Fall 2020 Sociology Newsletter |
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Greetings from FSU Sociology! I hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well as we enter into the holiday season.
The world has been a bit upside down since our last newsletter. The COVID-19 pandemic that hit the U.S. in early Spring has continued to influence our day-to-day operations. Throughout the summer and fall months our department has remained on an all-remote teaching schedule and a mostly-remote staff schedule. Many in the department also have continued to face heightened caretaking demands for children and other dependents who have been out of school or unable to receive their regular care. At the same time, our nation has experienced very high levels of social and racial unrest and gone through an extremly contentious election season. Put simply, 2020 has been a long and difficult year.
Despite the major challenges we have faced, Sociology faculty and students have continued to move forward and to excel in both the classroom and in their research. The Sociology staff have worked tremendously hard to help support their work and to provide a sense of cohesion for the department. As a result, our Summer and Fall semesters went well, with numerous awards and honors and excellent course evaluations for our instructors. We also celebrated the graduation of almost 80 undergraduate students and four PhD students. As in the Spring, we were not able to celebrate with our graduates in person at formal ceremonies. Instead, our department hosted Zoom celebratory toasts for our graduating PhD students and the University hosted a virtual commencement address for everyone. The College of Social Sciences and Public Policy also posted messages from each department and a video in which the names of all graduates were read individually. We are very proud of each and every one of our graduating students!
In addition to these accomplishments, the department also has been actively engaged in the development of a diversity and inclusion plan, focusing on the recruitment, retention, and support of a more diverse body of faculty, staff and students and the inclusion of marginalized voices and perspectives in our curriculum and programmatic offerings. As one step in this process, we recently published a comprehensive diversity and inclusion statement, which you can view here.
This fall we also engaged in our second annual fundraising campaign. On the whole, it was quite successful! Thank you to everyone who contributed to that campaign or in other ways throughout the year. Your funds help to support our students in ways we otherwise could not (e.g. recruitment efforts, awards, extra training and workshops, etc.). Given the precarious financial situation in Florida at this time, these donations are more important than ever. We are truly grateful for the support of our wonderful alumni and friends, and we encourage you to keep the Department in mind as you consider ways to give back (Donate to FSU Sociology).
This fall we also have experienced some changes to our administrative team, staff, and faculty. After five years of dedicated service, Dr. Lisa Munson has stepped down from the position of Director of Undergraduate Studies. We greatly appreciate all of her hard work and are glad that she was able to take a semester-long leave for professional development this Fall. Dr. Teresa Roach has now enthusiastically stepped into the role and is moving ahead with some exciting new initiatives to engage and serve our undergraduate majors. Soon we also will have a new Administrative Specialist to help lead our amazing staff. We are very excited that Juhaina Soares will be coming aboard on January 6th. On a more bittersweet note, after 19 years of extraordinary service to the department, Dr. Gloria Lessan is retiring at the end of December. The department will miss her greatly, but we know that she is heading off to start an exciting new phase of her life!
We would love to hear from our friends and alumni who are no longer at FSU. Please remember that you can always stay connected with the department on twitter @FSUSociology and Facebook (FSU Sociology). I also invite you to share updates about your own accomplishments and life events in our next newsletter by contacting me at [email protected] or sending us your information through this survey form.
May your holidays be happy and safe, and the new year bring much joy to your lives!
Kathi Tillman
Professor and Chair of Sociology
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- Meet Our New Graduate Students
- Meet Our Recent Graduates
- Grad Students On the Job Market
- Upcoming Retirement
- Alumni Spotlight
- Faculty Spotlight
- In Memoriam
- SWS Update
- AKD Update
- Newsworthy News
- Thank You to Our Donors
- Celebrating During a Pandemic
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Meet Our New Graduate Students |
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2020 Incoming Cohort
Top Row, Left to Right: Hailey McGee, Nacia Goldberg, Rebekah Carpenter. Middle Row, Left to Right: Siriruay (Ploy) Methakitwarun, Destiny Reices, Madeline Levey, Jordon Scott. Bottom Row, Left to Right: Tara Henry, Samuel Wirth, Bree Salazar.
