The Occupy Movement. Questions about social inequality and the labor market. Wrangling over the causes of climate change, and the changing place American society holds in the world economy. Debates over immigration and its impact on American communities. Issues involving intimate life, gender, and sexuality.
There is no shortage of major social issues facing American society today. Faculty and students at NU’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology address these and many other pressing questions, using rigorous methods of research and provocative classroom techniques. The Department’s faculty includes many nationally prominent scholars and teachers who have actively shaped public and scholarly thinking on issues of great public concern. Current faculty interests center on the social roots of violence; social movements in various parts of the world; the dynamics of urban life in American cities; the relation between new social media and the mobilization of youth, among many other issues and themes. The Department offers programs of study that equip students to pursue any number of career options, whether in the business world, non-profit organizations, or international NGOs. Alumni have also gone on to distinguished careers in the professions, in academia, the law, and finance.
And in recent years, the Department has built on its long-standing reputation while adding new-found strengths. We’ve developed distinctive strengths in the study of globalization, cities and communities, and immigration, and built a Distinguished Lecture Series that has attracted much attention, both locally and nationally. We’ve introduced new combined majors and an accelerated M.A. program at the undergraduate level, and moved aggressively to attract the best and brightest graduate students in the United States and abroad. Read on for a brief discussion of some of the Department’s recent achievements.
New Faculty Arrivals
One of our more exciting accomplishments falls under the heading of departmental expansion. In 2010-2011, we were thrilled to welcome three new faculty members at the Assistant Professor level. Two are anthropologists whose expertise makes unique contributions to our programs in both anthropology and sociology. Dr. Nina Sylvanus, who earned her Ph.D. at the Ecole des Haut Etudes en Science Sociales in Paris, studies gender, economic institutions, and globalization, focusing in particular on the West African textile industry. Nina joins us from Reed College; here she will teach courses on consumerism and material culture, globalization, and the Anthropology of Africa. Dr. Doreen Lee, Ph.D. from Cornell, studies youth movements and political culture, with special emphasis on East Asia and especially Indonesia. Doreen has held a position in political science at Amherst College until recently; she will be teaching courses on globalization, urban anthropology, and social movements. And Dr. Mindelyn Buford II, Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, has been studying African immigrants to the United States and the shifting nature of racial hierarchies in the USA. Mindelyn’s course load will include offerings on race, health, and the sociology of privilege. Please join me in welcoming these brilliant young faculty members. Their arrival augurs well for the continued growth and distinction our department has gained.
For the upcoming year, the department is pleased to welcome Dr. Ramiro Martinez, a highly accomplished sociologist studying Latino communities, violence, and immigration. Ramiro’s research focuses especially on the immigration-crime linkage; his research serves as a timely counterpoint to many widely held assumptions, for it demonstrates that Latino immigration to the USA is associated with significant reductions in crime. Ramiro will hold a joint appointment, making important contributions to both Sociology and to the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Dr. Luis Falcon rejoins the department as of this academic year as well. Luis has been serving as Vice Provost for Graduate Education at our university, leading the effort to build graduate programs across all disciplines. His contributions to the university have been immeasurable; we are pleased to have Luis return to the department, working on his major NIH grant, which focuses on the social and ecological factors that account for health disparities among Latinos in Boston.
These new and returning faculty members join other recent hires, such as Drs. Linda Blum, Jeffrey Juris, Berna Turam, and Liza Weinstein, all of whom have added excitement, intellectual stimulation, and academic breadth to our department. With all this growth, students will have a dramatically enhanced set of course offerings, along with the opportunity to study with faculty members who are at the cutting edge of research in globalization, urban sociology, immigration, social movements, and any number of other fields.
