Reframing Test Day

TEACHING/LEARNING MATTERS ASA’S NEWSLETTER FOR THE Volume 44, Number 1 Section Chair’s Corner Kate Linnenberg Beloit College Spring 2015 employ their sociological imagina?ons as they navigate the world so that they can understand the structures of a new place and what that means for their posi?on within it. These three brief stories capture ways in which my students have begun to do Sociology in thought‐provoking and exci?ng ways. Kate Atkinson, a senior who double majors in Sociology and Russian, presented her research on disabled children and their ins?tu?onaliza?on in orphanages in Russia. This project began during her semester abroad in Moscow when Kate volunteered at a children’s art center that works with orphaned children, many of whom have disabili?es. She tackles the intersec?on of history and biography by looking at how the construc?on of disability in pre‐ and post‐Soviet Russia affects the integra?on, and lack thereof, of children with disabili?es into larger society, framing this as a human rights issue. Last Thursday was Student Symposium Day at Beloit College, and that is always one of my favorite days of the semester. Classes are cancelled, and the day is filled with student presenta?ons. Students demonstrate how they’ve put the “liberal arts into prac?ce” as we say at Beloit. There were fascina?ng and polished presenta?ons, many of which you would have been thrilled to stumble upon at ASA. The day got me thinking about how we teach students to “do” Sociology. We ask them to conduct empirical research and write up or present their results, sure, but mirroring the research process of academia isn’t all I have in mind when I think of “doing” Sociology. I think of community‐based learning, internships, and other experiences that give our students the opportunity to connect text to context. We teach students to Nate Brault is a senior who double majors in Sociology and Educa?on & Youth Studies. In the fall, he spent the semester in a Wri?ng for Social Jus?ce Program in Minneapolis. As a part of that curriculum, he interned with a high school theatre program that incorporated hip‐ hop pedagogy into the classroom. He spoke of having students deconstruct the language of popular lyrics to have conversa?ons about concepts such as race and social class. As part of this “culturally relevant pedagogy,” students also wrote and performed pieces that addressed issues of poverty, feminism, and date rape. Students don’t have to leave Beloit in order to “do” Sociology. Each semester, my colleague Carol Wickersham, offers a course called the Duffy Community Partnerships. This class meets for two hours each week and students spend 90 hours throughout the semester at 1 their community site. These range from a food pantry to an organic farm to a local Fortune 500 company. The ques?on that drives the course is, “What makes a good ociety?” For the past year, Carol and two students—Maggie Cress and Karen Jones—have conducted research on the program that inves?gates the content of learning in this community‐based experience. One ofs their findings is that many students experience “pivot points,” occurrences where learning isn’t gradual, but rather takes a big jump forward. One way this happens is that a student will make a connec?on between what is happening in their par?cular site and what happens in society more broadly. Students begin to get a firmer grasp on the concept of social structure, and this happens because they are embedded in a community site that is accompanied by academic grounding. As a dedicated teacher, I am always looking for ways to deepen student learning through innova?ve pedagogy. That is a large part of my aZrac?on to this sec?on—it is filled with educators who care about teaching and learning and who are happy to share their ideas. I’m already looking forward to all that I will learn from you all at ASA in Chicago this summer, but more on annual mee?ng programming in my next column. Editor’s Introduction Daina Cheyenne Harvey College of the Holy Cross Table of Contents Welcome to Spring! Worcester was the snowiest city in the US this year and I didn’t really think we would ever see a change of seasons (despite what The Byrds—or The Limeliters claimed). Much like Kate and Beloit College, here at Holy Cross we wrap up our semester with our annual academic conference. Our undergraduates present their research projects and theses. It is a wonderful chance to see how young scholars are learning how to “do” sociology. At ?mes it also makes me realize I have a lot more to learn about the doing of sociology. This edi?on of our newsleZer is choked full of ideas about doing sociology from fellow members. Ader asking members for columns on connec?ng to the community, we received almost half a dozen. In this edi?on we include three. Jerry Krase uses visual sociology to document blight and gentrifica?on in his teaching and ac?vism. In a similar vein Jennifer Sullivan uses photography to get her students interested in the local community. Finally, Janet Lorenzen writes about transi?oning as a new faculty member and how daun?ng making connec?ons to the local community can be. She gives several examples and some sugges?ons on how to make the transi?on. We also have several ideas for the classroom in this edi?on. Benjamin Drury writes