Founded in 1930, the Eastern Sociological Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting excellence in sociological scholarship and instruction. The ESS sponsors a professional journal, a four-day annual meeting in the spring, a newsletter, numerous award competitions, an employment service, and a mailing list.

Presentations:

• Alex Heckert and Christian Vaccaro, with Jessica Visnesky: “Operationalizing Anomie at the Individual Level of Analysis”
• Dana Hysock Witham: “Gender and Sexual Violence” (Session Organizer)
• Diane Shinberg: “Why are physicians healthier than nurses (and the rest of us)? Sociological perspectives on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index”
• Christian Vaccaro, with Deana Rohlinger, Miriam Sessions, and Heather Mauney: “Identity in Action: Personal Identity and Argumentation in the Terri Schiavo Case”
• Alisha Conway: “Social bonds and chronic disease: Mothers experiencing dialysis for End Stage Renal Disease”
• Courtney Gummo: “Academic Success in College: The Effects of Social Skills on Grade Point Average between Males and Females”
• James Martin and Christian Vaccaro: “Epic Glory: Dagohir, Nerd Identity, and Manhood”
• Gloria Onosu: “A qualitative analysis of challenges facing expatriate workers coming to the United States”

Department of Sociology

Our first Info Night will be held on the IUP main campus on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. in the Allegheny Room (HUB).

The event is free, but space is limited—so please RSVP today! E-mail graduate secretary Kimberly Winters at kwinters@iup.edu to RSVP. Thank you!

Presentation by Jean Whitehorse (Navajo activist) to follow at 4:00 p.m. in McVitty Auditorium, Sprowls Hall. Title of Presentation: “Hohzo, The Navajo Way of Thinking.”

Department of Sociology

List of Presentations:

• “Gendered Embodiment Cycles in Mixed Martial Arts,” Christian Vaccaro
• “Social Awkwardness, Nerdism, and Manhood Acts in a Campus LARPing Group,” James Martin and Christian Vaccaro
• “Testing the Effects of Bullying and Cyber-bullying on Self-Concept and Delinquency Using the Pennsylvania Youth Survey,” Lindsay Kahle and Christian Vaccaro

Read more in Patriot-News: Setting the Standard': Susquehanna Township Police Officer Pursues Rare Doctorate Degree

The study, led by assistant visiting professor Christian Vaccaro, suggests most fighters never fully overcome their fear of losing or getting injured. The study was published in the December 2011 issue of the American Sociological Association’s Social Psychology Quarterly.

Read more in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Study of Martial Arts Fighters Attempts to Shed Light on How Men Manage Their Fears”

Department of Sociology

Vaccaro and his coauthors discuss their research on how men practicing mixed martial arts manage their fear and emotions to portray confidence.

The article has been featured in media including the Huffington Post and Men's Health News.

This award was presented at the seventeenth annual awards luncheon in April 2011.

Congratulations, Rebecca!

Called the IUP Peace Garden, it builds upon work conducted by the IUP student group Voices for Peace, who created an Iraq War Memorial cross display that was placed on a site near Keith Hall from 2004 to 2008. That exhibit was later taken down and replaced with a temporary Peace Pole which currently sits in the same location.

The initial plans for the IUP Peace Garden were developed by Amanda Fink, Eleanor Bracken, and Nathan Ballard, students in Dr. Jim Dougherty’s Social Change class in 2010. They conducted research and created a PowerPoint presentation which illustrates possible images, symbols, landscaping, and a physical layout for the peace garden.

The proposal has gained support from the IUP administration, and is currently being considered for incorporation into the site plans of the new College of Humanities and Social Science building that is scheduled to replace Keith and Leonard halls in 2012.

For more information about upcoming fundraiser events or the IUP Peace Garden project, contact Dr. Dougherty at jdoc@iup.edu or by calling 724-357-2734.

Department of Sociology

An original piece of theater is coming to campus!

How Dirty Are YOU? A Dirty Drama of Discrimination is an original drama created by graduate student Rachel L. Smith, M.A. Sociology, in collaboration with other IUP students. This thesis project is based on observations and experiences of discrimination on campus. It is sponsored by IUP’s Frederick Douglass Institute and the Department of Theater and Dance.

