Sociology News and Events

July 30, 2009

2006 Graduate Student Awarded Research Position

Meng Yu who received her MA degree May 2006 in Sociology from Catholic University has received a research position at Fraunhofer Institute in Germany.  The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, is one of the application-oriented research institutes in the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.  They investigate how technical and organizational innovations shape industry and society today and in the future.  Meny Yu has accepted a one-year visiting scholar position in its Innovation Indicators Group.  The focus of the activities is on empirical innovation research, in particular the use and development of science and technology indicators in the context of science and technology policy analysis.

Meng Yu is currently working on her doctorate degree at Georgia Tech.

 

July 21, 2009

Dr. Sandra Hanson Speaks to the Committee on Science and Technology

Dr. Sandra Hanson gave testimony to the sub-committee on Science and Technology at the U.S. House of Representatives on July 21, 2009.  The hearing concerned encouraging the participation of female students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.  Dr. Hanson discussed her research in this area. Other speakers were Dr. Barbara Bouge, Dr. Marcia Kropf and Ms. Cherryl Thomas.  The website for Dr. Hanson's testimony is: http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2541.

Dr. Hanson was also interviewed by Ben Eisen for Inside Higher Ed.  To see his article go to: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/07/22/stem.

June 1-5, 2009

Summer Institute of Catholic Social Thought

The aim of the Summer Catholic Social Thought (CST) Institute is to provide Catholic faculty and graduate students in the social sciences and related disciplines a basic grounding and application of Catholic social thought in order to help them incorporate the academic social sciences into a Catholic worldview.

The Institute is conducted by the Society of Catholic Social Scientists (SCSS) and The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education of the Cardinal Newman Society.  This year's Summer Institute is directed by the Rev. Dr. Paul Sullins, Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of America, and editor of Catholic Social Thought: American Responses to the Compendium (Rowman and Littlefield 2008).

May 5, 2009

 

Dr. C. Joseph Nuesse

It is with sadness that the Sociology Department informs you of the passing of Dr. C. Joseph Nuesse, provost emeritus and professor emeritus.

Dr. Nuesse wrote many books and articles even after his retirement in 1981.   After over eight years of research, Dr. Nuesse’s comprehensive history The Catholic University of America: A Centennial History is and will continue to be an important read for anyone who wishes to understand the national university of the Catholic Church in our country and its development.  Dr. Nuesse also wrote The Introduction of Sociology at the Catholic University of America, 1895-1915; see the following link: Nuesse, C. Joseph,The Catholic Historical Review, 87:4 (October 2001), pp. 643-661.

A sociologist by academic discipline, his reputation as a scholar and administrator was well known. For almost 40 years, Dr. Nuesse served the university with dedication and commitment as a faculty member, dean, department chairman, editor, executive vice president and provost. At the same time, he contributed his wisdom and leadership to various international, national and local organizations.

Dr. Nuesse was one of those people who, though absent from the scene since his retirement in 1981, continued to be influential well beyond his years of service. He was 95 years old. 

 

September 13, 2008

In Memoriam

Dean R. Hoge Professor Emeritus

Department of Sociology

May 27, 1937 - September 13, 2008

                                                                                            

It is with sadness that the Sociology Department informs you of the loss of a scholar, a colleague, and a friend in the death of Dean Hoge, Professor Emeritus, Sociology  Dr. Hoge was a graduate of the divinity and graduate schools of Harvard University.  He joined the faculty of CUA in 1974 where, for the last 34 years and even after his retirement his teaching and research earned him an outstanding reputation as one of the nation's pre-eminent experts in the sociology of religion.  Dr. Hoge served as chair of the Sociology Department from 1983-1984 and 1994-1996.  His presence will be greatly missed.

NEW BOOK

	Swimming Against the Tide
	African American Girls and Science Education
	Temple University Press
	December 2008
	Author:
	Sandra L. Hanson
	Following African American women who "swim against the tide" in the white male science education system.
	Dr. Hanson examines the experiences of African American girls in science education using multiple methods of quantitive and qualitative research, including a web survey and vignette techniques.  She understands the complex interaction between race and gender in the science domain and, using a multcultural and feminist framework of analysis, addresses the role of agency and resistance that encourages and sustains interest in science in African American families and communities.

ARTICLE

Article from The Tower April 25, 2008 by Meaghan Byrnes, Tower Staff                                       

The Department of Sociology has added three concentrations to the major this semester.  Allowing students to concentrate in one of three new concentrations; Public Policy Analysis, Crime Justice and Pre-Law, or Global and Comparative Processes.  The concentrations are not required, and a student can still choose to major in general sociology.

At graduation, students will be given a certificate with their degree stating they graduated with a major or minor in sociology and it will also declare their concentration.  These concentrations are also available as a minor or in the departments BA/MA program.

Students can take these concentrations and work with the department to attain internships in them.  Some of the internships include The Metropolitan Police Department, Department of Justice, the DC Superior Court and AYUDA (a legal aid office in DC).

The sociology department is one of the oldest in the country, founded in the mid 1890's.  While the department has made a few changes in the past, they are now moving forward to make sociology more relatable to students, according to Enrique Pumar, associate professor of sociology.

Sociology is defined as "The science of society, social institutions and social relationships," according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary.  The issues many sociology departments face today are questions from students who do not know what they can do with a sociology degree so they tend to disregard it and take politics or another major.

"[We did this] to make sociology more relevant, people come to us and say 'sociology?  What is that?' or 'what can I do with sociology?'" so we wanted to provide some meaning to that...so they could relate to that profession," said Pumar.