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Hailey McGee is interested in Gender, Sexuality, Organizations, and Inequality. She holds a BS in Sociology from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.
Nacia Goldberg is interested in Health and Aging. They hold a BS in Interdisciplinary Social Science from Florida State University.
Rebekah Carpenter is interested in Work, Retirement, and Stratification/
Inequality. She holds a BA in Sociology and Political Science from the University of North Florida and an MA in Sociology from the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Siriruay (Ploy) Methakitwarun is interested in Immigrant Adaptation, Family and Youth, and Social Demography. She holds a BS in Sociology from Northern Kentucky University.
Destiny Reices is interested in Gender, Family Dynamics, and Racial Inequalities. She holds a BS in Political Science from Florida State University.
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Madeline Levey is interested in Reproductive Technologies, Medical Sociology, and Feminist Embodiment. She holds a BA and MA in Geography from Florida State University.
Jordan Scott is interested in Marxist Political Economy, and Union and Labor History. He holds a BA in International Studies from the University of South Florida and an MA in International Studies from DePaul University.
Tara Henry is interested in Gender, Sexuality, and Media Studies. She holds a BA in Communication from Oakland University in Rochester, MI.
Samuel Wirth is interested in Epidemiology, Labor Demographics, Gender Inequality, and Social Psychology. He holds a BA in Sociology from Florida State University.
Bree Salazar is interested in Reproduction Justice, Abortion Politics, and the Judicial System. She holds a BA in Sociology from Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton, California.
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Meet our Summer and Fall 2020 PhD Graduates |
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Dissertation: Managing Midlife: How Gender and Sexuality Shape Midlife Perceptions of Decline and Progress
Co-Chairs – Dr. Anne Barrett and
Dr. Irene Padavic
Dr. Barbee's research interests center on social psychology and medical sociology, particularly regarding gender, sexuality, and age. For their dissertation, Dr. Barbee conducted in-depth interviews with people in their 50s to examine how gender and sexuality influence different individuals' experiences of aging—for example, their fears of aging, experience of health and aging bodies, age identities, and projections of the future. Dr. Barbee argued that social forces tied to gender and sexuality over the life course—including discrimination, cultural norms surrounding sexuality, and gendered ideas of family and professional achievement—produce unique aging experiences for lesbian women, heterosexual women, gay men, and heterosexual men. From a policy perspective, this research is relevant to the health and well-being of Baby Boomers, and provides lessons for aging posterity. They propose policy and structural interventions that may ease or eliminate barriers to healthy aging.
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Dr. Barbee is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. They are working on an NIH grant to study the health and aging of older LGBTQ people living in the U.S. South.
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Rachel Douglas
Dissertation: Progressive Cosmopolitan Canopies: A Street Ethnography of
Key West, Florida
Chair – Dr. Anne Barrett
Dr. Douglas' research focuses on gender, leisure, aging, culture, and urban sociology. Her dissertation was an ethnographic study of Key West, Florida as a socially progressive, leisure-oriented “cosmopolitan canopy” that both challenges and reinforces social inequalities. Using interviews with tourists, residents, and workers in the tourism industry, she compared Key West with the more conservative, leisure-oriented city of St. Augustine, Florida.
During her time at FSU, Dr. Douglas also enjoyed designing and teaching her own courses, including Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Theory, and Research Methods.
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Dr. Douglas has recently accepted a position as Professor of Human Services at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
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Dissertation: Social Relationships as Resources in Later Life:
The Dynamics of Structural and Functional Support
Chair – Dr. Dawn Carr
For her dissertation, Dr. King sought to better understand the changes in dynamic social relationships that occur during later life. Social support, or more broadly, social relationships, are typically conceptualized as being key resources for health, however limited research has focused on how the relationships are being changed by the events in which they were supposed to beneficial. Broadly speaking, Dr. King is interested in how individuals cope with loss and why some do better than others.