Performances will be Thursday, April 28, and Friday, April 29, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. in the picnic area between Eberly College and Stephenson Hall (formerly Crimson Suites). In the event of rain, performances will take place in the Ruddock Hall multipurpose rooom (G12). There is no admittance fee.

Department of Sociology

Each year, a total of three to five graduate students (master’s and doctoral students combined) receive this award for outstanding research.

The award will be presented at the seventeenth annual awards luncheon on Monday, April 4, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. in the Crimson Event Center in Folger Hall.

Department of Sociology

Students in Dr. Jim Dougherty’s Sociology of Native Americans class are raising funds to pay for a state historical marker that will recognize the existence and the intersection of the Kittanning and Catawba Native American trails near the IUP HUB.

These two paths played a major part in overland travel for both Native Americans and early European settlers and explorers.

The Kittanning trail served as the major connector between today’s Altoona and Hollidaysburg area and one of the largest Delaware villages in Western Pennsylvania at Kittanning in the 1750s. It also served as a trailway for Colonel John Armstrong’s trek to destroy Kittanning in 1758. A plaque located in the Co-op Bookstore recognizes that Armstrong’s army chose to camp overnight near the HUB while passing through to confront the Delaware.

The Catawba trail was a major route for travel between western New York and the Carolinas in the South. A freshwater spring existed near the intersection of the trails, which the Europeans named Shaver’s Spring.

The installation of the historical marker will help inform the public of how the IUP campus and local area connect to the regional history of Native Americans, giving the university a unique distinction among the other PASSHE universities.

The first fund-raising event was an open-mic performance night at Spaghetti Bender’s restaurant in downtown Indiana on Saturday, March 19, 2011, from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. Performance artists from all genres were welcome to participate.

This was the first in a series of fund-raisers that will hopefully offset the more than $1,600 needed to pay for the historical marker.

For more information about the fund-raiser or the historical marker, contact Dougherty at jdoc@iup.edu or by calling 724-357-2734.

The article is based on a current debate in the field of men’s studies. Dr. Heasley is quoted along with another scholar, Michael Kimmel, regarding leadership and writing in men’s studies that draws on and grew out of feminist theory and women’s studies.

The counter argument—which represents a small group of primarily males who are not academics—asserts that the research, writing, and teaching that has gone on in the field has not been favorable to men. The counter argument exhibits anger toward those scholars of men’s studies that argue men and boys experience gender as a social as well as biological/psychological construction.

Read the complete article in the New York Times online.

“Feminist Research in Action: An Intersectional Approach to Girlcentric Programming”

This is a case study illustrating a process by which academic theories about the social identities of girls are being incorporated into girl-centered programs in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The process began as a dissertation project in partnership with one organization, but turned into a “public sociology” project that impacts numerous girlcentric programs in the region.

The article has been selected for publication in Nyden, Hossfield, and Nyden’s Public Sociology: Research, Action, and Change (forthcoming, March 2011).

“Do (Not) Follow in My Footsteps: How Mothers Influence Working Class Girls’ Aspirations”

This article examines how working-class mothers influence their daughters’ work and family aspirations. Data were gathered from focus groups and interviews with twenty-one white and African American working-class girls and fifteen of their mothers from Southwestern Pennsylvania. Research revealed that mothers’ advice is gendered, class-based, and racialized, emphasizing the importance of caregiving, living near family, and financial independence and security. Qualitatively examining the work and family messages relayed by mothers to their daughters and how daughters take in these messages show numerous contradictions with which girls must contend.

This article has been accepted for publication in Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, Winter 2011 (forthcoming).

The theme of the conference is “Future Perspectives for Intervention, Policy, and Research on Men and Masculinities: An International Forum for the Sharing and Exchange of Knowledge.”

The conference is focused on reviewing social, individual, and family-related concerns, as well as governmental policies, currently affecting men and boys.