about the flipped classroom. In his piece he writes about assigning films, readings, and 2 recordings to students outside of the classroom and having them come to class ready to discuss the material. Kevin Dougherty writes about Learning Celebra?ons. Rather than give exams or quizzes, Kevin treats students to a party while they do mul?ple choice ques?ons. In this way he changes the connota?on of what evalua?on means and has fun doing it. Qu'ils mangent de la brioche! Dee Hill Zuganelli writes about strategies for dealing with plagiarism and explains that by and large what we currently do simply avoids the problem. Orit Hirsch writes about a project she uses in her classes that includes infographics to help students develop their sociological imagina?on. Finally, we include a piece by Deborah Abowitz on keeping it real. She shows how designing unique wri?ng assignments keeps students engaged and allows them to use knowledge they have learned in class. Kathleen Fitzgerald and Salvatore Babones both write about their new books. We have also included brief blurbs on our candidates for the upcoming elec?on. I’d also like to put in a personal plug. An edi?on of Humanity & Society I co‐edited with Corey Dolgon and James Pennell on teaching humanist sociology just hit the shelves. I hope many of our readers find it useful. Finally, be on the lookout for two calls for papers from Teaching Sociology! As always, feel free to send ideas and pieces for the next edi?on of the newsleZer. August 2014 To August 2015 STLS Officers / Council Members OFFICERS Kate Linnenberg, Chair Kathy Rowell, Past-Chair Maxine Atkinson, Chair-Elect Melinda Messineo, Secretary/Treasurer Jamie Oslawski-Lopez, Student Representative NEWSLETTER EDITORS Daina Cheyenne Harvey Francisco Vivoni Shelley White COUNCIL MEMBERS Two-Year College Representatives Michaela Nowell Rebecca Hatch Barbara Walters Four-Year College Representatives Jan Thomas Marybeth Stalp Carla Corroto University Representatives Mary Neil Trautner Patricia Hoffman Michael Schwartz SECTION COMMITTEES Awards Chair: Michael Schwartz Cooperative Initiatives: Jeff Chin Membership Chair: Liz Grauerholz Program Chair: Maxine Atkinson Publications Chair: Andrea Miller Nominations Chair: Kathy Rowell Contingent Faculty: Suzanne Mauer and Maria Paino Graduate Student Concerns: Jamie Oslawski-Lopez Sage Awards: Keith Roberts Pre-Conference Program Planning: Melinda Messineo Social Media: David Purcell and Marni Brown 3 Special issue of Teaching Sociology: Sociology Instruc6on in the Community College Context. 3. Section Officers Community colleges present unique opportuni8es for teaching sociology, as well as challenges. While not restricted to instruc8on in community college contexts, especially salient concerns include: 4. Call For Papers • 5. Connecting the Classroom to the Community • Strategies of assuring instruc8onal quality with reliance con8ngent faculty 1. Section Chair’s Corner 2. Editor’s Introduction 10. Ideas for the Classroom 16. Meet the Candidates 14. Technologies and Teaching Resources 16. Announcements Call For Papers Teaching Sociology Have you tested the effec?veness of an innova?ve teaching approach? Do you have perspec?ves on the state of teaching and learning in sociology that you wish to share? Consider publishing your insights in Teaching Sociology, a peer reviewed journal of the American Sociological Associa?on. In addi?on to reviews, the journal publishes three types of manuscripts. Ar?cle submissions are research‐based are approximately 25 pages double spaced. Notes submissions summarize the applica?on of specific teaching strategies or approaches, and do so in a more restricted manner than research ar?cles. They are approximately 15 pages double spaced. Conversa?on submissions are wriZen to s?mulate lively, thoughkul and informed discussion of issues that are subject to debate and controversy. Conversa?on submissions can be as long as 25 pages double spaced but unlike ar?cle submissions they do not necessarily need to include analysis of data or assessment. If you have ques?ons about a prospec?ve submission, contact the editor Stephen Sweet at teachingsociology@ithaca.edu. The journal is currently seeking all types of submissions, as well as submissions for two special issues. Effec8ve engagement of part 8me faculty • Promo8on of professional disciplinary involvement within the discipline • Curriculum design and decision making processes • Experien8al learning within limited exposure to sociology courses • Effec8ve responses to teaching demands and resource constraints Teaching Sociology seeks ar8cles and notes that address issues rela8ng to effec8ve engagement of sociology within community college seFngs, including concerns that directly relate to instruc8on, management, and disciplinary engagement. Submission deadline is February 1, 2016. Instruc8ons for submission can be found at hNp:// www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal201974. Ques8ons concerning poten8al submissions can be addressed to the editor, Stephen Sweet at teachingsociology@ithaca.edu. Special Issue of Teaching Sociology: Incorpora6ng Globaliza6on in the Sociology Curriculum Teaching Sociology seeks ar8cles and notes that address issues that focus on innova8ve approaches that incorporate globaliza8on and transna8onal