Lectures and Intellectual Events
With generous funding from the Dean’s office, our department has been pleased to host an innovative Distinguished Lecture Series. In 2010-11, our speakers addressed themes of great concern to our faculty and students. In September 2010, Loic Wacquant, a distinguished professor at the University of California, Berkeley, delivered a major address to an audience of 250 scholars, speaking on the political factors that have accounted for hyper-incarceration in the United States. Annette Lareau, a chaired professor at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke on research ethics and the study of working class and poor families. Her talk provided a biography of sorts, focusing on the life of her major book, Unequal Childhoods. And Robert Agnew, professor of sociology at Emory University and a major figure in theories of crime, spoke on his General Theory of Strain (a culmination of sociological theories accounting for delinquency and crime more generally). The department capped the year with a prominent conference on globalization. This year’s theme was “Global Commodities: Chained and Unchained.” Held in the spring semester, the conference attracted major scholars from across the United States.
New Courses and Programs
Much of our excitement stems from new curricular developments at both the graduate and undergraduate level. At the undergraduate level, the department has recently opted to engage in some assessment work, reviewing the undergraduate experience and looking for ways to make the program even stronger. We’ve already introduced a “Plus One” program that provides undergraduates with an accelerated path to the M.A. in sociology; under consideration now are possible programs for students to complete a Honors track within the major itself. And at the graduate level, we now have a fifth area of concentration, in the Sociology of Violence. One of the most distinctive features of our graduate program, in fact, lies in the wide array of specializations the program offers to students. Finally, under consideration at the moment is a new M.A. in Global Studies, to be offered in conjunction with other units in Northeastern’s new College of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Scholarship and Awards
One of the signal faculty accomplishments this year was the publication of Silvia Dominguez’s book, Getting Ahead: Public Housing, Social Mobility and Immigrant Networks (NYU Press, 2010). A comparative study of immigrant incorporation in two Boston neighborhoods, the book has attracted much attention across the United States (and other countries). Arnie Arluke published Beauty and the Beast: Human-Animal Relations as Revealed in Real Photo Postcards, 1905-1935 (Syracuse University Press,2010, with Robert Bogdan). Two of Jack Levin’s recent books on violence –The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder and Extreme Killings: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder—were published in new editions this year. And Matt Hunt co-edited a special issue of the influential Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, devoted to “Race, Racial Attitudes, and Stratification Beliefs.” This brief summary is but a small sampling of faculty research; I invite you to browse the department’s website for a deeper appreciation of the research underway among the department’s faculty.
The department’s faculty gained recognition in many forms. Luis Falcon was awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. I begin my stint as Section Chair of the Organizations, Occupations, and Work section of the American Sociological Association, and will also serve as an elected member of the ASA Committee on Publications. Mike Brown begins his term as Section Chair of the ASA section on Marxist Sociology. Silvia Dominguez has been elected chair of the ASA Section on Latino/a Sociology. And Matt Hunt is pleased to announce that he has been awarded a fellowship this fall at Harvard’s W.E.B DuBois Institute as well.
Student accomplishments were equally impressive at all levels. Recent sociology BA Danny Rojas has won numerous awards for his contributions to community based organizations, and was recently selected for the highly competitive Teach For America program; Danny will work for two years as a middle school teacher in Houston, Texas. Recent Sociology BA grad Zachary Carroll did remarkable work with the national organization LIFT; Zach was instrumental in establishing a Boston office for this organization, which provides a wide array of life-sustaining social services to families in poor communities. As for graduate students: recent sociology PhD Amy Lubitow was selected for an Assistant Professor position at Portland State University (a perfect position for an environmental sociologist such as Amy). Sarah Cope Nicksa gained an Assistant Professor position at Widener University in Philadelphia (where she’ll be teaching courses on the sociology of crime and violence). And Vincent Ferraro begins the fall as an Assistant Professor at UMASS Framingham. Congratulations to Danny, Zach, Amy, Sarah, and Vinnie. Again, these are but a few of the accomplishments of the department’s students.
What does this year hold in store for us? Sadly, Will Holton has opted to become Emeritus Professor, now looking back on his 38 year career at Northeastern. We are therefore likely to be in the market for an urban sociologist who can build on Will’s legacy–no easy task. We will also be involved in the College’s external search for a Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. More broadly, and given the arrival of so many new faculty members since 2009, this will very likely be a year in which we consolidate our strengths, consider curricular enhancements, and continue to build on the momentum we have gained. I can honestly say that there has not been a boring moment at Northeastern since I arrived.