While at FSU, Dr. King excelled at both research and teaching, publishing in top aging-related journals and receiving nominations for university-level teaching awards.
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Dr. King is currently a Survey Statistician with the U.S. Census Bureau in Washington, D.C.
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Dissertation: Sexual Frequency Patterns of Cohabiting and Married Women Across Duration and Historical Time
Chair – Dr. Koji Ueno
Dr. Jones' research focuses on the sexual behavior of women in romantic relationships. Her dissertation explored women’s sexual frequency in both cohabiting and married relationships, and how patterns of behavior have shifted across historical time periods in the U.S.
Dr. Jones also excels at teaching her own courses and at working with others to develop new interactive coursework and online learning management systems.
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Dr. Jones will hold a Postdoctoral Associate position within the FSU Department of Sociology beginning in Spring 2021. In the long-term, she hopes to apply her research skills in an applied organizational position focused on collecting and analyzing social and demographic data relevant for assessing productivity and optimizing human resources.
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Summer and Fall 2020 MS Graduates |
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Alberto Alvarez (Summer 2020)
Thesis: “Political Elite Networks as Succession Mechanism: Evidence from Cuba”
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Sourabh Singh
Metin Guven (Summer 2020)
Thesis: “The Associations Between Neighborhood Disorder, Self-Esteem, and Mastery: Exploring The Moderating Role of Religion”
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Amy Burdette
R. Kyle Saunders (Summer 2020)
Thesis: "Similar Pathways to Divergent Outcomes: Depression for Women and LGB People Increases When They Became Religious While Men and Heterosexual Converts Report a Net Decrease"
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Amy Burdette
Kristen Amaya (Fall 2020)
Thesis: "'It Feels Like We're Going to Have a Hispanic-Off, and I'm Gonna Lose:" Language Loss, New Language Ideologies, and Ethnoracial Identity Work Among Non-Spanish Speaking Lainxs"
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Shantel Buggs
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Graduate Students On the Job Market |
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Bert is a recent Ph.D. graduate and Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Sociology at Florida State University. His research interests include new media (gaming), social psychology, identity, culture, and social inequalities. His work broadly explores the construction of identity and inequality through digital, physical, and symbolic interaction, and integrates sociological approaches with game studies. He has published in Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Social Movement Studies, and Sociology Compass. Based on three years of fieldwork and 48 in-depth interviews with members of collegiate gaming communities, his dissertation analyzes the construction of gender identity and hierarchy. He has developed and taught seven undergraduate courses at Florida State University, both online and in-person, including Social Problems, Methods of Social Research, Race and Minority Relations, and Social Psychology of Groups.
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Brittney is a Ph.D. candidate who studies organizational diversity and is interested in becoming a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in higher education, government, or business. She founded Sociology’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and has facilitated annual climate surveys, workshops, and policies to foster a more inclusive department. As a founding member of FSU’s Diversity and Inclusion in Research and Teaching Organization, she has established an annual symposium, negotiated stakeholder funding, authored a funded Diversity and Inclusion Mini-Grant, and was recognized for her leadership and service to FSU and the Tallahassee community. While employed at the Center for Leadership and Social Change, she designed the Social Justice Ally Training curriculum, managed the inaugural Latinx Cultural Celebration, and created a curriculum and annual report for the Women’s Leadership Institute. Her dissertation investigates how diversity practitioners in four predominantly white universities frame and carry out their work. She has published essays on cultural appropriation, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also has designed and taught Introduction to Sociology and Research Methods.
