This Week: 10/10

Lots of great events coming up–not the least of which is our graduate student conference in less than two weeks!

Click here for the full calendar.

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October 10: Columbus Day recess (Monday classes meet Tuesday 10/11, no Tuesday classes this week)

October 12-16: Conference, “Daring to Be Dangerous: A Sociology for Our Troubled Times,” Association for Humanist Sociology, Chicago-Evanston, IL.

October 13: Center for Social Science Research Brown Bag Series, featuring Shannon N. Davis, Shannon K. Jacobsen, and Julie Anderson (GMU), CSSR, 12:00-1:15 PM.

October 15: Submission deadline, “Storied Lives: Culture, Structure, and Narrative,” Eastern Sociological Society, New York, NY (February 23-26, 2012).

October 15: Submission deadline, “Intersectionalities and Inequalities: Knowledge and Power for the 21st Century,” Pacific Sociological Association, San Diego, CA (March 22-25, 2012).

October 17: Submission deadline, “Shifting Social Contracts,” Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, LA (March 21-24, 2012).

October 20: Center for Social Science Research Brown Bag Series, featuring Marisa Allison (GMU), CSSR, 12:00-1:15 PM.

October 20: Grad student teaching workshop led by Nancy Hanrahan (GMU), Robinson B 313 (SOAN Conference Room), 1:30 PM.

October 22: First Annual Public Sociology Graduate Conference hosted by GSSA, Research Hall, Room 163, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.

October 24: Submission deadline, “Sociological Understandings of the Global Transformation,” Midwest Sociological Society, Minneapolis, MN (March 29-April 1, 2012).

October 27: Center for Social Science Research Brown Bag Series, featuring Johanna Bockman and Katie Kerstetter (GMU), CSSR, 12:00-1:15 PM.

October 27: Lecture, “Through a Glass Darkly: The Persistence of Race in Education Research,” Gloria J. Ladson-Billings (University of Wisconsin), sponsored by the American Educational Research Association, Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, DC, 6:00 PM.

Recurring Events

There are two recurring events that will be occurring on Thursdays throughout the remainder of the fall semester: a brownbag series at the Center for Social Science Research presenting research from ongoing studies at GMU, and a teaching workshop for grad students currently or interested in teaching.

The CSSR’s brownbag series will occur weekly at the CSSR on Thursdays at 12:00-1:15. Faculty and students alike will be presenting the preliminary results of their ongoing projects with the aim of fostering collegial discussions that provides learning opportunities for the presenters as well as the audience.

The teaching workshops will occur every other week in the SOAN conference room (Robinson B 313) on Thursdays at 1:30. The workshops will be led by sociology professor Nancy Hanrahan and will focus on various topics related to teaching sociology.

Both events begin tomorrow–the CSSR brown bag will feature research conducted by Ph.D. student Jean Boucher, while the teaching workshop focus on preparing instruction for a class. Be sure to stop by both events tomorrow and plan to hear more about exciting research and teaching events on Thursdays for the rest of the semester!

This Week: 10/3

Lots of interesting events and submission deadlines occurring in the next couple of weeks–be sure to take a look and plan ahead!

October 4: Take Back the Night, North Plaza (GMU), 7:00-9:30 PM.

October 6: Panel, “Responding to the Economic Crisis: Austerity, Neoliberalism, and Beyond Neoliberalism,” featuring Johanna Bockman (GMU) and others, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1:00-3:00 PM.

October 6: Cultural Studies Colloquium, “The Liminality of Mobility: Gender and Embodiment in Urban Egypt,” Farha Ghannam (Swarthmore), Room D, Johnson Center, 4:30-7:10 PM.

October 6: Lecture, “The Future of Sociology–Minorities, Programs, Jobs,” Roberta Spalter-Roth (Director of Research and Development, American Sociological Association), Sponsored by the DC Sociological Society, ASA Headquarters (1430 K St., Suite 600), 7:00 PM.

