Sociology 2020 Newsletter

SOCIOLOGY NEWSLETTER | Issue #5 Professor Emeritus Awards The Department of Sociology had a very active year for it’s Emeriti Faculty! Dr. Riley Dunlap was recognized on the Web of Science list of Highly Cited Researchers 2019. Researchers are selected for their exceptional influence in one or more of 21 fields (those used in Essential Science Indicators,1 or ESI). These esteemed scholars published papers between 2008 and 2018 that ranked in the top 1% by citations for their ESI field and year (the definition of a highly cited paper). 6,216 researchers were named Highly Cited Researchers in 2019 – 3,725 in specific fields and 2,491 for cross-field performance. Dr. Dunlap was recognized in the “Social Sciences, General” category. Dr. Dunlap commented on this great achievement saying, “It's really cool, and is based on citations to my publications from 2008 to 2019--many with Aaron [McCright] (who also made the list)…There's only 204 of us around the world, and I don't see ANY other US sociologists on the list. This was indeed a very productive period for me, and the work on climate change denial and polarization in particular I published (with Aaron and some others) really got a lot of attention and continues to do so.” The Department of Sociology would also like to share that over October 24th-26th 2019, the Mid-South Sociological Association (MSSA) held its 2019 conference in Jackson, Mississippi. At the conference, our Professor Emeritus, Dr. David Knottnerus was honored with the 2019 MSSA Distinguished Career Award! Dr. Knottnerus was honored for his exemplary achievements in Sociology and for the contributions to the MSSA. Dr. Knottnerus joined the Department of Sociology in 1988, and retired in 2014 after 26 years at OSU. The award was formally presented at the conference by Dr. Jason Ulsperger, Ph.D. graduate from Oklahoma State University, now Professor of Sociology at Arkansas Tech University, and 2018-2019 President of the MSSA. His full speech can be read at our website, under the news article regarding Dr. Knottnerus’ award. An except from it reads: "I was about to start work on my Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University in the fall of 1999. All of the teaching assistants had to come in a couple of weeks early and meet with Dr. Ed Arquitt in the Classroom Building – at that time home to the Sociology Department. Everyone was discussing assignments, and I overheard comments about a professor named Knottnerus.”