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Pierce Dignam
Pierce is a Ph.D. candidate who studies the intersection of social movements, gender, collective identity, and politics in the digital age. His work has focused on the social movement dynamics of Alt-Right spaces on Reddit, the Trump campaign’s working-class appeals, and Trump supporters' cultural understandings of masculinity and anti-establishment politics. He also has helped develop The Institute for Research on Male Supremacism, which works to shed light on and challenge misogynist movements. His research has been published in Race, Gender and Class, Signs, and Men and Masculinities. His teaching experience includes designing and teaching Political Sociology, Sex and Gender, and Introduction to Sociology.
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TehQuin is a Ph.D. candidate who uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. He is interested in the ways well-intentioned policies and interactions inadvertently reproduce inequalities and marginalize people, especially queer people of color. Tehquin's dissertation is based on interviews and fieldwork with Black queer students attending either a predominantly white or a historically Black university. His comparative analysis reveals how college racial contexts influence how students understand and experience diversity, inclusion, and allyship. He has published papers in Social Problems and Sociological Perspectives and has taught several undergraduate courses, including Research Methods, Social Statistics, and Social Problems. He is an elected member of ASA’s student forum advisory board and serves on the student advisory board for Social Problems.
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Shawn is a Ph.D. candidate who uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to study social movements, social networks, and social media. Shawn's dissertation examines the spread of misinformation among online social movements, its diffusion by social bots and online users, and the leadership tasks among central users within movement networks during the 2016 presidential election. Using network, bot, and content analysis, he finds a heavy presence of social bots within Twitter networks and widespread misinformation within political networks. He also is interested in how social movements navigate the opportunities and barriers that accompany information and communication technologies. He has published papers in Social Movement Studies, Emerald Studies in Media and Communication, and Social Inclusion and Usability of ICT-Enabled Service. He has taught and designed several undergraduate courses, including Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, and Collective Behavior and Social Movements.
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Taylor is a Ph.D. candidate whose broad research interests include race, gender, work, social media, and mental health. She primarily uses qualitative and digital methods in her research. Her dissertation examines how Black women utilize social media platforms to engage in self-care and cope with racism in their daily lives. She also is interested in how racial, gender, and sexual minorities navigate the workplace and other organizations. Her research has been published in Social Currents, Journal of Business Anthropology, and Women, Gender, and Families of Color. She also has several pieces under review, including an investigation of how social media users evaluate racial representation in the film Moonlight and a study of how Black women entrepreneurs overcome social capital deficits to operate their businesses. She has taught Introduction to Sociology and Sociology of Marriage and the Family. She also has assisted in teaching Research Methods, Social Problems, and Sociology of Mass Media.
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Megan is a Fall 2020 Ph.D. graduate and will be a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Sociology at Florida State University. Her research focuses on the sexual behavior of women in romantic relationships, and she is particularly interested in studying era-related social shifts. She primarily employs quantitative methods in her research. She gathers, collects, analyzes, and leverages various demographic data points to provide participative research and cross-functional collaboration. Her dissertation explored women’s sexual frequency in both cohabiting and married relationships, and how patterns of behavior have shifted across historical time periods in the U.S. Outside of research, she coordinates with faculty, staff, and academic leaders to develop new course content, interactive coursework, and elevate user experience with online learning management systems.
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After 19 wonderful years in the Department of Sociology, Dr. Gloria Lessan is retiring at the end of the Fall 2020 semester.
Since 2001, Dr. Lessan has taught over 12,000 undergraduate students, worked with over 100 graduate TAs and mentors, and engaged in an extraordinary amount of service to our undergraduate program. She has been a dedicated colleague, teacher and supervisor, as well as an amazing mentor and friend to countless students, faculty, and staff.
Dr. Lessan's commitment and generosity of spirit have been truly appreciated and will be greatly missed. All of us in the department wish her the best and hope that she will remain in touch as she enjoys this new phase of her life!