concerns in the curriculum. Among the topics of interest are: • Effec8ve strategies that make global and transna8onal concerns evident to students • Exercises or assignments that engage students in the study of global and transna8onal concerns • Strategies of orchestra8ng transna8onal learning experiences, such as class trips abroad • Cri8cal reviews of ways that global and transna8onal content are presented in the curriculum Submission deadline is February 1, 2017. Instruc8ons for submission can be found at hNp://www.sagepub.com/ journals/Journal201974. Submissions concerning classroom applica8ons should include assessment data. Ques8ons concerning poten8al submissions can be addressed to the co‐editors of this dedicated issue: PaF Giuffre at pg07@txstate.edu or Stephen Sweet at teachingsociology@ithaca.edu. 4 Connecting the Classroom to the Community "Fighting from Urban Blight to Gentrification and Displacement in Brooklyn" Jerry Krase Brooklyn College of CUNY, Sociology Image 1. Local Community Leaders Sociologists can connect to the community in many different ways. As a visually‐oriented sociologist I do it with images. For example, in the 1970s my students went out into the field to help a racially changing neighborhood, Prospect‐Lefferts‐Gardens, correct nega?ve, essen?ally racist, defini?ons of this and other central city areas into which African Americans and Afro‐Caribbeans were moving. Due to the biases of various public and private authori?es, the residents and businesses in these communi?es suffered from such things as poor city services as well as mortgage and insurance red‐ lining. Below are two images represen?ng neighborhood residents, homes as well as student research and documentary ac?vi?es. This Brooklyn College student is audio taping an interview of Mr. and Mrs. Norman McField, who are Prospect‐Lefferts‐Gardens community leaders. Image 2. Residen?al Block in Prospect‐Lefferts‐ Gardens 5 This is a common example of Prospect‐Lefferts‐ Gardens streetscape that in the 1970s was considered by outsiders a “bad” neighborhood. As technology advanced my students used new ways to learn about and assist community residents. The following is an excerpt from one such a class project that was available on line: We are a group of CUNY Honors students at Brooklyn College. Walking the streets of our borough, we constantly observe the history, culture and everyday life of Brooklyn and Brooklynites. People from all over the world seZle onto the streets that weave themselves into each other, mingling their cultures, languages, religions and ethnici?es, thus crea?ng diverse communi?es unseen in most other ci?es in the world. One such community that fascinated us with its unique history, neighborhood spirit and individuality was Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Calm, shadowed streets lined with turreted houses and beau?ful trees are nestled between the bustle of Flatbush and the calm serenity of Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. History seeps from the pavement as one walks around, looking up at the houses and talking with the local residents. One of the most preserved communi?es of Brooklyn, Prospect Lefferts Gardens is worthy of study and perhaps a trip on the Q train. Our Mission Our Mission is to Protect the moderate to low income people from being displaced from the Flatbush Ave, Lefferts Garden area, due to gentrifica?on. We are determined to help true affordable housing, that is based upon the current popula?on income and to provide assistance and support to maintain the current affordable housing stock. We are also engage with City Planning and behind the scenes developers who want to turn Empire Blvd. into a tourist aZrac?on and make tons of money off the community. We are being played in a bait and switch with community benefits. Told by City Planning that if we don't Up zone Empire Blvd., we won't get assistance from the City to help with our affordable housing. We know that if they get those high risers on Empire, we won't be here, to get any community benefits, so we are not going to fight for a community that won't exist in five years! These last two images were taken by me during a walking tour to show an urban planner what the problem looks like. MTOPP has engaged the planner to respond to the rezoning study that threatens the affordability of the area with high‐ rise high‐density luxury development. We invite you to come with us into Prospect Lefferts Gardens!" (hZp:// macaulay.cuny.edu/student‐projects/2006/ neighborhoods/9/home.html) From these kinds of experiences some of my students became community ac?vists, got involved in local poli?cs; one even became a board member of the local Community Planning District. Ironically, that same neighborhood is today suffering from a reversal of misfortune in the form Gentrifica?on and Displacement. Although no longer teaching full‐?me I have become involved with The Movement To Protect the People (hZp:// www.mtopp.org/) whose mission is stated below: Image 3. If the rezoning is approved this corner could be the site for High‐Rise, High‐Density Commercial and /or Residen?al Development. 