Newsletter - Southwestern Sociological Association

Newsletter
Southw estern Sociological Association
93rd Annual SSA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana
The Southwestern Social Sciences and Sociological Associations held annual
meetings in New Orleans, Louisiana March 27—30, 2013. The conference, entitled “"New Social Media, and Life, Politics, and Society in the Early 21st
Century” was held at the at the New Orleans Marriott. The conference hosted
over 70 sociology sessions—a higher number than in San Diego in 2012.
Our next meeting is in San Antonio (2014) at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio
on the Riverwalk from April 17– 19, followed by Denver (2015), and Las Vegas (2016). SSA’s immediate Past-President Dr. Charles Tolbert
(Charlie_Tolbert@baylor.edu) is SSA’s representative on SSSA’s Site Policy
Committee. Do you have suggestions about where the conference is held? Forward them to Dr. Tolbert, as he has indicated “I will gladly take forward any
comments and concerns that I receive from SSA members.”
Summer/
Early Fall 2013
Special points of interest:
We moved our SSA website
to centralize information for
our members.
For the SSA
http://
www.swsociology.org/html/
home.html
Preliminary Call for 2014
For the SSSA
Session Organizers & Participants http://www.sssaonline.org/
in San Antonio, April 17 —19
If you or someone you know is interested in serving as
a session organizer, participant, and/or moderator of
sessions at the 2014 Southwestern Sociological AssoInside This
ciation meeting in San Antonio we would like to
Executive Committee
know. Each year we are pleased to have the support of our colleagues. We will
offer traditional paper sessions as well as panel and visual sociology sessions.
If you have questions or interests, please contact Dr. David Embrick
(dembric@luc.edu). Abstracts will be accepted until Friday, November 15,
2013. To submit an abstract/proposal, go to the program website at
http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/sssa/sssa14/. For more information,
contact SSA’s 2014 Program Chair Dr. David Embrick (dembric@luc.edu).
Issue:
2
2013 Paper Awards
3
From the President
6
2014 Call for Session
Organizers
7
SSA New Business
8
Page 2
Page 2
Executive Committee for 2013—2014:
President
Cynthia Cready, University of North Texas; Cynthia.Cready@unt.edu
President-Elect
David Embrick, Loyola University-Chicago, dembric@luc.edu
Vice-President
Carla Goar, Kent State University, cgoar@kent.edu
Secretary-Treasurer
Ed Rossman, US Army Corps of Engineers; Edwin.J.Rossman@usace.army.mil
Executive Council
Carol Walther, Northern Illinois University (2012-2014); cwalther@niu.edu
Jin Young Choi, Sam Houston State University (2012-2014); JYC002@shsu.edu
Cristina Morales, University of Texas-El Paso (2013-15); mcmorales@utep.edu
Warren Waren, Texas A&M University (2013-15); wwaren@yahoo.com
Student Representative: Amber Fox, Texas A&M University (2013-14);
amber.raquel@gmail.com
Parliamentarian
Ray Darville, Steven F. Austin State University; rdarville@sfasu.edu
Newsletter Editor
Janet Armitage, St. Mary’s University; jarmitage1@stmarytx.edu
Past Presidents
Charles Tolbert (Charlie_Tolbert@baylor.edu) (2012—2013)
Mark Fossett, Texas A&M University (2011-2012); m-fossett@tamu.edu
Karen Manges Douglas, Sam Houston State University (2010-2011); kmdouglas@sbcglobal.net
Other Officers and Program Chairs:
2014 Program Chair David Embrick, Loyola University-Chicago, dembric@luc.edu
2014 Silent Auction
Carla Goar, Kent State University; cgoar@kent.edu
Historian/Archivist
Robert Beckley, West Texas A&M University; rbeckley@mail.wtamu.edu
Nominations
Charles M. Tolbert, II, Baylor University; charlie_tolbert@baylor.edu
Elections
Beverly Stiles, Midwestern State University; Beverly.stiles@mwsu.edu
Audit and Finance
Carson Mencken, Baylor University; Carson_Mencken@baylor.edu
Membership
Carla Goar, Kent State University; cgoar@kent.edu
Norma Williams
Service Award
Sherry McKibben, City of Huntsville; sherrymckibben@yahoo.com
Distinguished Paper
Award
Charles M. Tolbert, II, Baylor University; charlie_tolbert@baylor.edu
Student Paper
Awards
Chiung-Fang Chang, Lamar University; cchang2@my.lamar.edu
Carol Walther, Northern Illinois University; cwalther@niu.edu
Student Visual
Sociology Awards
Charlotte Dunham, Texas Tech University; charlotte.dunham@ttu.edu
Webmaster
Mark Fossett, Texas A&M University; m-fossett@tamu.edu
Association
Homepage
http://www.swsociology.org/html/home.html
Page 3
Page 3
2013 CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT
Student Paper Competition Awards
At each annual meeting SSA sponsors three student paper awards: the Outstanding Doctoral, Master’s, and
Bachelor’s Student Paper Awards. Each recipient was awarded a certificate as well as a cash prize at the Presidential Awards and Plenary Session during the 2013 SSA annual meeting. This year’s winners were:
Doctoral student paper award
Kasey Henricks, Bill Byrnes, and Victoria Brockett
(Loyola University-Chicago and Valparaiso University)
“‘Celebrating a Return to the Jim Crow Era?’