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Sarah Mandell earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Political Science from Florida State University in 2008. After earning her degree, she landed a job in public policy with the Society for Research in Child Development in Washington, D.C. In this role, she tracked legislation and monitored social policies affecting children and families, keeping abreast nearly 6,000 behavioral scientists about the changing climate. She also managed a science & technology policy fellowship program, with 10 Fellows annually, that places postdoctoral scholars in Congress and the Administration for an immersion experience. Today, Sarah serves as the Director of Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She is charged with increasing the understanding of bioengineering among policymakers and the public through a variety of educational programs: bringing legislative aids to Members of Congress to tour research labs at the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, facilitating science briefings for federal lawmakers, and establishing and directing a 2-day public policy institute for engineering students interested in policy careers. She also helps researchers engage with their federal lawmakers on the importance of federal funding for science. Her experience and training afforded by Florida State University helped her to carve out a unique path at the intersection of research and policy.
Nearly every field needs people who are dedicated and passionate about social change and policies for the betterment of society. Using the lens of biomedical engineering, Sarah is helping the public trust in science. For current sociology students considering their career opportunities after graduation, she advises that you not discount your skills and narrow your search to include only "typical" social science careers. After all, "The world is your oyster," said William Shakespeare, the social scientist.
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Dr. Miles G. Taylor serves as a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and is affiliated with both the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy and the Center for Demography and Population Health at Florida State University. Dr. Taylor earned her Ph.D. at Duke University in 2005 and then trained as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Dr. Taylor's areas of expertise include the sociology of aging, health disparities, and quantitative methodologies. Her research primarily focuses on inequalities in health over the life course, and especially in later life. A secondary area of research surrounds the study of family relationships and how they impact wellbeing.
Dr. Taylor is an extraordinary scholar whose work appears in the Journals of Gerontology, The Gerontologist, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Demography, and Social Science and Medicine. Her work has been cited over 2,000 times and has garnered multiple awards and millions of dollars of support from the National Institutes of Health and other agencies. She also serves on a number of journal editorial boards, as deputy editor of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and as Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.
Recently, Dr. Taylor was promoted to full professor and traveled to Canada as a visiting Fulbright Scholar. There she became involved with the Consortium on Analytics for Data-Driven Decision-Making (CAnD3), where she also introduced FSU as a core academic partner. This international training program aims to upskill graduate students in cutting edge data science and research translation techniques in order to address global, national, and local problems impacting aging societies. In her roles on the Executive and Substantive Committees of CAnD3, she aims to help FSU and other trainees become global leaders in academic and nonacademic sectors supporting policy and decision making that promote quality of life at all ages.
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We are sad to report the passing of two FSU Sociology alumni. We offer our deepest condolences to their family and friends. |
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Dr. Amiya Mohanty (1936-2020) passed away in June 2020. Dr. Mohanty came to FSU in the mid-1960s and was the first FSU doctoral student of Professor Emeritus Charlie Nam. He had a long and successful career in academia, including winning two separate Fulbright awards, serving as chair of the Sociology Department of Eastern Kentucky University, and serving as the President of the Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky professional organization.
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Dr. Kenneth (Bart) Carey (1971-2020) passed away in September 2020. Dr. Carey graduated with a B.S. in Sociology in the 1990s and went on to earn his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from Nova Southeastern University's College of Dental Medicine in Fort Lauderdale. He completed post-doctoral studies in Pediatrics at Nova Southeastern University and Miami Children's Hospital, where he treated patients with special needs. More recently, Dr. Carey practiced dentistry in Tallahassee, FL. |
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Sociologists for Women in Society is a national feminist organization committed to promoting social justice, development of sociological feminist scholarship, and feminist leadership. SWS has had an active chapter in Tallahassee for years, and this semester was no exception.
For our first meeting of the year, we invited Dr. Adina Thompson of the Innocence Project of Florida to speak with us via Zoom about their important and inspiring work helping innocent prisoners in Florida to obtain their freedom and rebuild their lives. We also extended invitations to FAMU sociology faculty and Master of Applied Social Sciences students, as well as FSU faculty and graduate students from the Departments of Family and Child Sciences, Social Work, and Criminology.