The conference involves three primary areas of concern: theories and research, public policies affecting the health and well-being of boys and men, and practices applied to male populations. It will bring together many researchers and practitioners renowned for their contributions to the field of men's realities. (Information taken from the “Future Perspectives for Intervention, Policy, and Research on Men and Masculinities” home website).

The article was accepted into the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse in August 2010 and then “invited” to be included in the December special issue: “Forensic, Cultural, and Systems Issues in Child Sexual Abuse Cases – Part 2: Research and Practitioner Issues.”

Guest editors of the special issue were Dr. Amy C. Tishelman, a clinical psychologist who has a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School and is director of Research and Training in the Child Protection Program at Children’s Hospital Boston, and Dr. Robert Geffner, founder and president of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute, president of Alliant International University’s Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, and clinical research professor at the California School of Professional Psychology, all in San Diego, Calif.

This article is the culmination of work done with Candice Potts-Henry, an IUP McNair Scholar during her time at IUP.

• Dr. Lisa Dupnock
• Dr. Moses Kwadzo
• Dr. Barbara R. Maroney
• Dr. Melissa Murray
• Dr. Wendy Pardee
• Dr. Uzi Sasson
• Dr. Kathleen Z. Wisser

Congratulations and best wishes for success in all your future endeavors!

Information Night is free and open to anyone interested in the Ph.D. program, but you must RSVP to attend. Please contact Lori Marshall at 724-357-2956 to RSVP.

The Administration and Leadership Studies (ALS) Information Night will give you an opportunity to meet our instructors, staff, current students, and past graduates of the ALS Ph.D. program. The program begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Allegheny Room in the Hadley Union Building (HUB).

More Information

Read more about the ALS Ph.D. program.

Parking after 5:00 p.m.: Use the commuter lot beside the HUB building, or the lot across from Pratt Hall will also be available. Metered street parking is also available near the HUB building.

Campus map and directions 

Learn about the program, meet ALS faculty members, students, and staff, and enjoy light hors d’oeuvres — all free of charge with no obligation whatsoever.

Please call 724-357-2956 or e-mail lmarshal@iup.edu to RSVP or if you have any questions. We hope to hear from you!

Information Night is free and open to anyone interested in the Ph.D. program, but you must RSVP to attend. Please contact Kim Winters at 717-720-4064 to RSVP.

The Administration and Leadership Studies (ALS) Information Night will give you an opportunity to meet our instructors, staff, current students, and past graduates of the ALS Ph.D. program. The program begins at 6:00 p.m. on the third floor of Richards Hall on the beautiful Dixon University Center campus. Visit the Dixon website for directions, parking instructions, and a detailed map of where to find Richards Hall.

The Program

6:00 p.m.: Meet in the Recital Room of Richards Hall on the main floor for light hors d’oeuvres

6:20 p.m.: Take a guided tour of the Dixon University Center

6:45 p.m.: Presentation by ALS instructors, program coordinator, current students, and ALS graduates

8:30 p.m.: Program concludes

More Information

Read more about the ALS Ph.D. program.

Please call 717-720-4064 or e-mail kwinters@iup.edu to RSVP or if you have any questions. Hope to hear from you!

Information Night is free and open to anyone interested in the Ph.D. program, but you must RSVP to attend. Please contact Kim Winters at 717-720-4064 to RSVP.

The ALS Information Night will give you an opportunity to meet our instructors, staff, current students, and past graduates of the ALS Ph.D. program. The program begins at 6:00 p.m. on the third floor of Richards Hall on the beautiful Dixon University Center campus. Visit the Dixon website for directions, parking instructions, and a detailed map of where to find Richards Hall.

The Program

6:00 p.m.—Meet on third floor, Richards Hall, for light hors d’oeuvres

6:20 p.m.—Take a guided tour of the Dixon University Center

6:45 p.m.—Presentation by ALS instructors, program coordinator, current students, and ALS graduates

8:30 p.m.—Program concludes.

More Information

Please call or e-mail to RSVP or if you have any questions. E-mail address is kwinters@iup.edu. Hope to hear from you!