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Welcome to the Department of Sociology

PhDs on the job market

2012 Newsletter

Upcoming Event

DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM

Sexual Health & Activity across Age & Cultures: Results from Three Landmark Studies

Presented by Professor Edward O. Laumann, the George Herbery Mead Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago

Monday, April 8, 2013, 3:30-4:30 in Beering Hall 1245

 

Research Spotlight

Sociology studies how societies are organized, and the consequences of varying forms of organization on people's lives. It is scientific, based upon systematic analyses of evidence; it is non-obvious, in making discoveries that might not otherwise be noticed; and it is important, in identifying opportunities and strategies for change that can improve society.

Purdue's Department of Sociology: produces world-class scholarship, in the books and articles it publishes; offers two outstanding undergraduate majors, one in Sociology and another in Law and Society; and delivers an exceptionally strong graduate program leading to the Ph.D. At the graduate level, the Department's research and training programs are currently organized into six areas: Family and Gender; Health, Aging, and the Life Course; Law and Society; Sociology of Religion; Social Inequality; and Social Movements and Political Sociology.

Bert Useem
Professor and Head


Departmental News

Prof. Kenneth Ferraro has been selected as the winner of the College of Liberal Arts Discovery Excellence Award for the Social Sciences.  The award, given for the first time this year, is the College's highest recognition for scholarly achievement in the social scientists. The award was given to Dr. Ferraro for his work’s "extraordinary strength, impact, and creativity.”

Ms. Candriana Clem was the recipient of the 2012-13 H. H. Remmers Memorial Award from The African American Studies and Research Center. The award is based on the student’s professional development and demonstration of leadership.  At a reception, Ms. Clem received $1,000 and an  engraved plaque.  

Prof. Rachel Einwohner recently gave a paper at an international conference on Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust, held in Berlin on the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  Her paper, “Credible Contacts and Committed Connections:  Examining Decisions about Resistance in the Ghettos of Warsaw, Vilna, and Lodz” will appear in an edited volume based on the conference. 

Ms. Lindsay Wilkinson received the first Robert L. Eichhorn Fellowship in Medical Sociology. The award was given at a reception honoring Dr. Eichhorn. In attendance were Dr. Eichhorn, wife Sue Eichhorn, daughters Gretchen Ely and Lise Schools, and several of his former PhD students.  Many other former students submitted letters discussing the contribution that Dr. Eichhorn made to their education and careers.  

Professor Sarah Mustillo has been appointed to a University-wide task force that will develop measures of the learning progress of Purdue students.   She and the other members of the committee will produce the first draft of a report by July 1.

Graduate student Emily Harris was the winner for the best poster presentation in Social Sciences and Humanities at the Graduate Academic Conference: Innovation, Collaboration, & Professionalization held at Michigan State University.

Prof. Fenggang Yang has launched and will serve as editor-in-chief of a new journal, Review of Religion and Chinese Society.  The journal will be published by Brill Academic Publishers, with its offices here in the Department.  Editorial work will begin this May. 

Prof. Fengang Yang was interviewed on Australian radio about the situation of religion in China, as well as his recent book, Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule. Listen

Prof. Jacob Hibel received the Excellence in Research Award given by the Center for Research on Diversity and Inclusion, College of Liberal Arts.  The winning paper, “Delayed Special Education Placement for Learning Disabilities among Children of Immigrants,” was recently published in Social Forces.

Prof. Jack Spencer was awarded the Midwest Sociological Society’s 2012/2013 Distinguished Book Award for, The Paradox of Youth Violence.  He will be honored at the Midwest Meetings in Chicago on March 28th.

Spencer Book

 

Professor Richard Hogan has been elected Chair of the Marxist Section of the American Sociological Association.

Professor Sarah Mustillo has been appointed as a 2013 University Faculty Scholar and a member of the Purdue University Teaching Academy.

Professor Kevin Stainback discussed his recent research on increasing workplace segregation in a Washington Post op-ed.

Research conducted by Professor Jill Suitor and PhD candidate Megan Gilligan was recently featured in the New York Times.