At our second meeting of the semester, we were joined by Dr. Carol Weissert, Leroy Collins Eminent Scholar Chair and Professor of Political Science and Director of the Leroy Collins Institute. Dr. Weissert led us in an informative Zoom discussion of national and state politics and election predictions.
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The FSU Chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta Honors Society, the International Sociology Honors Society, held a virtual meeting this fall to elect a new board and to plan the recruitment of new members.
AKD Leaders for 2020-2021:
President - Kristin Amaya; Vice President - Taylor Darks;
Treasurer - Tyler Bruefach; Membership Chair - Ploy Methakitwaran
The annual AKD induction ceremony has been moved to the 2021 Spring semester.
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Recent Faculty Promotions |
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Dr. Paromita Sanyal was promoted to the rank of Professor, effective Fall 2020.
Dr. Mike McFarland and Dr. Miranda Waggoner were both promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and granted tenure, effective Fall 2020.
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Recent Faculty Achievements, Awards, and Honors
(Summer 2020 – Fall 2020)
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Dr. Shantel Buggs began a prestigious 2020 Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty with the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation). This competitive program “seeks to increase the presence of minority junior faculty members and other faculty members committed to eradicating racial disparities in core fields in the arts and humanities." The award provides a six-month sabbatical grant, a stipend for research and travel or publication, and participation in an annual conference/retreat.
Dr. Dawn Carr won the highly competitive 2020-2021 University Developing Scholar Award from the FSU Office of Research and the Council on Research and Creativity. This competitive award is intended to help identify and honor FSU's future academic leaders, as well as provide them with financial resources to pursue their research agenda.
Dr. Gloria Lessan was honored with the renaming of our department's annual award for best teaching by a graduate student. In honor of her many years of teaching and her dedicated mentorship of graduate student TAs and instructors, this award shall forthwith be known as the "Gloria T. Lessan Best Graduate Instructor Award."
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Dr. Lisa Munson co-authored and published a textbook entitled "Sociology of Education" with Kendall Hunt Publishing (2020). In addition, Dr. Munson was awarded the 2020 Community Leadership Award at the Burghalie Ensemble Art Awards (see photo).
Dr. Miranda Waggoner received a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. This highly competitive five-year grant (2020-2025) will provide roughly $450,000 to support Professor Waggoner’s research and teaching activities on the social dimensions of biomedical research ethics. Her research project examines past and present changes in biomedical research regulations pertaining to “vulnerable populations,” with a specific focus on obstetric patients and clinical trials.
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Recent Faculty Grants and Contracts
(Summer 2020 – Fall 2020)
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Dr. Anne Barrett was awarded a contract to study, Transportation-related Behaviors and Attitudes: A Survey of Florida's Aging Road Users by the Florida Department of Transportation. (2019–2021).
Dr. Dawn Carr and Dr. Miles Taylor were awarded funding from AARP for their study, Exploration of Student Caregiver Experiences on College Campuses. Ph.D. students Ladanya Ramirez Surmeier and Nacia Goldberg also have been inolved in the completion of this project (2020).
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Recent Faculty Appointments and Elections
(Summer 2020 – Fall 2020)
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Dr. Irene Padavic was appointed to the Dissertation Award Committee of the American Sociological Association (2020–2022).
Dr. Deana Rohlinger was named Co-Director of Research for the new Institute of Politics at FSU. She also has been named a member of the Graduate Committee of the Southern Sociological Society (2020–present).
Dr. Patricia Homan was appointed to the editorial board of American Sociological Review for a 3-year term beginning in January 2021.
Dr. Michael McFarland, Dr. Miles Taylor and Dr. Miranda Waggoner were appointed to serve as Deputy Editors for the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (2020–2022).