6 Image 4. These buildings once offered local Prospect‐ Lefferts‐Gardens residents affordable rents and in an?cipa?on of the rezoning has is already become a residen?al development site. Connecting the Classroom to the Community Connec&ng to the Community through Sustainability in Prac&ce Janet A. Lorenzen Willame<e University As a new faculty member, living in an unfamiliar city, how do you get to know a community and develop a place‐based curriculum? This was the challenge I faced this year at WillameZe University in Salem, Oregon. My goal was to assess the connec?ons already in place and open up a variety of opportuni?es which I could pursue in more depth in the future. While developing a new course (“Sustainability, Jus?ce & Society”) I encountered a course design I wanted to emulate. Alvarez and Rogers (2006) took their students on seven fieldtrips to help them understand “sustainability in prac?ce.” These fieldtrips (in Australia) included local government offices, a winery, an orchard, a berry farm, and an environmental non‐profit organiza?on. Students then wrestled with sustainability in the real world including the conflic?ng priori?es of stakeholders and their divergent perspec?ves on how to define sustainability. I wanted to recreate this course in the agriculturally rich WillameZe Valley but seven fieldtrips seemed like a daun?ng task. I decided to begin by bringing the community to the class, rather than the class to the community. My course on “Sustainability, Jus?ce & Society” highlights the disconnect between sustainability (oden of the built environment) and social jus?ce (focused on labor and health) and the differences between defini?ons of sustainability in textbooks and the empirical reality of sustainability‐in‐ac?on that we find on campus and in our local communi?es (Lorenzen forthcoming). I organized the course so it touched on global connec?ons, local communi?es, and the campus itself. We began, as many environmental sociology classes do, with a supply chain assignment. We read selec?ons from Confessions of an Eco‐Sinner: Tracking down the Sources of My Stuff and watched clips from the film Mardi Gras: Made in China. In searching for a template for my supply chain assignment I reached out to my social networks and Norah MacKendrick at Rutgers University recommended Belasco (2008, 62‐63) – who lays out a detailed assignment on food supply chains. I adapted his assignment to include both food and other products. [Although I did not use it for my course, Belasco (2008) also discusses another assignment: “The New Product Development Game” where students can design and market a new product, then deal with the ethical implica?ons of the product (68‐69).] The supply chain assignment had both academic and entertainment value. On the entertainment side, we learned that honey nut cheerios do not have any nuts in them and other odd facts. On the academic side, I asked students to interrogate the “informa?on deficit model” by assessing the likelihood that the “average consumer” could make “beZer decisions” by seeking out informa?on on resource extrac?on, farming and labor prac?ces, etc. In order to compliment the food chain assignment I brought in a guest speaker who was comple?ng a local food assessment (hZp://oregonfoodbank.org/) and who worked with a local food share that the University had a long‐ standing rela?onship with. The food assessment involved interviewing local farmers (What do they grow? Are processing loca?ons accessible?) and organizing town hall mee?ngs to discuss food access. This visit gave students insight into local food webs and their rela?onship to food insecurity. It also opened up a dialogue between myself and the local food share about future service learning opportuni?es tailored to sustainability and social jus?ce. 7 In addi?on to capitalizing on the pre‐exis?ng rela?onships with non‐profits, I also piggy‐backed course content onto campus events. For example, when Liz Carlisle (author) and David Oien (Founder of Timeless Natural Food) came to campus to give a talk about the book Len8l Underground and went with my students to watch the documentary film Food Chains which was followed by an excellent panel on fair labor prac?ces. The class followed up by prin?ng leZers in support of the Fair Food program from the film’s website and bringing them to the local Safeway (hZp://www.foodchainsfilm.com/). Accommoda?ng these events required some flexibility in my syllabus, but was worth the effort. I also coordinated a campus greening project for the course similar to one I had heard about at an AASHE panel (The Associa?on for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Educa?on) (Johnson and Long 2013). I invited the head of the sustainability ins?tute, food services, facili?es and grounds keeping to the class (2 different class periods) to talk about what they have done in the past to green campus and what they hope to do in the future. Students followed up with them and designed a proposal for a campus greening project. In the last third of the class students have the op?on of carrying out their project. For example, one student group is mapping the edible gardens on campus (there are about 5) and making a webpage about them available to students, staff, faculty and the local community including a nearby homeless shelter. For their final project students also have the op?on of researching a local organiza?on that is working on both sustainability and social jus?ce issues. This allows me to get to know local groups and gives students the opportunity to explore mechanisms of social change. students. My advice for new faculty is threefold: work with exis?ng rela?onships, embed community outreach into the curriculum, and seek out connec?ons that fit with both your curriculum and research interests. Works Cited Alvarez, Amaya and Judy Rogers. 