Volume 44 • Number 1 • January 2016 Report of the ASA Secretary on ASA Finances: inside The ASA Operating Budget and Invested Assets Mary Romero, Arizona State University Footnotes. In these reports we use from membership and from the and ASA Secretary the most recent ASA fifnancial data ASA journals are, and have long 3 Authors of Rose Series SA secretaries regularly report to that has been audited by an outside been, the two largest sources of the Book Win Grawemeyer the membership about the status auditing fifrm. For this report, the Association’s income (33%, 35% A most recent audited data are for respectively), together making up Alexander, Olson, and of ASA’s fifnances. I do this semian- 2014. The 2015 audited data will be about two-thirds of the Association’s Entwisle receive the nually by publishing the minutes of available ater Council acts on the annual revenue. An additional 20 Grawemeyer Award in the ASA Council meetings at which audit in August 2016. percent of revenues in 2014 came Education for The Long Council reviews and acts upon the from the Annual Meeting, 6 percent Shadow. annual operating budget and our ASA’s Operating Budget: from the sale of other publications, invested reserves. I also post the Revenues and Expenditures in and 6 percent from “other revenues” Memories of Florian annual audit on the ASA website. 2014 5 The Executive Office publishes an that included rental income from Znaniecki Where does the Association’s ASA office space. More detail on ASA Annual Report just before income come from? How much The daughter of a University these categories follows. the August Annual Meeting that revenue is generated? of Illinois sociologist shares What is labeled “Member contains my fifnancial report, and ASA’s total annual operating her memories and photos Revenues” (33% or $2,100,922 I present a fifnancial report at the income for 2014 was $6,408,857. of Dr. Znaniecki, ASA’s 44th in 2014) combines the sources of annual Business Meeting. Chart 1 shows the sources of ASA’s President. ASA secretaries also periodically revenue related directly to ASA total revenues using broad but membership: membership dues and report to the membership on our meaningful categories. Revenue 6 Teaching Pre-Meds in Association’s fifnances through Continued on Page 8 Sociology Courses With changes to the MCAT, some sociology courses should expect to see a Launching a New Pilot Mentoring ASA Rolls Out broader population of students. Program at ASA Standards for Beth Floyd and High School 7 Cornell’s Rural Sociology Jean H. Shin, Celebrates its Centennial ASA Minority Sociology at The nation’s first Fellowship Department of Rural Program NCSS Sociology reflects on its his past history and looks forward to November Jean Shin, ASA Minority Fellowship T Program its future. ASA success- fully launched n November 13, 2015, in New From the Executive Officer .................2 a small pilot OOrleans, ASA once again mentoring pro- Science Policy .........................................3 sponsored an all-day symposium gram centered for high school teachers at the 2015 Announcements ................................. 12 on Minority Attendees at the Mentoring for Success in Research program National Council for the Social Obituaries .............................................. 17 Fellowship Studies (NCSS) Annual Conference. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Program This was the fifth event of this for large or small research grants. (MFP) alumni. The program kind that ASA has sponsored since It is an MFP-focused development focused on alumni from its National 2011. However, this one was a project that is consistent with the Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) little different because of the high program’s current and future goals, and National Institute on Drug school teachers’ excitement about and ASA hopes to learn lessons Abuse (NIDA)-funded period the newly published ASA National from it about programmatic between 2000 and 2010. Titled Standards for High School Sociology. directions. Mentoring for Success in Research Approved by ASA Council MSR is being co-led by three staff (MSR) the goal of the pilot program this August in Chicago, the sociologists at the ASA Executive is to assist MFP alumni who are National Standards are designed to Office—John W. Curtis, Director currently assistant professors (on provide guidance to teachers and the tenure track) in applying to the of Research on the Discipline and Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 10 footnotes • January 2016 To view the online version, visit <www.asanet.org/footnotes/jan16/index.html> 1 American Sociological Association footnotes.asanet.org from the executive officer Change the Conversation: Communicate Sociological Research ews and information are over- so-called “self-correcting” internet “academic.” Opponents of this gun violence. A December article in Nwhelming us. Smartphones, may not exist, or at least, it is proba- change oten misinterpreted (and the Washington Post highlighted the Kindles, iPads and the like are giving bly highly selective in its