Persisting Segregation in ‘Post-Racial’ America and How to Measure It.”
Master’s student paper award
Katie Halbesleben
(Baylor University)
“Educational Attainment in Second Generation Immigrants:
Creating Context for Predicting High School GPA and College Graduation.”
Undergraduate student paper award
Kirstie Smith
(Lamar University)
“‘Coming Out’: The Implications of Gay Males Disclosing Sexuality.”
2013 Master’s Student Paper
Award Winner
Katie Halbesleben
Our thanks to Dr. Chiung-Fang Chang for chairing the Student Paper Awards Committee in 2013. For the
2014 meeting, she is co-chairing the committee with Dr. Carol Walther. To submit an abstract of your paper
for next year’s meeting, please go to http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/sssa/sssa14/. The deadline for
abstract submission is November 15, 2013. The deadline for submission of a full paper for consideration for
next year’s awards is March 15, 2014. Guidelines and instructions for submission of full papers for the awards
will be posted to SSA’s website (http://www.swsociology.org/html/home.html) in the near future. However,
until then, please contact Drs. Chang (cchang2@my.lamar.edu) and Walther (cwalther@niu.edu) for more
information.
“Marx in Soho”
The 2013 SSA Presidential Awards and Plenary Session featured a one-act play
“Marx in Soho” by Howard Zinn performed by actor Bob Weick. Bob Weick’s performance was both thought-provoking and humorous. His show has toured nationally on campuses and at professional meetings for over seven years. More about the
show can be found at: http:/www.ironagetheatre.org/marx.html.
Page 4
Newsletter Title
Page 4
2013 CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT CONTINUED
Visual Sociology Competition Awards
The SSA Visual Sociology Photo Essay Competition awarded Our 2013 visual
sociology photo essay first place winner was Ms. Katheryne Marie Ponce
(University of Texas-El Paso) for “Gender Inequality.” Ms. Ponce was awarded
a certificate as well as a cash prize at the Presidential Awards and Plenary Session during the 2013 SSA annual meeting by Dr. Charlotte Dunham, chair of
the Student Visual Sociology Awards Committee. Dr. Charlotte Dunham is
again chairing the committee for the 2014 meeting.
To submit an abstract for next year’s visual sociology session, please go to
http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/sssa/sssa14/. The deadline for submitting the abstract is November 15, 2013. Additional guidelines and instructions
for the visual sociology photo essay student competition will soon be posted to
SSA’s website (http://www.swsociology.org/html/home.html). For further information, contact Dr. Dunham (CHARLOTTE.DUNHAM@ttu.edu).
Katheryne Marie Ponce ((right)
receiving her prize from SSA Student Poster Awards Committee
Chair Dr. Charlotte Dunham
Darville Recognized for Norma Williams Service Award
The seventh annual SSA Norma Williams Distinguished Service Award recognized Dr. Ray L. Darville. Dr. Darville is Professor of Sociology at Stephen F.
Austin State University and an associate instructor and researcher in the Arthur
Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture where he works in the areas of natural resource interpretation and outdoor recreation. He has been employed at SFA
for 25 years, having previously been a faculty member at East Texas Baptist
University. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North
Texas in 1984 under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Esterchild.
The Norma Williams Distinguished Service Award is given to an SSA member,
in good standing for 10 years, who has demonstrated ongoing service to the SSA
through meeting participation and student mentoring. The 2013 Committee, appointed by SSA President Dr. Charles Tolbert and chaired by Dr. Sherry
McKibben, recognized Dr. Darville for his many years of leadership and other
service in SSA and its umbrella association SSSA. Previous award recipients
were Drs. Hiram Friedsam (2007), Elizabeth Esterchild (2008), Robert
Beckley (2009), Dudley Poston (2010), Janet Huber Lowry (2011), and
Rogelio Saenz (2012).
Darville receiving Service Award
from Dr. Charles Tolbert
Page 5
2013 CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT CONTINUED
Silent Auction
Once again, the SSA hosted a Silent Auction in New Orleans, under the direction of 2012-13 SSA VicePresident Dr. David Embrick, and with the assistance of Loyola University-Chicago students and others. All
proceeds benefitted the American Sociological Association’s Minority Fellowship Program.
