Sociology 2017 Newsletter

SOCIOLOGY NEWSLETTER | Issue #2 2 Three undergraduate sociology majors—Bashira Reed, Marissa Moore, and Catherine Monterru‐ bio—competed in the Judith Little Problem Solv‐ ing Competition at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) Meetings in Greenwood Village, Colora‐ do. Teams compete to offer the best sociological solution for an issue facing a local agency or or‐ ganization. This year, AACS partnered with the African Community Center of Denver, whose mis‐ sion is to help refugees and immigrants rebuild safe, sustainable lives in Denver. The African Community Center serves over 580 refugees, asylees, and secondaries each year. Students competing in the Judith Little Problem Solving Competition exercised their sociological knowledge and skills to help address the need for affordable housing in Denver for ECDC refugees. On the last day of the conference, teams present their solutions to AACS members and agen‐ cy representatives. The OSU sociology team’s mentor and advisor, Dahlia Molloy, said that she was “proud of the team. In this competition, they are able to apply sociology in real‐life settings, not just academe. They worked nearly around the clock for three days and presented a feasible and well informed solution to the problem. I think, in reali‐ ty, they impress even themselves at being able to approach a real life prob‐ lem and propose a solution using their sociological knowledge, concepts, the‐ ory and methodology.” Judith Little Problem Solving Competition Dahlia Molloy, Bashira Reed, Marissa Moore, and Catherine Monterrubio at AACS. The Department continued to build capacity. We welcomed Dr. Benjamin J. (BJ) Gray in February as a Post‐Doctoral Research Assistant on the EPSCoR project. We also hired Dr. Mike Long, who will rejoin the faculty in January after three years at the University of Northumbria. The 2017‐18 academic year promises to be one of continued success as we build on our strengths and continue to ad‐ dress socially relevant issues in our research, teaching, and service. I invite you to take time to learn more about the recent happenings in Sociology in the following pages and on our Departmental website (http:// sociology.okstate.edu/ ) where you will find a wealth of information about our faculty, students, alumni and programs! Duane A. Gill, Ph.D. Professor and Interim Head From the Department Head— on page 1