2006. “Going ‘Out There’: Learning about Sustainability in Place.” Interna8onal Journal of Sustainability in Higher Educa8on. 7(2): 176‐188. Belasco, Warren. 2008. Food: The Key Concepts. Oxford, UK: Berg. Carlisle, Liz. 2015. Len8l Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America. New York: Gotham. Johnson, Richard and Elizabeth Long. 2013. “A Decade of Lessons from Connec?ng Campus Greening with the Classroom at Rice University” in Teaching Sustainability: Perspec8ves from the Humani8es and Social Sciences. Wendy Peterson‐Boring and William Forbes (Eds.) Nacogdoches, TX: SFA Press. Pp. 199‐211. Lorenzen, Janet A. Forthcoming. “Teaching & Learning Guide for: Green Consump?on and Social Change: Debates over Responsibility, Private Ac?on, and Access.” Sociology Compass. Pearce, Fred. 2008. Confessions of an Eco‐Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff. Boston: Beacon Press. I am also building up my own community networks. Ader aZending several environmental lobbying days at the state capital for research purposes, I invited a local pastor to the class to speak about eco‐feminism and religious environmentalism. And organized a panel of residents from a nearby eco‐village to come to class and discuss their defini?on of sustainability and trials and tribula?ons that they have faced because of the housing market collapse. I am currently working with the eco‐village to find more ways to make connec?ons between it and University 8 Connecting the Classroom to the Community Seeing History Through the Lens of a Camera Jennifer Sullivan Mitchell College Visual Sociology: Photography is an elec?ve sociology course which combines my two passions, sociology and photography, and is taught in a small group se•ng of 11 students. The course explores documentary photography by examining the photography cri?cism of Susan Sontag’s, On Photography, and photographers such as Jacob Riis, Walker Evans, Diane Arbus, Dorothea Lange and Lewis Hine. The course is flexible enough to allow for discussions of modern photography cri?cism and debate (such as morality of photos taken of Abu Gharib) as well as historical mysteries (Roger Fenton’s the “Valley of Death” photographs). Although not a photography skills course, students are required to complete eight weekly photo assignments which challenge them to explore their world through the lens of a camera; digital cameras and cell phone cameras are permiZed. The course incorporates discussion, cri?cal analysis, and hands‐on photography elements. However, the most effec?ve teaching tool I have u?lized in the course so far is bringing my students to the archive room of the New London Public Library in New London, CT. New London, CT is a small, waterfront town along the Thames River rich with mari?me history. In a leZer wriZen in 1864, Henry White of New Haven stated, “I have met no town history, which, in my judgment, is quite equal to it.” The New London Library itself is an important historical building and also contains archives of leZers, books and photographs which span 300 years of history in New London County. The library staff were quite helpful and accommoda?ng in allowing my students and I to carefully sort through the historical documents and pictures of New London and the surrounding towns. During our visit, the students were amazed at the old photographs of a tree lined State Street with horse drawn carriages, and pictures of numerous submarines being built across the river in Groton, CT at Electric Boat. The students were amazed that they were able to hold documents in their hands that were over 100 years old. One student was fascinated by the front page of our local newspaper, The Day, which had ar?cles repor?ng on World War II. Another student found newspaper clippings from the 1950’s about the history of our ins?tu?on, Mitchell College, and the fluctua?ng enrollment of 97 students to an influx of veterans returning home from World War II. One young woman in the course found a picture of the inside of a submarine control room. She told me that her boyfriend is also in the Navy and talks about spending ?me in a similar control room. Because of the photograph, she was able to understand where he worked and she used her cell phone to take a picture of the archived document to share with him. Watching the students pore through the files and photographs reminded me that they were learning more by being outside of the classroom and in the community than in any powerpoint lesson I could present. Working independently yet alongside their peers allowed all students in the class to be witnesses to others’ discoveries and allowed me to be curious and amazed as I searched the photographs with them. An interes?ng contradic?on to the students’ explora?on of older documents was their use of modern technology via their cell phones. While in the library archives, students were tasked with finding three photographs that interested them, surprised them or affected them in some way. All of the students used their cell phones as a camera, but some also found another use for their smart phones – as a research tool. Many students found terms and events men?oned in the files which were unfamiliar to them and used the internet as a reference. A photography field trip into the community evolved into students’ individual research projects; an unexpected outcome. 