Next year’s Silent Auction in San Antonio will be directed by Dr. Carla Goar, 2013-14 SSA Vice-President.
Contact her at cgoar@kent.edu regarding donations and to volunteer to help with organizing and staffing the
tables.
ASA’s Shin Attends SSA
The American Sociological Association’s Jean H. Shin attended the SSA meeting for a seventh consecutive
year. He organized several professional workshops for the meeting. He also expressed appreciation for SSA’s
support of the ASA’s Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), noting that many SSA leaders are former MFP recipients. Our support of this program is increasingly important as federal funding for it has been eliminated
since 2010.
Interested in getting more involved in SSA? SSSA? ASA?
For the SSA and SSSA: Volunteer after “logging in” to the 2014 meetings online submission platform http://
convention2.allacademic.com/one/sssa/sssa14/ by clicking on the “Volunteer to be a Reviewer, Chair, Discussant, and/or SSSA Committee Officer or Member” link.
For the ASA: Go to http://www.asanet.org/contactus.cfm for more membership information or contact at their
headquarters:
Sociological Association
1430 K Street, NW - Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 383-9005 FAX: (202) 638-0882 TDD: (202) 638-0981
Page 6
From the Desk of Cynthia M. Cready
Southwestern Sociological Association President, 2014
Greetings!
.
Cynthia M. Cready
Associate Professor and
Director of
Graduate Studies
Department of Sociology
University of North Texas
(940) 369-8791
(940) 369-7035 (FAX)
I hope this message finds you well and looking forward to the new academic
year. Thank you for electing me President of the Southwestern Sociological
Association (SSA). I am honored and humbled to lead one of the oldest regional sociology organizations and follow in the footsteps of Past-Presidents
Dr. Charles Tolbert (2012-2013) and Mark Fossett (2011-12). Many thanks
to them for their great examples and continuing support of SSA. Their efforts
have contributed to a thriving organization. We had over 70 sociology sessions at our annual meeting in New Orleans last year!
Next Year’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio
I am looking forward to seeing all of you at next year’s annual meeting in San
Antonio, April 17-19, 2014. The theme of the meeting is “The Evolving and
Everlasting Social Sciences.” We are using the same online abstract submission platform as last year, and now that most have navigated it, the process
should go more smoothly this year. Despite some relatively minor glitches,
going online sure made it easier for me and the other affiliate program chairs
to organize our programs. To submit your abstract for the 2014 annual meeting, click on http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/sssa/sssa14/. The
deadline is November 15, 2013. For more information, contact 2014 SSA Program Chair, Dr. David Embrick (dembric@luc.edu).
The conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio on the Riverwalk. As the conference overlaps the very popular FIESTA! in San Antonio
and Easter weekend, I urge you to reserve your hotel room as soon as possible. Remember, per SSA’s umbrella association, the Southwestern Social
Sciences Association (SSSA), conference participants are expected to stay at
the conference facility. Details regarding this policy are provided on the
SSSA website (http://sssaonline.org/). Faculty mentors please help us spread
the word and explain the SSSA’s hotel policy to your students!
In Closing …
I hope to see all of you at the annual meeting in San Antonio! For updates on
the meeting and the association, go to SSA’s website (http://
www.swsociology.org/html/home.html).
All the best,
Cynthia
Page 7
Join us for the 94rd Annual SSA Meeting in San Antonio, Texas—
“The Evolving and Everlasting Social Sciences”
Call for Papers and Participants
−−− Online Submission Deadline is Friday, November 15, 2013 −−−
Come join the Southwestern Sociological Association (SSA) and other affiliates of the Southwestern Social
Science Association (SSSA) on the Riverwalk in San Antonio! The Southwestern Sociological Association
(SSA) is now accepting abstract submissions for its 94th Annual Meeting (held in conjunction with SSSA) in
San Antonio, Texas, April 17-19, 2014 at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio. The theme for the meeting is "The
Evolving and Everlasting Social Sciences.” We invite the submission of abstracts/proposals for paper, panel,
and visual sociology presentations on this theme or other topics from a sociological perspective. Abstracts will
be accepted until Friday, November 15, 2013.
Abstract Submission Procedure: Go to the program website at http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/
sssa/sssa14/.
