~ Comments and News From our Current Students ~
__________________________________________________________________
The most
valuable asset our department has is our students - both those
currently enrolled in our programs and courses and our alumni.
As of this writing, we have 80 students majoring in Anthropology,
258 majoring in
Crime and Society (once called the Criminal Justice
Studies program), and another 60 majors in Sociology ... and
we're continuing to grow. We have become one
of the fastest growing departments in the College of Humanities
and Public Affairs (once called the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences).
On this
page we put the spotlight on a few of our outstanding sociology majors. On
several following pages we highlight some of our exceptional anthropology
majors and crime and
society majors.
_____________________________________
Sociology Students
Tamara
Wilfong will be the Recipient of the
2004-2005
Walter O. Cralle Scholarship!
The
announcement of the competition for the Walter
O. Cralle Scholarship for the academic
year 2004-2005 was made earlier in 2004 and many qualified students applied.
The department's Scholarship Committee reviewed all of the
applications to choose one student to be honored by being
awarded the Walter O. Cralle Scholarship. With so many qualified
students, it was a difficult decision for the committee to make. As
you may know, Cralle
scholars are among our best students who perform at the top of their
class and are involved in their community.
But choose it
must do, and the
Committee recently announced that the recipient of the Walter O. Cralle
Scholarship for the academic year 2004-2005 will be Tamara Wilfong!
Our congratulations to Tamara
who is
pursuing a double major in our department (Sociology and in Crime and Society).
Tamara
expects to graduate in May of 2005 and is
a member of
Alpha Pi Sigma, the national Criminal
Justice Honorary Society. Tamara was also the recipient of the
department's Scholarship for Societal Studies for the 2003-2004
academic year.
Tamara
has been active in several volunteer
organizations, including the Branson
Recycling Center and Christian Action Ministries, which provides
food to those in need. She has also helped
raise money for several organizations whose goal is to find cures
for particular diseases. In terms of future plans, Tamara is
investigating several options for
employment or graduate school
for subsequent employment with the Department of
Homeland Security, or counseling adolescents with substance abuse
problems.
___________________________________________________
Learning About People
Around the World:
Why I Chose Sociology as my Academic
Major
by
Cole
LaPlant
When I was
young my family served as host parents for
international exchange students. We now have many
friends in Europe and South America because of that
decision. When I came to Missouri State University I knew that growing up in a
multicultural environment had taught me two things:
that I liked people and that
I wanted to travel the
world.
Missouri State University offers a variety of
degrees all of which would have allowed me to
explore the area of humanities. After taking SOC
150 (An
Introduction to Society), my curiosity
regarding individuals in their cultural and social
contexts began to grow. Over
time, that led me to take several other
courses offered by the
Sociology and Anthropology department.
Soon the
decision for me became clear that Sociology was the path I should follow. After making that
decision I had one more decision
to make. What should I
minor in? I wanted to minor in something that would
help me to better understand myself and also
compliment my major.
I started
doing a little research and learned that
the university offered a
Gender Studies
Program that would
allow me explore many aspects of living in a
gendered society and world. I am
currently enrolled in Dr. Shahin Gerami’s SOC
290 (Sociology
of Gender Roles). Dr.
Gerami has taught me to open my eyes to an array of
issues stemming from gender issues. With that
knowledge I plan to complete
my degree at Missouri State and then join Peace Corps so I can help to better
the world and continue to work
within the context of Public Affairs.
_______________________________________________________________
From People-Watching to Sociology:
The Trip of a Lifetime
from Annalee
Chappell
The
first time I realized I wanted to be
a Sociology major
I was sitting on a bench in an airport. It was
nearing the end of my freshman year at Missouri State and I
was beginning to get nervous about the fact that I
hadn’t chosen a major yet.
As I sat I began to people-watch
... I have always loved to do that. For me,
half the fun of traveling is sitting in airports,
watching people from all over the world pass by. I
love to observe them while they rush by, or
spend time looking through
the magazine shops. I feel like I get a little
window into each person's
mind just by watching their behavior for a few
moments and seeing how they interact with others. It
may sound strange, but it’s something that I’ve done
ever since I was a little girl.
I always have a million questions
running through my mind. What kind of a person is
this? What music do they listen to? What is their
family like? What do they do for a living? The
longer I sat on that bench, the more questions I
had. On this particular day, it went on for a few
hours. Eventually, I got up to catch my flight. As
I walked, I realized that not many people could, or
even would sit on a bench for five hours and be
perfectly happy just to watch people go by. Most
choose a book, or a magazine, or
watched TV. I thought to
myself, “This must be something that I can
use to my advantage in life.”
By the end of
a
very long flight I had made my decision to study
sociology. It made perfect sense. I love to watch
people and observe their behavior. I
enjoy studying other
cultures and learning about
their beliefs and customs. I even have a natural
tendency to analyze people's behavior and come up
with theories about why they do what they do. Just
ask my girlfriends. I have several theories about
men and why they do the things they do
(only
kidding, of course), But in all seriousness, I truly
felt like I was choosing a field where I could
utilize all my natural strengths.