October 10: Columbus Day recess (Monday classes meet Tuesday 10/11, no Tuesday classes this week)

October 12-16: Conference, “Daring to Be Dangerous: A Sociology for Our Troubled Times,” Association for Humanist Sociology, Chicago-Evanston, IL.

October 15: Submission deadline, “Storied Lives: Culture, Structure, and Narrative,”Eastern Sociological Society, New York, NY (February 23-26, 2012).

October 15: Submission deadline, “Intersectionalities and Inequalities: Knowledge and Power for the 21st Century,” Pacific Sociological Association, San Diego, CA (March 22-25, 2012).

October 17: Submission deadline, “Shifting Social Contracts,” Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, LA (March 21-24, 2012).

October 22: First Annual Public Sociology Graduate Conference hosted by GSSA, Research Hall, Room 163, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM.

Click here for the full calendar.

This Week: 9/26

September 29: Informal graduate student coffee, Center for Social Science Research, 10:00-11:30 AM.

September 30-October 1: Conference, “Human Rights in Global Perspective,” Howard University, Washington, DC.

October 1: Submission deadline, “33rd Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum,” University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (February 24-25, 2012).

October 4: Take Back the Night, North Plaza (GMU), 7:00-9:30 PM.

October 6: Panel, “Responding to the Economic Crisis: Austerity, Neoliberalism, and Beyond Neoliberalism,” featuring Johanna Bockman (GMU) and others, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1:00-3:00 PM.

October 6: Cultural Studies Colloquium, “The Liminality of Mobility: Gender and Embodiment in Urban Egypt,” Farha Ghannam (Swarthmore), Room D, Johnson Center, 4:30-7:10 PM.

October 6: Lecture, “The Future of Sociology–Minorities, Programs, Jobs,” Roberta Spalter-Roth (Director of Research and Development, American Sociological Association), Sponsored by the DC Sociological Society, ASA Headquarters (1430 K St., Suite 600), 7:00 PM.

Conference and Newsletter Update

Two big announcements. First, a new edition of our student newsletter, In the Field, has been published and can be downloaded here. The new edition features an interview with our own John Dale as well as lots of student news, contributions, and announcements.

Second, the preliminary program for the first Public Sociology Graduate Conference has been posted. The conference will feature a keynote address by Gregory D. Squires from George Washington University as well as 22 student presentations divided into 6 panels:

• Challenging Hegemony
• Information Politics in an Age of Digital Media
• Engaging Contemporary Latin America
• Nation, Violence, and Race in the United States
• Public Sociology in a Globalizing World
• Race and Poverty in Urban Contexts

The full program is printed below. For more information about the conference, check out the conference website and be sure to RSVP at our Facebook page!

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Public Sociology Graduate Conference Program [Preliminary]

9:30-10:00      Registration/Reception (Research Hall Lobby)

10:00-10:15    Opening Remarks (Research Hall, Room 163)

10:15-11:45    Panels 1 & 2

Panel 1: Public Sociology in a Globalizing World (Research Hall, Room 163)  Discussant: TBA

• A Phoenix Reborn: Revolution, Democracy, and Governance in Latin America and the Middle East (Johnnie Lotesta, George Mason University)
• The Anomic Effect of Globalization: Modern Day Guilds as the Solution (Anne E. Rankin, Stephen F. Austin State University)
• Collaboration Not Co-Optation: Challenges in Efforts to Transform State Systems to Integrate Gender and Public Health (Basha Silverman, Bryn Mawr College, and Joanna Champney, Stand Up for What’s Right and Just)
• Toward a Global Ecological and Social Transition through Feminist Political Economy (Julia Wartenberg, University of Virginia)

Panel 2: Race and Poverty in Urban Contexts (Nguyen Engineering Building, Room 1103)  Discussant: TBA

• Racial Diversity and Racial Residential Segregation: A Case Study of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area (Joanna Pinto-Coelho, University of Pennsylvania)
• Preserving Affordable Housing and Building Wealth in an Economic Recovery: Limited-Equity Cooperatives as an Alternative to Tenant Displacement (Katie Kerstetter, George Mason University, and John Robinson, Northwestern University)
• In Too Deep: Consequences of Water Bills in a Poor Southern City (Siri Warkentien, Barbara Condliffe, and Stefanie DeLuca, Johns Hopkins University)