SSA Sneak Peek at Plenary Speaker for 2014
ASA’s Immediate Past-President Ridgeway to Speak
Dr. Cecilia L. Ridgeway
A highlight of next year’s annual meeting will be the SSA Presidential
Awards and Plenary Session speaker, Dr. Cecilia Ridgeway—the Lucie
Stern Professor of Social Sciences in the Sociology Department at Stanford
University and the 2012-13 President of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Her research includes groundbreaking work in the areas of
social hierarchies, statuses, and gender inequality. She is “particularly interested in the role that social hierarchies in everyday social relations play in
the larger processes of stratification and inequality in a society.” Her recent
book Framed By Gender: How Gender Inequality Persists in the Modern
World (Oxford University Press, 2011) is just one example of her many
contributions to the field. For this book, Dr. Ridgeway was recognized with
the 2012 Outstanding Recent Contribution Award from
ASA’s Social Psychology Section.
Born in Edinburg, Texas, Dr. Ridgeway is looking forward to attending
SSA in San Antonio next year and getting back in touch with her Southwest
Texas roots. A great article on Dr. Ridgeway can be found in the September/October 2012 issue of the American Sociological Association’s publication ASA footnotes. To read it, click on the link http://www.asanet.org/
footnotes/septoct12/ridgeway_0912.html.
Page 8
2013 SSA New Business
Call for Nominations
This time around the SSA Elections will be held in December rather than March. This timing aligns better with
the availability of the correct membership list. Accordingly, the Nominations Committee of the SSA is soliciting a slate of two nominees for each of the offices to be filled for the association for 2014. These offices include: Vice President (this individual will progress through the ranks, Vice President in the first year, President
-Elect and Program Chair the second year, and President the third year); Executive Council (2 positions to be
filled); and Student Representative. Qualifications for these offices are: With the exception of the Student
Representative, to be eligible for nomination to office in SSA, a member shall have been a member of SSA for
the two preceding years, and be a member of the Southwestern Social Science Association. The Student Representative shall be participating in a graduate academic program, have been a member of SSA for one preceding year, and be a member of the Southwestern Social Science Association. Nominations should include the
candidate’s full name, office for which the nomination applies, along with the candidate’s e-mail address,
physical address, phone number, and affiliation. The nomination should be accompanied by a short biographical sketch of no more than 250 words. Please send your nominations to the SSA Nominations Committee
Chair Dr. Charles M. Tolbert, II (Charlie_Tolbert@baylor.edu) - by October 15, 2014. Contact any SSA
Officer if you have any questions.
Post 2013 Conference Survey Results
For the second year in a row, the Southwestern Sociological Association (SSA) conducted an online postconference survey, which was initiated in part to obtain opinions about the transition to an online abstract submission platform and electronic program schedule. Among survey respondents this year, 73% attended the
New Orleans meeting, and the remaining respondents did not attend due to travel cost, travel time, lodging
costs, and/or work conflicts. The majority in attendance responded favorably to the conference experience,
with greater satisfaction in program academic quality, communication, and the functionality of electronic submission of abstracts.
Respondents indicated less satisfaction with conference costs and the new electronic format of the program
schedule. Some commented that they missed having a free printed and indexed program with maps of the conference facility, especially since the conference hotel did not provide free internet access. Others felt that the
onsite/offsite hotel policy of the Southwestern Social Science Association, SSA’s umbrella organization, is not
friendly to students and should be revisited.
An overwhelming majority of respondents were very satisfied with New Orleans as the conference host city.
Regarding future SSA conferences, respondents expressed a need for consideration of the academic quality of
our programs, costs for travel and lodging, and selected dates for meetings. A majority of the respondents were
full members with ten or more years vested in SSA.
Our thanks to SSA Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Ed Rossman
who created and administered the post-conference survey.
Southwestern Sociological Association
Did you know?
Did you know that the Southwestern Sociological Association (SSA) is one of nine associations
affiliated with the Southwestern Social Science Association (SSSA)? There are many opportunities to serve SSSA, including serving on the umbrella association’s standing committees as SSA’s
representative.
Currently, SSSA’s standing committees and SSA representatives are:
Budget and Financial Policies Committee (David Embrick-2014);
Editorial Policies Committee (Cynthia Cready-2016);
Membership Committee (Edwin J. Rossman-2014);
Nominations Committee (Mark Fossett-2015);
Resolutions Committee (Warren Waren-2014); and
Site Policy Committee (Charles M. Tolbert, II-2015).
We are on the web!
http://www.swsociology.org/html/home.html
SSA Newsletter Ideas and Information?
The SSA is interested in your sociological experiences, endeavors, projects, and
more. If your department has disciplinary information to share with colleagues,
please contact us. The newsletter editor can be reached at:
Janet S. Armitage, Ph.D.
St. Mary’s University
Department of Sociology
One Camino Santa Maria
Charles Francis Hall 205
San Antonio, Texas 78228-8579
210-436-301 EXT. 1279
jarmitage1@stmarytx.edu
Have an idea?
New information to share?
Place your announcement HERE!