FROM THE DESK OF THE DEPARTMENT HEAD- Karl Kunkel

Welcome to the latest version of our electronic Department newsletter.  Since the last version, posted in Spring 2005, numerous exciting changes occurred on-campus and in our Department.  First, as I’m sure you are aware, the university name change to “Missouri State University” became effective on August 28, 2005.  Last February, the Board of Governors approved a name change for our unit to the “Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology.”  Also, the Crime and Society Program was re-titled “Criminology” to better reflect the mission of our program and provide a title more recognizable to students, employers, and admission committees at graduate schools and law schools.  Even though this situation creates a great deal of change, we are excited to offer a Criminology program in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology at Missouri State University!

 The Department continues to grow.  At last count we have over 450 majors in our three programs (Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology).  We also recently submitted a proposal for a new program- the Master of Science in Criminology, and are developing a proposal for another new graduate program in Applied Anthropology.  If approved, these programs provide graduate-level education opportunities for students and faculty.

Two new faculty joined the Department during this academic year.  Dr. Judith Grant completed her Ph.D. at York University in Toronto, Canada, and came to us after teaching for several years at Ohio University.  Dr. Grant’s areas of expertise include gender and crime, along with drugs in society.  Ivy Yarckow-Brown also joined us as a Lecturer in Criminology.  Ms. Yarckow-Brown earned a Master of Science degree from North Texas University.  This year the Department is searching for two new tenure-track criminologists and one tenure-track archeologist.

Many of you remember Dr. Melodye Lehnerer.  She retired during the Summer of 2005 and currently lives in Las Vegas.  We wish her the best on her retirement.

Our faculty continue to be very active in teaching, scholarship, and service. Several recent accomplishments are highlighted in this newsletter.  In addition, we are proud that this past August the following faculty were presented with awards:

The Department continues to award four annual scholarships.  This past year Tamara Wilfong (who completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and Criminology during May 2005) received the Walter O. Cralle Scholarship.  Brian Hamilton (a junior with a Criminology and Sociology double-major) received the Scholarship in Societal Studies, Stephany Hoyer (a junior majoring in Sociology with a minor in Anthropology) received the Lloyd R. Young Scholarship, and Ariana Morris (a senior majoring in Anthropology and minoring in African-American Studies) received the Donald D. Landon Public Affairs Scholarship.  Each of these awards aids current students as they pursue their educational and career goals.  Please consider donating to one of these funds or creating a new scholarship for our students.  Click here if you would like more information.

The Department maintains a comprehensive Website providing a tremendous amount of information about us- visit http//socantcrim.missouristate.edu.  Included on the site is a form you can use to update us on your whereabouts and latest activities.  If you have a minute, click here to complete the brief “Alumni Information Form.”  Also, feel free to e-mail the Department at DSAC@MissouriState.edu.  We look forward to hearing from you!

ANTHROPOLOGY

On September 30th, Dr. William Meadows gave a paper on Kiowa Ethnogeography at the Plains Indian Museum Seminar: Native Land and the Peoples of the Great Plains. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

Since testifying before Congress last September on a panel on the contributions of Native American Code Talkers and Their Place in United States Military History, he has continued to conduct research in this area. He is completing a book chapter entitled  “North American Indian Code Talkers: Current Events and Research" for a volume entitled “Aboriginal Soldiers in Canada and the World: from acculturation to acceptance" to be published by the Canadian Forces Leadership Institute and the Canadian Defense Academy Press, Kingston, ON. 
 

Dr. Meadows has also been invited to speak at the Library of Congress on Nov. 14th on his research on native American Code Talkers. He     will be speaking on recent developments in this research, focusing on the identification of other tribes and individuals who served as code talkers in World War I and II, and on recent legislative efforts to gain congressional recognition for these men.

ANTHROPOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL

Alaska Field School

  Article provided by Jessica Gray

This summer I had archaeological field school in South Central Alaska put on by the University of Nevada, Reno.  We camped for six weeks in the tiny town of Trapper Creek, which is about two hours north of Anchorage.  For me, it was my first flight ever and I was all by myself.  I didn’t know any of the people who were going to be there.  Students from all over the country came to dig here, from Indiana, Texas, Kansas, California, Nevada of course, and even Hawaii.  Our instructors were Brian Wygal, Katie Krasinski, and Dan Stone.

There were two main sites that we dug at, both along the Susitna River.  The first one was the Susitna River Overlook Site, aptly called Screaming Hawk because of the hawk that continuously screamed at us everyday.  Each morning we would get on a motor boat and were whisked down the river, with Mt. McKinley in the background, on our way to the site.  Here we found some huge chopper tools, some weighing as much as five pounds.  Because we were looking for Denali Complex, which is about 7,000 to 6,000 years old, with microblades, these giant tools make us think the site is much older than we originally thought.  We won’t know for sure until the carbon dates come back from the lab in Reno. 