impact. sometimes distorted) the scientififc impact of the Lankford study when us access to information anytime Public debate on climate change fifndings and were helped at the last it talked about the wave of mass and anyplace. No longer is another area where minute before the fifrst key case hit shootings . do we need the nightly this problem is rife. the United States Supreme Court The White House also pointed news, the Sunday New Misinformation is slowly by a study published by sociologist to research by University of York Times (although receding from the public’s Mark Regnerus. Alabama criminal justice this is still my favorite), perceived truth about both When this scientififcally contro- professor Adam Lankford, or Walter Cronkite to keep us whether climate change is real and versial study came out, the leading who declared mass shootings informed. And, in many ways this is what causes it. Many climate change opponents of same-sex marriage the “dark side of American a good thing. deniers have vigorously protested cited it to justify the position that exceptionalism.” The paper is Besides our personal overload, it that the science isn’t certain because same-sex marriage should not not yet published officially, but is the problem of misinformation not all scientists believe climate become legal because it would hurt his findings have been covered and blatant dishonesty in the news change is happening, and they children. It took a great deal of work widely in the news and has been and information we continually highlight the publications of a few by a lot of social scientists including used to support Obama’s argu- consume that is troubling, especially academics. But as a recent Guardian ASA members and Council with our ment. Lankford ran statistical to sociologists and other scientists. article reported, the denying sci- pro bono lawyers to get the scientififc analyses of the total number of Lies, half-truths, and misinforma- entists are oten paid by the hour facts out through a number of ASA- public mass shooters per country tion spread so rapidly across the to write reports casting doubts on authored amicus briefs to state and from 1966 to 2012 in 171 public through digital communica- climate change (www.theguard- federal courts hearing these cases, as countries, and controlled for the tion that the timespan for thought- ian.com/environment/2015/ well as to the United States Supreme national population size. (www. ful, effective correction or rebuttal dec/08/greenpeace-exposes-scep- Court (twice), and into media and washingtonpost.com/news/ is infifnitesimal. Because of confifr- tics-cast-doubt-climate-science?C- the public discourse. fact-checker/wp/2015/12/03/ mation bias (see the February 2015 MP=share_btn_tw). The courts in the United States obamas-inconsistent-claim-on- Vantage Point), misinformation have now almost all sided with Can Scientists Counteract the-frequency-of-mass-shoot- and outright lies quickly strengthen science as did the Supreme Court, Misinformation? ings-in-the-u-s-compared-to- perceived truths or pre-held beliefs and today same-sex marriage is other-countries/) Yes, even if it is oten difficult. The that are already hard to change. the law of the land. However, the The Lankford study is not the In July 2015, for example, the New misinformation held as fact by the negative narrative lingers and public and policy leaders (whether only research being promoted by the York Times ran an article claiming misunderstood science continues to ASA Department of Public Affairs that former Secretary of State Hillary through misunderstanding of data be used to deny LGBT individuals or deliberate misinformation) can and Public Information. Over Clinton was the target of a criminal their rights. In November, a Utah the last fifve years this department probe over classififed material in her be chipped away by facts that are judge ruled that a same-sex couple backed by scientififc evidence. Before of three dedicated ASA staff has private e-mail system. Almost every could not be foster parents. The promoted more than 280 scientififc aspect of the article was false, but misinformation is spread, we should ASA Office of Public Affairs and try to get the science out fifrst to try studies to reporters and responded before the article could be corrected Public Information was alerted by to more than 2,270 media requests— the existing public narrative that to capture the headlines before the ASA members and reached out to public narratives form or harden. providing reporters with the latest Clinton skirts the law was rein- Utah media outlets, sharing the research and connecting ASA mem- forced (www.motherjones.com/ But we know this opportunity is ASA amicus brief. News coverage of rare for the social sciences. Using bers to reporters. And reporters kevin-drum/2015/07/new-york- the science took place quickly and keep coming back to us for sources, times-needs-do-better-job-explain- scientififc evidence to correct mis- a few days later the judge reversed information may not change beliefs as Diana Tourjee of VICE magazine ing-its-epic-hillary-clinton-screw).