a smart, congenial, and conscientious group of people and remain deeply impressed, each day, with the intellectual seriousness, practical importance, and good will demonstrated in all we do. In the following pages, you’ll see evidence of our department’s rich scholarship and stellar teaching. Some accomplishments highlight faculty books, articles, and research grants. Others demonstrate efforts that garnered some of our discipline’s highest awards and notable honors from UNLV and NSHE. You’ll also see the truly !1 VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD expansive reach into local, national, and international circles through our scholarship and public sociology. Our graduate students continue to amass an impressive record on the awards front, garnering top university honors Thank you for your and research support for their outstanding work. Equally impressive is our faculty and graduate students’ prolific public sociology, which takes the department service! form of media interviews, essays and blogs, report writing, consultations, and community-based research. These activities demonstrate our timely and insightful high-quality work on today’s major public issues. We continue to build UNLV Sociology’s invigorating esprit de corps. Our many department activities, including brown bag lectures and University Forum speakers brings us together with scholars from around the university and around the world. Our Sociology Open House continues to draw more than 200 undergraduate students into our department each Fall semester for fun, food, and conversation. Similarly, our graduate student recruitment day, brings us together as we meet our new graduate student applicants and show them all we have to offer. Celine Ayala We drew on our departmental solidarity as we faced some personal challenges and losses in our ranks this year. We also welcomed new young lives into the department. Both our challenges and our new beginnings highlighted the many ways that our collective connections extend beyond just work and into meaningful relationships among colleagues and friends. There’s so much important daily work needed to keep the department’s wheels turning. I’m continually amazed and appreciative of Pam Weiss and Connie Dye’s expertise in managing our office activities. I’m also indebted to our Executive Committee—Dr. Simon Gottschalk, Dr. Michael Borer, Dr. Andrew Spivak, and Dr. Christie Batson for their hard work and invaluable advice to me during the year. Likewise, our graduate representatives—Celine Ayala and Aiemie Pace—provided vital insights into graduate students’ perspectives. We also extend best wishes to our own Dr. Jennifer Keene as she was Aiemie Pace recently named as the permanent College of Liberal Arts Dean. Likewise, we’re happy to see that another sociologist, Dr. Kate Korgan, was named permanent Graduate College Dean. We’re very excited to see our two colleagues in these vital leadership positions. Celine and Aiemie Finally, an enormous thanks to Dr. Georgiann Davis for producing our newsletter. She somehow continues to find the time to put this publication served as graduate together in the midst of all her other important activities and we are all student representatives immensely grateful for it. during academic year Happy reading! 2018-19. Robert [Editor's note: Congratulations to Dr. Robert Futrell who received the 2018-19 Outstanding Department Chair Award from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas!] !2 VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS Ranita Ray was selected for a National Academy of Education’s 2019 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. She also received the C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems for her book, The Making of a Teenage Service Class: Poverty and Mobility in an American City, as well as honorable mention from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Race, Gender, and Class. She also received the distinguished article from ASA’s Section on Race, Gender, and Class for her Social Problems article “Identity of Distance.” David Dickens (and co-authors Christopher Conner and Nicholas Baxter) published a new edited book entitled Forgotten Founders and Other Neglected Theorists. Cassaundra Rodriguez received a UNLV University Libraries GIS Instructional Development Grant. Michael Ian Borer was named the Director of Religious Studies and will oversee the new minor in Religious Studies that is now housed in the Department of Sociology. Nominated by a student-athlete, he was also recognized as “Professor of the Game” at a UNLV Men’s Basketball game. Robert Futrell received the 2018-19 UNLV Outstanding Department Chair Award. Georgiann Davis was elected chair-elect of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Body & Embodiment. She is also in the middle of a three year term as a general council member for the ASA’s Section on Sex and Gender. In August of 2019, Georgiann finished her three year term as Secretary/Treasurer of the ASA’s Section on Sexualities. Christie Batson was recognized as “Professor of the Game” at a UNLV Men’s Basketball game. She is pictured here with her daughter, Hannah. Dmitri Shalin published a new edited book entitled Russian Intelligentsia in the Age of Counterperestroika: Political Agendas, Rhetorical Strategies, Personal Choices. !3 VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD AFFILIATE FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS Jennifer Keene, Sociologist, who has served as interim Dean of the UNLV College of Liberal Arts since August 2018, was named permanent Dean of the college in July 2019. Kate Hausbeck Korgan, Sociologist, who has served as interim dean of the UNLV Graduate College since 2013, was named permanent dean of the College in January 2019. SOCIOLOGY GUEST SPEAKERS UNLV Sociology was excited to host the following guest speakers (from left to right): Dr. Margaret Hagerman, Dr. Nabamita Das, Dr. Rachel Allison, and Dr. Stefanie Mollborn. !4 VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD THE 2018 UNLV SOCIOLOGY OPEN HOUSE !5 VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD THE 2018 UNLV SOCIOLOGY OPEN HOUSE !6 VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD A CONVERSATION WITH DR. CASSAUNDRA RODRIGUEZ Georgiann Davis sat down with Cassaundra Rodriguez to discuss her book project, her favorite things about Vegas, and her advice for sociology students. Enjoy! GD: When did you join UNLV Sociology? CR: I joined the department in August 2017. GD: I’m so excited for your new book project! Would you tell us a little about it, who is publishing it, and when you anticipate it will be out for us to read? CR: I would love to! My book looks at how Mexican mixed-status families make sense of their membership in the United States and how immigration status shapes family relationships. I focus on the adult citizen children who have undocumented parents partly because as researchers, we know so little about their lives and how they interpret anti-immigrant messages and political attacks against their U.S. citizenship. I find that these Americans push back on this rhetoric by highlighting the dignity of their families and pointing out that these debates are often rooted in racist and illogical thinking. I am excited that NYU Press will be publishing the manuscript. We might expect to see it in print in 2021. GD: That’s sounds incredible! Speaking of books, and I'm sure this is a difficult question, but what’s your favorite sociology book? CR: When I was in college, I was drawn to books about feminism and feminist politics. I could easily say that my favorite book then was Domestica by Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo. During the transition to graduate school, I very much appreciated Mary Romero’s scholarship, including her book The Maid’s Daughter. These days I have many favorites! GD: You’ve been in Vegas for about two years now, right? What are your favorite things about the area? CR: I tell everyone that Vegas feels familiar to me. Sometimes the city reminds me of Los Angeles, but without the vast urban sprawl and extreme traffic. One of my favorite things about Las Vegas are the good eats. There are so many delicious options for breakfast. I also have my favorite Thai food and Korean BBQ spots so I am set! !7 VOL 5 — 2019 EDITOR, GEORGIANN DAVIS, PHD GD: What courses do you typically teach for UNLV Sociology? CR: I teach Sociology of Gender (Soc 453), Latinos in America (Soc 753), Marriage and Family (Soc 447), Introduction to Sociology (Soc 101) and Latinos and Racial Justice (Soc 753). GD: What advice do you have for aspiring sociology students at either the undergraduate or graduate level? CR: Keep asking questions! Ask research questions that you want answered. Conduct research that is meaningful to you. Also, ask questions about your chosen career. Research your options. In doing all this, you may find that cultivating relationships with mentors makes it easier to develop these questions and see a path that makes sense for you. GD: What’s one thing folks probably don't know about you that you are willing to share? Maybe a favorite movie, musician, etc. CR: I used to be an avid runner.