12:00-1:30      Panels 3 & 4

Panel 3: Engaging Contemporary Latin America (Research Hall, Room 163)  Discussant: Nicole McCoy, George Mason University

• Exhibiting the Nation: the Indigenous in Chile’s National Museums (Magdalena Gil-Ureta, Columbia University)
• Transnational Solidarity: International Human Rights Accompaniers in Post-Coup Honduras (Gregory S. Harris, University of Pennsylvania)
• Social Justice in Extreme Situations: The Case of Child Soldiers in Colombia (Randy Salm, George Mason University)
• Intergenerational Family Transfers in Latin America: Effects of Economic and Socio-Demographic Change (Elizangela Storelli, Boston College)

Panel 4: Nation, Violence, and Race in the United States (Nguyen Engineering Building, Room 1103)  Discussant: TBA

• Law-Abiding Citizens: Guns, Masculinity and Race under the War on Crime (J. Dawn Carlson, University at California-Berkeley)
• Violence in Family of Origin and Criminality in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study (Marcie Hambrick, Georgia State University)
• All the Gays are White and All the Racists are Straight: The Intersections of White Privilege and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Identities (Megan Rolfe, University at Albany-SUNY)
• The Moral Discourse of the United States (Amy Stuart, The New School for Social Research)

1:30-2:15        Lunch

2:15-3:45        Panels 5 & 6

Panel 5: Challenging Hegemony (Research Hall, Room 163)  Discussant: TBA

• How Men and Women Challenge the Ideal Worker Norm in High Status Work Occupations (Julie L. Armstrong, Emory University)
• Garden Sharing: How Civil Society Creates Alterity Against the Dominant Food Production System (Dionne Banks, University of Florida)
• Eco-Terrorists Unite!: Reclaiming the Commons through Public Performance (Michael Loadenthal, George Mason University, and Jenny Grubbs, American University)
• Reclaiming the Social of the Sociological Imagination: Public Sociology, Pedagogy, and Engaging Undergraduates in the Classroom (Margaret Austin Smith and David Paul Strohecker, University of Maryland-College Park)

Panel 6: Information Politics in the Age of Digital Media (Nguyen Engineering Building, Room 1103)  Discussant: Zeynep Tufekci, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Internet Infrastructure: ‘Access’ Rhetoric, Neoliberalism, and Informational Politics (Dan Greene, University of Maryland-College Park)
• Academic Marginalization in the Age of Social Media (P.J. Rey, University of Maryland-College Park)
• Social Media and Revolutionary Movements: Toward Research and Activist Agendas (Mina Semeni, Randy Lynn, and Jason Smith, George Mason University)

4:00-5:00        Keynote Address (Research Hall, Room 163) 

• “Fox TV, Cybersegregation, and Public Sociology:  Is Neil a More Desirable Tenant than Tyrone or Jorge?” (Dr. Gregory D. Squires, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, George Washington University)

This Week: 9/19

Coming up: a lecture at Georgetown, the annual Cultural Studies student conference, a human rights conference at Howard, and a submission deadline for an ethnography in education conference.

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September 22: Lecture, “Not Hollywood: Independent Film as Cultural Critique,” Sherry Ortner (Georgetown), Georgetown University, McCarthy Hall, McShain Lounge, 4:00-5:30 PM.

September 22: Cultural Studies Colloquium, “Commons and the Limits of ‘Biopolitical Production,’” Crystal Bartolovich (Syracuse), Room F, Johnson Center, 4:30-7:10 PM.

September 22-23: Conference, “Ecological Inequalities and Interventions: Contemporary Environmental Practices,” hosted by the GMU Cultural Studies Student Organizing Committee, Mason Hall, D3A & B.

September 30-October 1: Conference, “Human Rights in Global Perspective,” Howard University, Washington, DC.

October 1: Submission deadline, “33rd Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum,” University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (February 24-25, 2012).

Click here for the full calendar.