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Recent Graduate Student Awards, Honors, and Elections
(Summer 2020 – Fall 2020)
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Tyler Bruefach, a third-year doctoral student, was named a Graduate Student Editor for The Southern Sociologist, the official publication of The Southern Sociological Society (2020-2021).
JoVontae Butts, a second-year doctoral student, was awarded a 2020 Diversity Scholarship for the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research Program at the University of Michigan.
Jason D'Amours, a second-year doctoral student, was named a Graduate Student Editor for The Southern Sociologist, the official publication of The Southern Sociological Society (2020-2021). Jason also has been appointed Webmaster for the Medical Sociology section of the American Sociological Association (2020-2021).
Taylor Darks, a second-year doctoral student, was awarded a FAMU Feeder Fellowship. In addition, she was awarded the 2020 Congressional Black Caucus Spouses Education Scholarship. This opportunity awards scholarships to academically talented and highly motivated African-American or Black students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degrees in a variety of fields (https://www.cbcfinc.org/scholarships/). Taylor also released her newest children's book, The Fluffy Adventures of Fromo: The Halloween Haircut.
Rachel Douglas, a graduating doctoral candidate (Fall 2020), has accepted a permanent position as Professor of Human Services at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
TehQuin Forbes, a fifth-year doctoral candidate, was selected to be one of fifteen FSU Program for Instructional Excellence (PIE) Teaching Associates for the 2020-2021 academic year. These Associates work together to support graduate student teaching assistants in their own departments and across campus.
Metin Guven, a third-year doctoral student, was awarded a Turkish Government Scholarship.
Taylor Jackson, a fifth-year doctoral student, was named a Graduate Student Editor for The Southern Sociologist, the official publication of The Southern Sociological Society (2020-2021).
Brittany King, a graduating doctoral candidate (Summer 2020), accepted a permanent position as a Survey Statistician with the U.S. Census Bureau.
Derek Leach, a fourth-year doctoral student, was awarded the 2020 Charles T. Haworth Graduate Scholarship for Student Veterans by the FSU College of Social Sciences and Public Policy.
Marty Masek, a fourth-year doctoral candidate, accepted a full-time position as a Data Scientist for Knowli Data Science.
Ploy Methakitwarun, a first-year doctoral student, was awarded first place in the undergraduate division of the 2020 Jules Delambre Student Paper Contest held by the Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky (for work conducted in the final year of her undergraduate studies). She also recently learned that she has been awarded a five-year scholarship from the Adelaide D. Wilson Graduate Fellowship Endowment Fund at Florida State University.
Ladanya Ramirez Surmeier, a fourth-year doctoral student, was selected by the Consortium on Analytics for Data-Driven Decision-Making (CAnD3) to participate in their inaugural class of Population Analytics in an Aging Society Trainees (2020-2021). This trainee program is designed to equip the next generation of population researchers to collaborate with academic, public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
R. Kyle Saunders, a third-year doctoral student is the current Managing Editor of Reviews for the Journal of Health & Social Behavior, ASA’s flagship journal for medical sociology.
Rachel Sparkman, a second-year doctoral student, was named a Graduate Student Editor for The Southern Sociologist, the official publication of The Southern Sociological Society (2020-2021).
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Recent Undergraduate Student Awards and Honors (Summer 2020 – Fall 2020) |
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LaShae Reddick (Sociology and Political Science major) was inducted into the prestigious Garnet & Gold Scholar Society. The Garnet & Gold Scholar Society recognizes FSU undergraduate students who excel within and beyond the classroom in at least three of five areas: international experience, internship, leadership, research and service.
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Recent Alumni News (Summer 2020 – Fall 2020) |
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Dr. Elyse Claxton (Ph.D. 2019) has accepted a position as Professor of Academic Pathways for Student Success at St. Johns River State College.
