Sociology

Congratulations to Dr. Kendra Jason who successfully defended her dissertation "Supervisors as Aids and Obstacles to Upward Mobility in the Health Care Sector." Her committee consisted of Michael Schwalbe (chair), Martha Crowley, Maxine Thompson, Jennifer Craft Morgan, and Melvin Thomas. Dr. Jason will soon begin her new job as an assistant professor of sociology at UNC - Charlotte.

Happy 197th birthday to Karl Marx.

Dr. Kelly Thames has successfully defended her dissertation entitled "An Elaboration and Reformulation of Social Support Theories of Crime: Conditioned Social Support Theory". Her committee was chaired by Patty McCall with assistance from Charles Tittle, Steve McDonald, and Ted Greenstein.

Kelly is joining the faculty at Appalachian State University this fall.

Please extend congratulations to Dr. Kylie Parrotta for successfully defending her dissertation, "The Politics of Athletic Authenticity: Negotiating Organizational Change and Identity Dilemmas in Women's Flat-Track Roller Derby," The committee consisted of Michael Schwalbe (chair), Sinikka Elliott, Stacy De Coster, and Karla Henderson.

And these NC State sociology faculty are on the SSS program as well: Bill Smith, Toby Parcel, Tom Shriver, Ted Greenstein, Steve McDonald, Stacy De Coster, Sinikka Elliott, Sarah Bowen, Patty McCall, Melvin Thomas, Maxine Atkinson, Martha Crowley, Margaret Stiffler, Kim Ebert, Megan Glancy, Brett Lehman, and Anna Manzoni.

Heading to the Southern Sociological Society meetings in New Orleans? Say hi to these NC State Sociology PhD students who are on the program: Tyler Flockhart, Scott Grether, Peter Knepper, Padraic Burns, Nick Richardson, Monica Bixby, Michelle Lore, Mindy Vulpis, Marie Gualtieri, Lisa McManus, Lindsay Hamm, Laura Bray, Kalah Wilson, Josh Lambert, Josephine McKelvy, Jennifer Lutz, Heather Sanchez, Erinn Brooks, Emily Estrada, Ellen Whiteman, Daniela Garcia-Grandon, Chaniqua Simpson, Amanda Wyant, and Kylie Parrotta.

NC State 58, UNC 46. The scene at the Bell Tower Tuesday night.

This is very sad. I'll leave it to others to interpret the nature of the crime, but Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, was an NC State graduate; his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and Abu-Salha’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, were current NC State students and Athens Drive High School graduates. May they rest in peace.

CHAPEL HILL: 3 people shot dead in Chapel Hill | Orange County | NewsObserver.com Three people were shot dead Tuesday evening in the area of Summerwalk Circle near the Friday Center/Finley Golf Course area in Chapel Hill.

Right now it's sunny and 71 at NC State in Raleigh.

It's 39 and cloudy at Penn State, foggy and 34 at Northwestern, 26 and foggy at Michigan State and 22 with a winter storm warning at UMass-Amherst.

Chaniqua Simpson has successfully defended her master's thesis entitled, "Colorism Across Families; Skin Tone and Child's Perceived Relationship Closeness with Parents." Her committee consisted of Maxine Thompson (chair), Steven McDonald, and Kim Ebert.

Kelly Thames (AbD) has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Sociology at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.

Richard Benton (PhD, 2014) has accepted a position as assistant professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Congratulations to our December 2014 graduates! Richard Benton, Joslyn Brenton, Emily Cabaniss, Adam Driscoll, Josh Hendrix, and Lisa Tichavsky all received their PhD degrees; Jennifer Lutz and Courtney Matera received their master's degrees.

Jennifer Lutz has successfully defended her masters thesis, "A Spoiled Identity? An Examination of the Reflected Appraisal Process among True Deviants and the Falsely Accused." Her committee was chaired by Stacy De Coster with assistance from Margaret Zahn and Patty McCall.

Congratulations to Dr. Josh Hendrix who on Monday successfully defended his dissertation titled "Angels and Loners: An Examination of Abstention Processes and Abstainer Heterogeneity." Josh's committee was chaired by Toby Parcel with assistance from Charles Tittle, Patty McCall, and Anna Manzoni.

Don't you just hate election forecasts that rely on science and data?

HeraldNet.com - Election forecasts rely too much on science, data In the old days, life had many hardships. Among these: the need to wait until Election Day to determine who had won.But now Big Data has saved us...

Congratulations to Dr. Lisa Tichavsky who successfully defended her dissertation entitled "The Adoption of Mandatory Arrest Legislation for Domestic Assaults in the U.S., 1980-2000: A Test of Three Explanations". The committee consisted of Margaret Zahn (Chair), Maxine Atkinson, Ted Greenstein and Sinikka Elliott.

Tom Shriver has been awarded a two-year NSF grant in the amount of $186,449 for his project “Elite Framing of Social Movements”. This research examines how authoritarian governments vilify protesters in order to protect their own legitimacy and justify the use of harsh repression. The project focuses on the historical case of popular resistance to a 1953 currency reform in Czechoslovakia, one of the first uprisings against Communism in the Eastern Bloc. The findings from this research will expand current theoretical literature and offer a new research agenda for future studies on the ways in which authoritarian governments vilify and repress citizens.

Congratulations to Dr. Emily Cabaniss who successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, "Storytelling in the Political Mobilization of Young Immigrant Rights Activists." Her committee included Michael Schwalbe (chair), Sinikka Elliott, Kim Ebert, and Sherryl Keinman (UNC - Chapel Hill).

Raleigh has been named the best place for business and careers.

Raleigh Leads The Best Places For Business And Careers 2014 Raleigh returns to the No. 1 spot in Forbes' annual look at the metros with the best business climates. North Carolina's capital is the only East Coast locale to make the top 10.

Congratulations to Dr. Adam Driscoll who successfully defended his dissertation entitled "A Cross-National Analysis of Agricultural Dependency and Its Impacts on Environment Degradation" on Friday, July 18th. His committee was chaired by Ed Kick with assistance from Michael Schulman, Brett Clark, Sarah Bowen, and G. Dave Garson (Graduate School Representative).

Dr. Driscoll will be an assistant professor of sociology at University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse starting in the fall.

Dr. Joslyn Brenton successfully defended her dissertation "In Pursuit of Health: Mothers, Children, and the Negotiation of an Elusive Ideal" today. Joslyn's committee members were Sarah Bowen, Ron Czaja, Maxine Thompson, Michael Schwalbe (vice chair) and Sinikka Elliott (chair).

Joslyn will be an assistant professor of sociology at Ithaca College in the fall.

Dr. Richard Benton has successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Corporate Governance and Director Interlocks: The Effects of Network Mechanisms, Structural Cohesion, and Institutional Contexts on the Balance of Power in American Corporations"

Richard's committee was chaired by Steve McDonald and included Martha Crowley, Jeff Leiter, Michael Schulman (Youth, Family, & Community Sciences), and Gerald LeBlanc (Toxicology). Richard's dissertation research was funded by the National Science Foundation. He will be on a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University during the 2014-2015 academic year.