9 Bringing my sociology students into the community proved to be an invaluable teaching tool and connected Mitchell College students with an important building in our town’s history, the New London Public Library. Ideas For the Classroom The Flipped Classroom Benjamin Drury Morton College One thing that plagues me towards the beginning of every semester is where to draw the line between what content to show, display, discuss, or otherwise present in the classroom and what material students are responsible for consuming outside of class. The overall goal is to s?mulate discussion and par?cipa?on with the lecture. And when trying to select movies of interest to students, or even audio recordings or ar?cles readings, I have to limit them by their length if I want to show them in class. However, last semester I caught wind of a new movement in educa?on that gives teachers the opportunity to release low‐stakes assignments related to these longer viewings, or other form of media, and ?e them to discussion ques?ons for class ?me. I took this ques?on to an on‐campus Teaching and Learning Center event last semester en?tled “The Flipped Classroom” to inves?gate this teaching style that requires students to take ?me out of class to review certain materials – in most cases it is a longer film – and complete review ques?ons for class discussion. In the presenta?on, our campus digital expert walked us through the process of designing materials to be used in the “Flipped Classroom” that can help students and teachers alike. powerful in opening student minds to the power of using alterna?ve perspec?ves to inves?gate social issues. Second, the instructor needs to link the media to some form of review ques?ons. For me, I designed fairly broad‐strokes ques?ons aimed at engaging students with the material. Of course, one can’t make the ques?ons too specific, but, for example, asking how gender, race, or social class influence the outcomes of certain situa?ons can open student minds to the power of social drivers in our life. Third, and perhaps most important, the class discussion. Simply crea?ng these responses is beneficial in and of itself. But when you allow students the opportunity to share their responses, engage with other students who may or may not share their viewpoint, and then have them work together to seZle on a shared perspec?ve on the issue is hugely significant. Naturally, ader hearing this presenta?on I was sold and desired the opportunity to test this pedagogy on my own students. This semester I designed and released a “Flipped Classroom” worksheet – I call them “Chapter Handouts” – for each chapter to give students exposure to a variety of films, audio recordings, and alterna?ve ar?cles. They complete a set of ques?ons related to their viewing and we then discuss them in class. Interes?ngly, as my fear was that students would feel overwhelmed by this strategy, many students felt this ac?vity brought them to a closer understanding of the material. Overall, I see an increase in student discussions and exam grades, so it appears that the “Flipped Classroom” strategy is working. However, I do need to complete a more focused assessment of student a•tudes toward the assignment before fully integra?ng this method into all of my classes. The first step in designing a “Flipped Classroom” is deciding what media is important for students to review and connect to the course material. For sociologists, the field is rela?vely open in terms of media that can be related to course material. However, there were some specific films – PBS documentaries especially – that are lengthy (about 2 hours in run?me) that I believe are immensely 10 Ideas For the Classroom Reframing Test Day Kevin D. Dougherty Baylor University our teaching team, myself and two graduate teaching assistants, gently remind them that no such ac?vi?es occur in our course. We ins?tute a different vocabulary and a different set of norms to alter the way students perceive of and experience assessment. Assessment is for Learning It is test day in my Introduc?on to Sociology class. Students wait nervously outside the classroom door. They talk in muted tones as they compare notes and lament that this is the second or third test of the week for them. The mood is somber. Then the doors to the classroom open. Signs on the doors read, “It’s ?me to celebrate!” Balloons and streamers surround a table of treats at the front of the room. Kool and the Gang’s song “Celebra?on” plays in the background. Members of the teaching staff receive entering students as party guests. The furrowed brows of students quickly change to broad smiles. The muted tones and shuffling of notes are replaced by happy banter and rhythmic nodding of heads to the music. At the appointed ?me, the music fades. The professor takes the stage, greets students as “community members,” and thanks them for coming to the Learning Celebra?on. Welcome to test