SocAnt on Facebook
Message from the Chair
The Occupy Movement. Questions about social inequality and the labor market. Wrangling over the causes of climate change, and the changing place American society holds in the world economy. Debates over immigration and its impact on American communities. Issues involving intimate life, gender, and sexuality.
There is no shortage of major social issues facing American society today. Faculty and students at NU’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology address these and many other pressing questions, using rigorous methods of research and provocative classroom techniques. The Department’s faculty includes many nationally prominent scholars and teachers who have actively shaped public and scholarly thinking on issues of great public concern. Current faculty interests center on the social roots of violence; social movements in various parts of the world; the dynamics of urban life in American cities; the relation between new social media and the mobilization of youth, among many other issues and themes. The Department offers programs of study that equip students to pursue any number of career options, whether in the business world, non-profit organizations, or international NGOs. Alumni have also gone on to distinguished careers in the professions, in academia, the law, and finance.
And in recent years, the Department has built on its long-standing reputation while adding new-found strengths. We’ve developed distinctive strengths in the study of globalization, cities and communities, and immigration, and built a Distinguished Lecture Series that has attracted much attention, both locally and nationally. We’ve introduced new combined majors and an accelerated M.A. program at the undergraduate level, and moved aggressively to attract the best and brightest graduate students in the United States and abroad. Read on for a brief discussion of some of the Department’s recent achievements.
New Faculty Arrivals
One of our more exciting accomplishments falls under the heading of departmental expansion. In 2010-2011, we were thrilled to welcome three new faculty members at the Assistant Professor level. Two are anthropologists whose expertise makes unique contributions to our programs in both anthropology and sociology. Dr. Nina Sylvanus, who earned her Ph.D. at the Ecole des Haut Etudes en Science Sociales in Paris, studies gender, economic institutions, and globalization, focusing in particular on the West African textile industry. Nina joins us from Reed College; here she will teach courses on consumerism and material culture, globalization, and the Anthropology of Africa. Dr. Doreen Lee, Ph.D. from Cornell, studies youth movements and political culture, with special emphasis on East Asia and especially Indonesia. Doreen has held a position in political science at Amherst College until recently; she will be teaching courses on globalization, urban anthropology, and social movements. And Dr. Mindelyn Buford II, Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, has been studying African immigrants to the United States and the shifting nature of racial hierarchies in the USA. Mindelyn’s course load will include offerings on race, health, and the sociology of privilege. Please join me in welcoming these brilliant young faculty members. Their arrival augurs well for the continued growth and distinction our department has gained.
For the upcoming year, the department is pleased to welcome Dr. Ramiro Martinez, a highly accomplished sociologist studying Latino communities, violence, and immigration. Ramiro’s research focuses especially on the immigration-crime linkage; his research serves as a timely counterpoint to many widely held assumptions, for it demonstrates that Latino immigration to the USA is associated with significant reductions in crime. Ramiro will hold a joint appointment, making important contributions to both Sociology and to the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Dr. Luis Falcon rejoins the department as of this academic year as well. Luis has been serving as Vice Provost for Graduate Education at our university, leading the effort to build graduate programs across all disciplines. His contributions to the university have been immeasurable; we are pleased to have Luis return to the department, working on his major NIH grant, which focuses on the social and ecological factors that account for health disparities among Latinos in Boston.
These new and returning faculty members join other recent hires, such as Drs. Linda Blum, Jeffrey Juris, Berna Turam, and Liza Weinstein, all of whom have added excitement, intellectual stimulation, and academic breadth to our department. With all this growth, students will have a dramatically enhanced set of course offerings, along with the opportunity to study with faculty members who are at the cutting edge of research in globalization, urban sociology, immigration, social movements, and any number of other fields.