This Week: 9/12

Of interest this week: A lecture delivered by the mother of the president of Georgia on Turkic minorities in the U.S., and a joint GSSA/PSA meeting at which we hope to see many of you:

September 12: Lecture, “”Turkic Nations and Their Global Perspective: Turkic Minorities in the US,” Her Excellency Dr. Giuli Alasania, Founder and Head Trustee of the University of Georgia-Tbilisi, Mason Hall, Edwin Meese Conference Room, 3:00-4:3o PM.

September 14: GSSA/PSA Joint Meeting, Conference Room, Center for Social Science Research, 1:00-3:00 PM.

Click here for the full calendar.

Job Opening: DCFPI Research Associate

Katie Kerstetter has passed along a job opening for an analyst/associate at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. She used to hold this position herself and it comes with her enthusiastic recommendation. For more info, see below and/or e-mail her.

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The DC Fiscal Policy Institute, an affiliate of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, is seeking a Policy Analyst or Research Associate to work on tax and budget policies in the District of Columbia, with a focus on issues that affect low- and moderate-income residents.

DCFPI is the leading source of independent information on budget and tax issues in the District of Columbia.  Each year, we provide a comprehensive review of the DC budget in the form of a widely-used online Budget Toolkit.   DCFPI also prepares timely jargon-free reports on a wide range of policy issues – affordable housing, economic development, health care, and tax policy, among others.

Duties

• Conduct research and prepare policy reports and briefs
• Provide technical assistance in response to requests from policymakers or advocates
• Analyze pending legislative proposals
• Represent DCFPI in advocacy coalitions
• Make public presentations of DCFPI research

Applicants should have an interest in budget and tax policy issues and have the following skills/experience:

• Graduate degree in public policy or related field
• Knowledge of economics and statistics
• Facility with spreadsheets and statistical database programs such as STATA
• Excellent writing skills
• Ability to work on multiple tasks in a time-sensitive manner
• Work in a public policy setting, with some advocacy experience, is strongly preferred

Details on how to apply are available here: http://www.dcfpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/8-24-11-Policy-Analyst-Job-Aannouncement.pdf

 

Welcome back!

Hope everyone had a great summer!

The GSSA is kicking off the new school year with a social gathering on Thursday at 7:30 pm (or earlier if the 4:30 classes end early) at the Auld Shebeen in old town Fairfax. (If you’re new to the area, click here for directions.) All new and returning students are welcome!

If you’d like to be involved in planning/organizing a slew of interesting fall events (in addition to our public sociology graduate conference in October) and you’re not on our e-mail list, e-mail us. We’ll be meeting to plan the upcoming semester very soon and want to hear your ideas!

If you’re new to the GSSA, here’s a quick tour of a few of the resources and highlights available on our website:

• A regularly updated calendar that includes GMU academic deadlines, departmental events, other events around GMU of interest to sociologists (e.g., Women & Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, etc.), sociological events of note in the DC metro area, submission deadlines and conferences (local and major regional/national) to which you might submit your work, and GSSA events.
• A comprehensive list of over two hundred sociology and social science journals to which you might submit your work, complete with h-indexes measuring reach/prestige.
• The most recent issue of our newsletter, In the Field, published last fall. (A new issue will be published soon.)

For more about us and what we do, check out our About page, our Members page, and a list of past events we’ve sponsored.

This Week: 8/29

“This Week” is a weekly post throughout the semester listing upcoming academic deadlines, departmental events, GMU events of interest to sociologists, DC metro area events of interest to sociologists, submission deadlines, conferences, and (of course) GSSA and PSA events. It will be posted every Sunday. 

A slow first week, but we’ll be gathering after classes on Thursday to have a drink or two and unwind. (All are welcome.) Check back each week to stay informed about social and professional events on or near campus, and take a look at the full calendar every now and then so those submission deadlines don’t sneak up on you.

• August 29: First day of classes
• September 1: GSSA social event, Auld Shebeen, 7:30 pm (or when 4:30 classes end)
• September 5: No classes (Labor Day)
• September 6: Last day to add/drop