The second site we dug at was called the Trapper Creek Overlook Site, which we fondly called TCO.  At this site we did find signs of Denali Complex in very small microblade flakes made out of clear obsidian.  We also found a possible hearth area with a lot of purplish staining in the ground. 

Aside from the two sites, we did a number of day activities that included surveying work and shovel testing and even coring a peat bog.  David Yesner, from University of Alaska, Anchorage, came out to Screaming Hawk and spent a day with us.  We took a backpacking trip to the Tangle Lakes Archaeological District and camped at Landmark Gap, went to Denali National Park for a Saturday excursion and climbed Mt. Healy, and partied with the Hell’s Angels of Alaska for Memorial Day.  During the summer, it never really gets dark where we were at.  Richie Bednarski brought a guitar and we would stay up into the wee hours singing songs until somebody would look at their watch and decided that 2:00 or 3:00 am was time to go to bed. 

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE-LEARNING STUDY-TOUR

CENTER FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

Gary Brinker, Director 

Last summer, the CSSPPR completed four research projects.  We completed an evaluation of the Seniors Directory, a catalog of local services for seniors published by the Southwest Missouri Office on Aging.  We did two community surveys for the Community Partnership of the Ozarks to measure the effectives of ad campaigns to make the public more aware of underage drinking and methamphetamine labs.  We also did a statewide survey for the Missouri Department of Transportation to measure satisfaction with MoDOT services.  The University is currently negotiating with MoDOT and the Missouri Transportation Institute to develop a long-term contract to conduct various types of research for MoDOT.  Currently, the CSSPPR is working on a program evaluation of the Teaching American History Program, funded by a federal grant acquired from the U.S. Department of Education by Dr. Marc Cooper.  This program allows local middle and high school history and social studies teachers to obtain Masters Degrees through online courses during the school year and seminars during the summer. We are also completing an employee satisfaction survey for the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.  This research is designed to help enhance morale and job satisfaction among employees of the Sheriff’s Department.

Some of the Department’s top students are working on these projects at the CSSPPR.  Brian Hamilton, a double major in sociology and criminology who plans to apply for law school upon completion of his undergraduate work, is heading up the Greene County Sheriff’s Department project.  He is being assisted by Cara Rittman, a criminology major who plans on entering the field of corrections upon graduating.  Jacquelynn Parent, a sociology major planning on graduate study in sociology, is managing the History Evaluation, as well as an ongoing program evaluation of the Healthy Marriage and Family Grant Program, which CSSPPR has been working on for the past two years.  The Department should be proud of the way these students are applying their acquired sociological skills to help meet the University’s public affairs mission through applied social research activities that promote the public welfare.

CRIMINOLOGY

NEW FACULTY

Dr. Judith Grant, originally from Canada, received her Ph.D. in Women's Studies (with an emphasis on women's addiction and recovery processes) from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Before joining the department, Dr. Grant taught for nine years at Canadian universities and four years at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, teaching Sociology and Criminology courses. 

Since arriving in Springfield, she has been active in service work to the Greene County Restorative Justice Board as well as with the local shelter.  She has been active in the past in service work with Canadian agencies:  Corrections Canada, Addiction Centers, Shelter Boards, and Family Services Agencies.  Dr. Grant's international work has taken her to Southeast Asia (the Philippines and Sri Lanka) documenting gender analysis reports for Canadian agencies and to Russia whereby she presented research on Canadian laws on Domestic Violence to Centres for Women, Family and Gender Studies in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Dr. Grant has recently signed a book contract with Lexington Publishing Co. to reformat her dissertation research into a book.  Also, she recently had a chapter entitled, "Women and Drugs - a Feminist Perspective" accepted for an edited text, Critical Criminology, due out in winter, 2005.  Also an abstract on her research has been submitted to the Symbolic Interaction conference to be held in Niagara Falls, Canada, May/2006. 

Her research interest include crime, justice and gender; drugs in society; drugs and gender; addiction/recovery from controlled substances; public policy; violence against women; community activism and community-academic alliances.  Dr. Grant teaches CAS410 (Crime, Justice, and Gender) and two classes of SOC301 (Research Methods).  She is a member of the American Society of Criminology, American Sociological Association, Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Canadian Sociology & Anthropology Association.

FACULTY UPDATES

After conducting research on prisons for nearly twenty years, including prisons in the United States, England, and the Netherlands, Dr. Carlie spent nearly 10 years doing field research on law enforcement. Since 1998, however, Dr. Carlie has turned his attention to street gangs, one of America’s most pressing crime and youth problems.