Lectures and Intellectual Events
With generous funding from the Dean’s office, our department has been pleased to host an innovative Distinguished Lecture Series. In 2010-11, our speakers addressed themes of great concern to our faculty and students. In September 2010, Loic Wacquant, a distinguished professor at the University of California, Berkeley, delivered a major address to an audience of 250 scholars, speaking on the political factors that have accounted for hyper-incarceration in the United States. Annette Lareau, a chaired professor at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke on research ethics and the study of working class and poor families. Her talk provided a biography of sorts, focusing on the life of her major book, Unequal Childhoods. And Robert Agnew, professor of sociology at Emory University and a major figure in theories of crime, spoke on his General Theory of Strain (a culmination of sociological theories accounting for delinquency and crime more generally). The department capped the year with a prominent conference on globalization. This year’s theme was “Global Commodities: Chained and Unchained.” Held in the spring semester, the conference attracted major scholars from across the United States.
New Courses and Programs
Much of our excitement stems from new curricular developments at both the graduate and undergraduate level. At the undergraduate level, the department has recently opted to engage in some assessment work, reviewing the undergraduate experience and looking for ways to make the program even stronger. We’ve already introduced a “Plus One” program that provides undergraduates with an accelerated path to the M.A. in sociology; under consideration now are possible programs for students to complete a Honors track within the major itself. And at the graduate level, we now have a fifth area of concentration, in the Sociology of Violence. One of the most distinctive features of our graduate program, in fact, lies in the wide array of specializations the program offers to students. Finally, under consideration at the moment is a new M.A. in Global Studies, to be offered in conjunction with other units in Northeastern’s new College of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Scholarship and Awards
One of the signal faculty accomplishments this year was the publication of Silvia Dominguez’s book, Getting Ahead: Public Housing, Social Mobility and Immigrant Networks (NYU Press, 2010). A comparative study of immigrant incorporation in two Boston neighborhoods, the book has attracted much attention across the United States (and other countries). Arnie Arluke published Beauty and the Beast: Human-Animal Relations as Revealed in Real Photo Postcards, 1905-1935 (Syracuse University Press,2010, with Robert Bogdan). Two of Jack Levin’s recent books on violence –The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder and Extreme Killings: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder—were published in new editions this year. And Matt Hunt co-edited a special issue of the influential Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, devoted to “Race, Racial Attitudes, and Stratification Beliefs.” This brief summary is but a small sampling of faculty research; I invite you to browse the department’s website for a deeper appreciation of the research underway among the department’s faculty.
The department’s faculty gained recognition in many forms. Luis Falcon was awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. I begin my stint as Section Chair of the Organizations, Occupations, and Work section of the American Sociological Association, and will also serve as an elected member of the ASA Committee on Publications. Mike Brown begins his term as Section Chair of the ASA section on Marxist Sociology. Silvia Dominguez has been elected chair of the ASA Section on Latino/a Sociology. And Matt Hunt is pleased to announce that he has been awarded a fellowship this fall at Harvard’s W.E.B DuBois Institute as well.
Student accomplishments were equally impressive at all levels. Recent sociology BA Danny Rojas has won numerous awards for his contributions to community based organizations, and was recently selected for the highly competitive Teach For America program; Danny will work for two years as a middle school teacher in Houston, Texas. Recent Sociology BA grad Zachary Carroll did remarkable work with the national organization LIFT; Zach was instrumental in establishing a Boston office for this organization, which provides a wide array of life-sustaining social services to families in poor communities. As for graduate students: recent sociology PhD Amy Lubitow was selected for an Assistant Professor position at Portland State University (a perfect position for an environmental sociologist such as Amy). Sarah Cope Nicksa gained an Assistant Professor position at Widener University in Philadelphia (where she’ll be teaching courses on the sociology of crime and violence). And Vincent Ferraro begins the fall as an Assistant Professor at UMASS Framingham. Congratulations to Danny, Zach, Amy, Sarah, and Vinnie. Again, these are but a few of the accomplishments of the department’s students.
What does this year hold in store for us? Sadly, Will Holton has opted to become Emeritus Professor, now looking back on his 38 year career at Northeastern. We are therefore likely to be in the market for an urban sociologist who can build on Will’s legacy–no easy task. We will also be involved in the College’s external search for a Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. More broadly, and given the arrival of so many new faculty members since 2009, this will very likely be a year in which we consolidate our strengths, consider curricular enhancements, and continue to build on the momentum we have gained. I can honestly say that there has not been a boring moment at Northeastern since I arrived.