In the past, the sociology department has been connected with a few different departments in the school.  Earlier, the department worked closely with the department of social work, until they branched off, and then more recently working with religion.  There are still a few sociology of religion courses, but they are moving a different direction.

"These changes, I think their pretty substantial," said Pumar, "They are taking the department in a different direction than we have before...now we emphasize more the question of social justice, I think it's a substantial change."

Pumar feels these changes are putting the sociology department ahead of many other departments in the country, including Georgetown University's that have not implemented these applicable concentrations.

Symposium

Thursday, April 24, 2008, sponsored by Life Cycle Institute and the Department of Sociology, The Catholic University of American and organized by Sandra Hanson, Department of Sociology, LCI Fellow, and John White, Politics Department and LCI Fellow.

The symposium, Poverty, Families and Policy in the U.S.: Where Do We Go From Here? was well attended and received.  The keynote speaker was Mark Greenberg from the Center for American Progress.  Panel responses were given by: John White, CUA Politics, Sandra Hanson, CUA Sociology, Sr. Ann Patrick Conrad, CUA National Catholic School of Social Services, Faith Mullen, CUA Law, Simone Campbell, NETWORKS, Candy Hill, Catholic Charities USA and Joe Feuerherd, Council of Large Public Housing Authorities.

From: Catholic News Service
Date: May 9, 2008
Author: Mark Pattison

Catholic News Service covered an April 24 conference held at CUA titled “Poverty, Families and Policy in the U.S.: Where Do We Go From Here?” Sandra Hanson, professor of sociology, and Faith Mullen, clinical assistant professor of law, were quoted in the article. See their comments in the story below.

Poverty's intractability seen spreading to higher-income groups

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Different societal ills command the national spotlight when they threaten to migrate from the underclass to the middle class. It was that way with illegal drugs like LSD and marijuana 40 years ago, and it is that way today with poverty.

With many symptoms of a poorer America having manifested themselves in recent months -- among them the housing foreclosure crisis, a weak U.S. dollar and escalating food and energy prices -- a typical American could very well think, "Ooh, maybe I can be poor," according to Sister Simone Campbell, a Sister of Social Service who is executive director of Network, the Catholic social justice lobby.

Sister Simone was one of the speakers at a recent conference, "Poverty, Families and Policy in the U.S.: Where Do We Go From Here?" held at The Catholic University of America in Washington, and sponsored by the university's Life Cycle Institute.

Four states and 29 cities have developed strategies to tackle poverty, in addition to Catholic Charities USA, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and a task force convened by the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank, said Mark Greenberg, director of the Center for American Progress' "Poverty and Prosperity" program. He suggested those entities have jumped into the fray on poverty because the federal government hasn't.

The poverty line -- $20,614 for a family of four -- is based on calculations that haven't changed since the mid-1960s, Greenberg said. "In other countries, poverty is measured quite differently. The only thing we've done since (the 1960s) is adjust it for inflation."

In 1959, nearly 40 years ago, the poverty rate was just under half of the median U.S. household income, Greenberg said. In 2005, it was 28 percent of the median income, which excludes more people from the federal definition of poverty.

The Earned Income Tax Credit, he added, was intended to play an offsetting role when it comes to low-income workers' payroll taxes, but to benefit a larger number of Americans, especially those unable to work or to find work, it should be "fully refundable," qualifying poor households for the money regardless of how much they work, or how much money they make when they work.

Faith Mullen, a professor at Catholic University's law school, illustrated just how hard it is for families to escape poverty.

When working for a legal aid clinic, she helped -- or tried to help -- a four-generation family. The great-grandmother who owned the house had died, and the grandmother -- who was raising her two grandchildren in the house -- was dependent on the family matriarch's income. Despite a low monthly mortgage payment, the grandmother couldn't afford to make the payments after the matriarch died, nor could she afford the payments on the used car she bought.

The car was repossessed, which resulted in longer rides using public transportation to the grandchildren's school and less time spent at a recreation center the kids had frequented after school. The bank was ready to foreclose on the house. "The woman was turning the house upside down" looking for insurance policies or evidence of other assets the great-grandmother had to stave off even further hardship, Mullen said.

The grandmother eventually cobbled together about $20,000 in insurance policies, although probate fees and bank charges threatened to eat up that money. The bank relented on foreclosing, but then the city condemned the house because its attached garage was falling down; the bank reneged on not foreclosing since it didn't want to deal with a condemned property.

Mullen said she found an unlicensed contractor who pulled down the garage -- damaging the house slightly and taking another bite from the insurance nest egg. But the bank held off from foreclosing. The grandmother found another car. All seemed well, or close to it, Mullen said.

Then the grandmother herself died. This time, the bank did foreclose on the house. The grandchildren moved in with their aunt and her three children in a two-bedroom apartment, Mullen said. The grandchildren's father is now out of prison but has few job prospects that would enable him to contribute to his kids' well-being.

Candy Hill, senior vice president for social policy and government affairs at Catholic Charities USA, cited the 37 million Americans now living in poverty. "Trust me," she said, "if there were 37 million who were a voting bloc, there would be a new discussion on poverty in our country."

One discussion began in Great Britain, when then-Prime Minister Tony Blair announced his intent to eliminate child poverty by 2020. When he did that, said Catholic University sociology professor Sandra Hanson, "he didn't have any plan to offer," but England's best minds set to work on one. In the United States, Hanson said, "it's imperative to focus on all poverty, not just child poverty."