Dr. Carlie’s online book on street gangs, Into the Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of Street Gangs (to gain access to the entire book, conduct a www.google.com search for “Mike Carlie” and click on the title of the book), continues to be adopted by justice agencies across the United States and Canada. As a result of his work, Dr. Carlie is invited to speak at the annual meetings of a number of different justice agencies.

In September, 2005, Dr. Carlie was invited to present his work at the annual meeting of the Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center – one of six regions in the Regional Intelligence Sharing System (U.S. Department of Justice). This region includes law enforcement commanders from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

In October, 2005, Dr. Carlie presented a paper on “The Gang Phenomenon” at the invitation of the Missouri Supreme Court. The Office of State Courts Administrators holds two two-day conferences for the 1,800 court clerks in Missouri. The purpose of Dr. Carlie’s presentation is to enhance Missouri’s court clerks’ knowledge of gangs. He will be speaking at both the October meeting (in St. Louis) and the May, 2006, meeting (in Columbia).

 Dr. Carlie also received an invitation from the New York Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Development to speak at their State Wide Summit on Youth Gang Issues being held for personnel in the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). Meeting in Albany, NY, Carlie will be sharing his ideas on how the OCFS may best reduce gang joining and gang activity in communities throughout New York State.

 In August of 2005 Dr. Carlie was the recipient of the Missouri State University Award for Service. However, the best award, according to Dr. Carlie, is hearing from graduates of the Missouri State Criminology program as they gain new employment in the field of criminal justice, enter or complete their graduate degrees, or continue to move up in the agencies for which they work. Nothing succeeds like success!!

In 1986 Dr. Carlie was hired by then Southwest Missouri State University to create a degree program in the field of criminal justice. In 1987 the first student enrolled in the then-called Criminal Justice Studies program. In 1997 he left the position of coordinator of that program to pursue field research on gangs. Dr. Karl Kunkel was then appointed coordinator of the program whose name was then changed to Crime and Society. In 2005 the name of the program was changed to Criminology and, since 1997, has added a major and a graduate degree through the Master of Science in Administrative Studies (with a component in Criminal Justice). The Criminology major is now purported to be the ninth largest minor on the Missouri State campus.

SOCIOLOGY

In August 2004, Dr. Tim Knapp received the University Award for Teaching.  Over the past year, he had two publications: “Citizenship, Service and Democracy,” published in the American Sociological Association’s book Service-Learning and Undergraduate Sociology, and “Gathering Support for Change” (with Kelly McNeilis and Richard Myers), published in the American Association for Higher Education’s book Campus Progress – Supporting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.  Dr. Knapp also presented a paper “Learning Outcomes Assessment Strategies” in March 2005 at the Colloquium on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Atlanta.  He, along with Chantal Levesque and Bradley Fisher, currently is designing a spring 2006 study “Service Learning’s Impact on Student Motivation, Civic Skills, and Self-Identity.”   This project is being supported with a $3,600 Teaching Fellowship Program grant.

In September 2005, Dr. John Harms presented "The Forces of Globalization" as part of the Anthropology Colloquium Series 2005-2006 "Globalization:  an interdisciplinary perspective".  In November 2005, Dr. Harms participated as a panelist in an interdisciplinary forum entitled "Democracy, Dissent, and the University".  Also in November, Dr. Harms spoke at the summit on Higher Education and the Public Good.         

ALUMNI NEWS

Please update the Department on your current location and activities by either clicking here to complete a brief form or e-mailing us at DSAC@MissouriState.edu.

Eldon DeWitt (1949) Below is a letter received from Eldon F. DeWitt.  Mr. DeWitt was a member of the Class of 1949.

My acquaintance with the Department of Sociology began in the fall term of 1946. I was just out of the Navy and ready to start the next phase of my life.  Although my Navy experience was as an Electrician’s Mate on a cruiser, the USS Memphis, I was always interested in becoming an educator.  I enrolled in the Sociology and History departments to do a double major.  Dr. Walter O. Cralle was my advisor and first professor in the Sociology department. He and other professors helped me complete the necessary courses in Sociology, Economics and History.  The ideas and experiences I had in completing my undergraduate program confirmed my desire to be an educator and to engage in the social issues facing our youth and their families. 

I increased my interests and skills by obtaining a Masters Degree and extra graduate credit at the University of Mo. My emphasis was in Educational Psychology and School Administration. As a result of this training I have been a Teacher in all the grades, a Rehabilitation Counselor, School Psychologist, an Education Director in a Corrections department, an Instructor in the Navy, and a Director of Pupil Personnel Services in a School District.  This last and longest experience won me recognition for professional inspiration, dedication and leadership in the field of guidance and counseling in 1989 at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.