day in Soc 1305! More than a seman?c gimmick, I have been ac?vely working to reframe test day for the past two years. Drawing on social construc?onism, my goal is to create an ambience for assessment that enhances learning and joy. I tell students that our course is far too fun for quizzes and exams. Instead, we have Learning Checks and Learning Celebra?ons. Students are skep?cal at first and oden slip into the familiar language of quizzes and tests. Members of Learning Celebra?ons shid the emphasis of assessment from grading to learning. Assessment is an important part of learning. Tests, in par?cular, are useful tools for learning. Teaching advocates Marilla Svinicki and Wilbert McKeachie (2014) instruct: “Tes?ng and other assessments should be learning experiences as well as evalua?on devices” (p. 83). Students tend to think of tests solely in terms of evalua?on. They bristle at quizzes and tests as external requirements imposed upon them. By changing the language, I aZempt to change the connota?on of assessment. The course syllabus describes Learning Celebra?ons as occasions “to consider and celebrate what we’ve learned.” The choice of a plural pronoun is inten?onal. We celebrate holidays, birthdays, and other rites of passage with others. In similar fashion, Learning Celebra?ons are shared events that contribute to a larger goal of transforming a crowd of 200+ strangers into a community. Assessment Can Be Fun Learning Celebra?ons reinforce another lesson for students: Assessment can be fun. Learning Celebra?ons in Soc 1305 are fun. In addi?on to the music and décor of the classroom, the content of Learning Celebra?ons is amusing. Thirty to forty mul?ple choice ques?ons comprise each Learning Celebra?on. Students are in many ques?ons. Rebecca adopts a ferret and gets evicted from her campus residence hall in Learning Celebra?on 1 (formal sanc?on). Michael marries two female classmates in Learning Celebra?on 3 (polygamy). Students smile and chuckle as they read about themselves in the ques?ons. This affec?ve response is valuable. Learning has both cogni?ve and affec?ve dimensions. When students care about a subject and care about classmates, the poten?al for deep, las?ng learning increases (Fink 2013). I want students to care about sociology. It is one of my course objec?ves. By making Learning Celebra?ons fes?ve occasions, I aim to raise students’ interest in sociology and their intrinsic mo?va?on for studying sociology. 11 Outcomes I enjoyed the Learningg Celebra?ons Celebra? in Soc 1305 Strongly Disagree 1% vote consistently favors four celebra?ons. Thus, the frequency of Learning Celebra?ons may par?ally account for higher average scores. Nevertheless, taking student opinion and student performance together provides support for Learning Celebra?ons as a benefit to learning. Disagree 3% Slightly Disagree 7% Conclusion Slightly Agree 22% Agree 26% Strongly Agree 41% Total 100% (N=537) Assessment is too important for students to dread. As teachers, we can influence how students perceive of and experience assessment. Make test day something special in your courses. Bring balloons and treats. Students may do beZer as a result. This is worth celebra?ng. Response to the Learning Celebra?ons has been very posi?ve. When I made the change from tests to celebra?ons in Fall 2013, I added a ques?on about the Learning Celebra?ons to the course evalua?on. Over three semesters (Fall 2013, Spring 2014, and Fall 2014), nine out of ten students agreed that “I enjoyed the Learning Celebra?ons in Soc 1305.” Remarkably, 41% strongly agreed. I can’t remember another ?me in my teaching when students were so enthusias?c about mul?ple‐choice ques?ons to assess their learning. Unfortunately, I have no way of tes?ng whether level of enjoyment has changed with the introduc?on of Learning Celebra?ons in my Soc 1305 course. It never occurred to me to ask whether students enjoyed the exams. I do have compara?ve data on student performance. Comparing three semesters of exam scores (Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012) to three semesters of Learning Celebra?on scores (Fall 2013, Spring 2014, and Fall 2014), telling differences emerge. I convert raw scores to percentages for comparison purposes, since the number of ques?ons on exams/ celebra?ons were not uniform across semesters. The mean percentage on exams was 84.65. The mean percentage on Learning Celebra?ons was 86.48. Hence, students taking Learning Celebra?ons scored nearly two percentage points higher than did students taking exams in previous semesters. And they did so consistently. The standard devia?on for exam percentages was 9.89 in contrast to a standard devia?on of 7.34 on Learning Celebra?ons. These differences are sta?s?cally significant (t = ‐3.73, p < . 001). A necessary qualifica?on is in order however. I used to give three exams. Students now vote on the number of Learning Celebra?ons. The majority References Fink, L. Dee. 2013. Crea?ng Significant Learning Experiences. San Francisco, CA: Jossey‐Bass. Svinicki, Marilla D. and Wilbert J. McKeachie. 