Dr. Lynn Cossman (Ph.D. 1996) recently was named the founding Dean of the new College for Health, Community and Policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Dr. Tina Deshotels (Ph.D. 2005) was elected the next President of the Mid-South Sociological Association.
Dr. Donald (Donnie) Garner (B.S. FSU, 2005) graduated from Fordham University with a Ph.D. in Social Work.
Dr. Brandon Jackson (Ph.D. 2013) accepted a new tenured position at Purdue University at the rank of Associate Professor.
Dr. Byron Miller (Ph.D. 2012) has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. Dr. Miller also was recently awarded a university-level Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award from USF-SP.
Dr. Heather Rubino (Ph.D. 2014) has accepted a new position as Director of Epidemiology for Pfizer.
Dr. Hena Wadhwa (Ph.D. 2018) has accepted a new position as Director of Implementation Science with Vayu Global Health Foundation.
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For the second year in a row, our fundraising campaign has been quite a success! As a result of your generosity, this fundraiser raised an additional $3200 that can be used for graduate student recruitment and supplemental educational experiences for both graduate and undergraduate students. We truly appreciate your investment in the next generation of scholars and professionals!
Here we would like to extend our deepest appreciation to those who donated during the fundraising campaign and to those who donate year round. We couldn't do it without you!
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- Ms. Kristin Allen
- Dr. Anne Barrett
- Dr. Jessi Bishop-Royse
- Dr. Rolf Blank
- Dr. Ken Boutwell
- Drs. Stephanie and Gregory Burge
- Dr. Elwood Carlson and Ms. Judy Harlow
- Dr. Dawn Carr
- Dean Timothy Chapin
- Dr. Lynn Cossman and Mr. Randy Quinn
- Ms. Christina Crotty and Mr. John Crotty
- Dr. Isaac Eberstein and Ms. Nancy Eberstein
- Dr. Katy Glasgow
- Dr. Metin Guven and Ms. Sacide Guven
- Dr. Madonna Harrington Meyer
- Dr. Robert Hummer and Ms. Dawn Hummer
- Dr. Alexandra Krause
- Dr. Gloria Lessan
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- Dr. Steven McDonald
- Ms. Cindy Michelson
- Dr. Irene Padavic
- Ms. Karina Perez
- Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner and Dr. John Felker
- Ms. Ladanya Ramirez Surmeier
- Dr. John Reynolds
- Dr. Teresa Roach
- Dr. Deana Rohlinger and Mr. Jack Rohlinger
- Dr. David Russell
- Dr. Paromita Sanyal
- Dr. Douglas Schrock
- Dr. John Taylor
- Dr. Miles Taylor
- Dr. Kathi Tillman and Dr. Stuart Tillman
- Dr. Koji Ueno
- Dr. Hena Wadhwa
- Dr. Miranda Waggoner
- Ms. Kimberly Wicker
- Ms. Amy Yotopoulos
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If you would like to support our student recruitment and training efforts, please donate today! |
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Celebrating During a Pandemic |
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Even though we've been unable to hold in-person meetings and celebrations this semester, we've still found some creative ways to come together to acknowledge important achievements and milestones.
Faculty, staff and students recently held a virtual celebration to honor the Fall 2020 graduation of Dr. Rachel Douglas and Dr. Megan Jones (thank you to Dr. Schrock for thinking to take a picture!).
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To end the semester, we held a drive-by retirement party for Dr. Gloria Lessan. Faculty, staff, students and friends showed up to congratulate her, thank her for all that she has done, and wish her well.
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During the party, Dr. Lessan also was presented with a glass statue comemorating the renaming of our department's annual award for teaching by a graduate student. In honor of her many years of teaching and her dedicated mentorship of graduate student TAs and instructors, this award shall forthwith be known as the "Gloria T. Lessan Best Graduate Instructor Award."
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FSU Sociology Department | 850.644.6416 | 526 Bellamy | coss.fsu.edu/sociology |
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