Before retiring from the local school district in 1993, I began to accelerate my volunteer activities in the community.  I have been a member of Kiwanis International since 1969. I have been on an Advisory Board for Higher Education since 1984 at California State University Stanislaus.  My most memorable activity began in 1990 when a group of educators and community members began focus groups on how to organize and fund a Partnership for Healthy Children. The focus was and is on school age children and their families. Our interest is on how to encourage better health, better parenting and related social issues these families face.  Beginning and sustaining such a project takes people and money because it is a not for profit concept. Enlisting the public is a challenging activity as well.

Through the ensuing years 1990-2005, we have subsisted on grants from various local and statewide organizations, just this spring, 2005, our project has became a recipient of 1.1 million dollars spread over the next three years. We can now grow at a more rapid rate covering more of the needs of the target population which we have continued to address.  I have been the Chairman of the Advisory Committee for most of the years we have functioned.

How do you define your experiences or interpret your feelings?  Training in Sociology shapes a person to look at the community in a more humane and intimate way. Basic problems of the community and its inhabitants become a concern of the true Sociologist regardless of what their vocation or career has become in the ensuing years.  I have learned how to spot a social need, design a plan which could ameliorate it, energize those who should be involved, find and generate the funds and encourage those persons essential to solving the problem.     

Alumni Updates:

Sara Anno (Anthropology, 2003) - Pursuing a Master’s degree in teaching at Missouri State University; she plans to teach at the high school level.

A. J. Barnes (Criminology, 2002) – Currently working as a Juvenile officer for the 25^th Judicial Circuit.

Fairelyn Bayless (Anthropology, 1992) – Working in the area of family services.

Ryan Biggers (Criminology, 2002) – Previously worked in probation and parole and now is accepted in the United States Secret Service and assigned to the Washington, D.C., office.

Amy Birch (Criminology, 2004) – Currently working as a loss prevention agent for Famous Barr.

Brooke Bischoff-Sturgis (Criminology, 1999) – Working as a Field Interviewer for the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Ryan Brewer (Criminology, 2005) – Was married in June 2005 and began graduate school in the Fall.

Tia Kolb Anderson Creamer (Sociology, 1969) – Currently employed in the Office of the Vice President for Business and Finance at the University of Tulsa.

Loretta Davis (Sociology, 1973) – Received an MBA from Memphis State in 1988. Currently a Research Compliance Manager at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX. Obtained Research Administrator Certificate in 2002.

Ed Dorris (Sociology, 1976) – Facility manager at the Division of Youth Services Community Learning Center.

Christopher Epps (Sociology, 1991) – Adult Probation Officer for Superior Court of Arizona supervising a caseload of 50-60 adult gang offenders.

Kelly Graf (Anthropology, 1995) – A Ph.D. candidate at University of Nevada, Reno studying Upper Paleolithic cultures in Siberia and the peopling of the Americas.

Cindy Grisham (Sociology, 2004) – Enrolled in the Master of Public Administration program at Arkansas State and plans to work toward a doctorate in Heritage Studies.

Jennifer Ham (Sociology, 2002) – Currently a financial counselor and advocate for disabled, elderly, and homeless social security recipients.

Katie Holsopple (Criminology, 2004) – Currently employed with Security-Arapahoe House (a halfway house).

Greg Hronick (Criminology, 2003) – Was married in February 2004 and works as an officer with Missouri Probation and Parole in Springfield.

Chris Keonig (Anthropology, 2003) – Works in a full-time position with the Missouri Department of Transportation as an Archaeology Field Assistant.

Greg Kramp (Criminology, 1996) – Publishing Representative for Prentice-Hall.

Carol Maggio (Sociology, 1993) – Professional Planner at URS Corporation in Gaithersburg, MD.  Graduated from the University of Maryland- College Park with a master’s degree in Community Planning. She was married in September of 2003.

Amanda Oesch (Sociology, 2004) – Attending law school at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Corey Randall (Criminology, 2003) – Currently a dispatcher for police and the fire department in Independence, Missouri.

Jake Richards (Criminology, 2003) – Currently working for AIG Insurance as a high exposure scene investigator in Denver, Colorado.

Randall Sasaki (Anthropology, 1999) – Currently a graduate student in the Texas A&M University Nautical Archaeology Program. Plans to start the Ph.D. program in Oceanography at Texas A&M.

Darrell Scott (Sociology, 1968) – Retired after 34 years with Bell System. Currently volunteering as a golf marshall and playing golf as often as possible.

Nikki Shurack (Anthropology, 1993) – Has worked in twelve states throughout the Midwest, Great Basin and Southwest. Currently working for a large Cultural Resource Management firm on a reservoir project in Durango, Colorado.

Phyllis Thompson (Sociology, 1977) – Currently is an Issue Manager for Elsevier Medical Journals, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and ASGE Clinical Update