Since I have been in the Sociology
program I have become
even more passionate about
my education. I’ve found plenty of opportunity for
open communication and guidance and have been truly
amazed at the amount of support I receive from both
students and faculty. I use the knowledge I gain in
my classes not only at school but at work and at
home. I definitely feel that my greater
understanding of human behavior will help me
throughout my life with any job I might choose.
________________________________________________________________
Sociology
Faculty and Students
Present Findings
at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied
Sociology
by Cara Rittman,
Jacquelynn Parent and Dr. Gary
Brinker
To your
left is a
picture taken at the 2004 annual
conference of the Society for Applied
Sociology (SAS). From
left to right in the background are Missouri State
sociology students Jacquelynn Parent and
Cara Rittman.
The
Center for Social Sciences and Public
Policy Research (formerly Center for
Social Research) is a social research
center operated by the College of
Humanities and Public Affairs.
Dr. Gary Brinker
(pictured below with Rittman and Parent)
became the Associate Director in
1997 and assumed the duties of Director
in May of 2002.
The Center conducts a variety of
research projects, including survey
research, program evaluations and public
policy analyses.
The Center sponsored a trip in 2004 for
Jacquelynn and Cara to present their
findings. Dr. Brinker (pictured below)
also presented
the results of a regional study
conducted by his Research Methods and
Social Problems classes on opinions
regarding the medicinal use of
marijuana.
Research on the Death Penalty:
During April and May of 2004, the
Missouri Catholic Conference
commissioned the Center to conduct a
state-wide survey of opinions on the
death penalty. This was similar to a previous study
done for this client in 1999.
The
Student Researchers:
Two student interviewers who worked on
the 2004 survey, Jacquelynn Parent
and Cara Rittman, wrote a
research paper comparing the results of
the 1999 survey to those of the more
recent 2004 survey.
Their goal was to assess the
changes in opinion that have occurred
over the past 5 years in people’s
preference for the death penalty as an
appropriate penalty for murder.
They also conducted an extensive
literature review of salient media and
legislative events that occurred during
the period between 1999 and 2004 in
order to hypothesize causal forces to
explain the observed changes.
Their
Findings:
The
findings from the
student research suggested a
significant shift from strongly
supporting the death penalty to somewhat
supporting it. The literature review suggested that
media and political events such as the
Governor of Illinois commuting numerous
death sentences and the Governor of
Missouri commuting a death sentence at
the request of the Pope may have
influenced Missourians to reconsider the
appropriate application of the death
penalty.
Dr. Brinker's
findings showed majority support for
allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana
to patients under certain medical
conditions. They also showed that, despite
supporting marijuana as a medicine, most
respondents believe marijuana carries a
significant potential for harm and
abuse. Dr. Brinker found a strong
negative correlation between the
respondent’s perceived harm of marijuana
and support for its use as a
medicine. Dr. Brinker and Professor Jeff
London are currently conducting a
similar statewide study.
Cara had this to add to the comments
above:
Once Jacquelynn
and I
had done our presentation
the rest of our time
at the
meeting was open to
attend other sessions as well as
to see the sights of Washington
D.C. Among the more memorable
and educational sessions I
attended was “Applying Sociology
to Violent Crime,"
which included presentations on
domestic violence and rape
victimization. The organizer for
this session was Missouri State
professor Dr. Gayle
Rhineberger.
During our visit
we spent time at two Smithsonian
museums, the
Natural Science and the
Air and Space museums. We
also visited
the White House,
the
Vietnam Memorial, and the
Lincoln Memorial. I am so
thankful that I was given the
opportunity to attend and
present at such an educational
and
interesting
conference. The people I met
there were specialists in their
fields, down to earth, friendly,
and open to conversation. All in
all, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I am very
grateful to have had.
And from Jacquelynn:
It was such a great experience to be able to
attend the meeting.
I was very excited about the opportunity to
analyze the death penalty data that I
helped gather for the Center.
I thought working on the project would be beneficial to
me, giving me experience I will need for graduate school. After
completing my presentation at the meeting,
I had an enormous feeling of satisfaction because I had
been involved with every part of the study
from start to finish: working on the survey, doing the trend
analysis with available data from five years ago, writing the
paper, and then presenting it at a conference.'
Despite the amount of sociology
courses taken as an undergraduate, I don’t think I would have
gotten as clear an understanding of what sociology
is.
I learned more about what I could do with a sociological
perspective and how powerful solid research
can be. Attending
the meeting was exciting because many of the professors
from other universities were eager to get to know me and to talk
about their graduate programs. And there
was such diversity in the presentations that I was able to
see new perspectives on things that I
may not encounter in an Missouri State classroom. Another thing I enjoyed
was being able to meet and listen to people whose books I have
read. I would definitely say that being able to work on this
project and attend the SAS conference has been my best
experience as an undergraduate so far
and that it gave me a taste of what
I’ll be doing in the future with my degree.
________________________________________________________________
Can we
feature you in a future issue?
If
you would like to be featured in a future issue, please
email your
comments to the Editor. A picture of your lovely face
should be included (digital, if possible, or bring/mail one
to the
SOC/ANT office and we'll scan it in.
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