2014. McKeachie’s Teaching Tips, 14th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Ideas For the Classroom Disdain and Honesty as Contributors to Teachable Moments in Plagiarism Dee Hill Zuganelli University of Arizona Plagiarism represents one of the most troubling developments for academic integrity in the present ?mes of higher educa?on. It is troubling for two reasons. First, plagiarism has not only increased in prevalence over ?me, but it also now serves as the predominant challenge in academic integrity (Yardley, Rodriguez, Bates, and Nelson 2009). Second, effec?ve solu?ons for tackling plagiarism prove elusive. Instructors and professors can resort to puni?ve measures ranging from loss of course credit to dismissal from class to program suspension and expulsion. However, they fail to address the broader context in which chea?ng occurs: percep?ons of high‐ stakes academic performance, ?me management skill deficiencies failures to strategize and priori?ze workloads, and ever‐present tempta?ons of Internet and digital resources. 12 Heckler and Forde (2015) proposed that cultural values such as freedom, individualism, and fault‐ finding inform jus?fica?ons and deterrents for plagiarism. Universi?es can work to create stronger cultures of learning and social norms and values campaigns to ins?ll the importance of integrity. But how do we translate Heckler and Forde’s university‐ level recommenda?ons directly into our work in the classroom? The majority of my teaching experience with plagiarism has dealt with crea?ng and enforcing sanc?ons. This means crea?ng clear language in course syllabi that defines plagiarism and iden?fies consequences, ensuring students know the risk, and enforcing sanc?ons when students get caught. So long as I had wriZen statements to refer to, my responsibility to stop plagiarism ended there. If anything, the cultural argument had more to do with students’ internal moral compasses than any responsibility on my part to change their behavior. And to the extent this sen?ment is shared among faculty, it becomes easier and easier to react with disdain. Here’s why. Plagiarism is a topic that can easily make students’ eyes glaze over. To prevent this, I incorporate stories of former chea?ng incidents. I keep the required talk fairly minimal – what the term means, copying from the web versus recycling old homework, how I use Turn‐It‐In, how surprisingly effec?ve it is, etc. Ader that, we spend more ?me discussing how rela?vely innocent behaviors – like working together on homework, sharing copies of assignments, or distribu?ng class notes – present different levels of risk. The accompanying Powerpoint lesson shows a color‐ coded thermometer. The topic (e.g., students working together) is the slide ?tle. The thermometer appears next to a series of acceptable and risky varia?ons. Thus, ge•ng together to study is a “safe” behavior whereas exchanging and copying each other’s content is a clear viola?on. More importantly, intermediary behaviors – such as asking a class mate to see how they word a short essay response in their homework – generate the real responses. “Why is that risky?” a student asks. And then I tell students about the ?me Friend A asks B for her homework, B voluntarily gives it, only for A to copy her en?re assignment and submit it for a grade. Disdain sets in because of the ?me wasted in crea?ng as lively a discussion for chea?ng as possible, only for it to do not one hint of good. It gets worse when instructors confront cheaters who have already aZended plagiarism workshops and early sanc?ons. And in full disclosure, my disdain translated into policy change. If I couldn’t beat students down with a sanc?on (loss of course credit, loss of leZer grade), then I reached for a larger hammer (failing the course). While serving on a college‐level taskforce for plagiarism and academic integrity issues, we reflected openly and honestly about these sen?ments. If readers are compelled by Heckler and Forde’s cultural arguments for chea?ng, then we need to consider our own values that frame how we address plagiarism. Authoritarianism and accountability might appeal to the hammer‐wielders out there. But if we want to see student honesty between the chea?ng and the conference, perhaps we can turn these logics into a more forgiving measure. I couple my (now, disdain‐infused) zero‐tolerance policy for chea?ng with a catch. It’s delighkully simple on their part. If a student voluntarily discloses that they have cheated on an assignment prior to my discovery of it, then he or she is eligible for a lighter sanc?on. Honesty becomes an effec?ve bargaining chip. The act becomes a way to regain accountability even in the face of prior wrongdoings. Although discre?onary enforcement claims to work in the same way, the self‐ incrimina?on clause avoids reintroducing the risk of chea?ng (due to no punishment). It is sufficiently technical and legalis?c for the sake of campus rule enforcement while giving students a clear behavioral alterna?ve, especially ader wrongdoing occurs. Moreover, this instructor‐side interven?on may relieve the disdain that inadvertently bubbles up in applying sanc?ons. It’s easier to approach students who show a capacity for accountability through confession and to treat them with forgiveness in return. In conclusion, plagiarism and academic integrity issues are unlikely to result in fewer headaches on our collec?ve teaching behalf in the near future. The Internet and the subsequence ease of accessing and sharing materials, copywriZen and otherwise, will not shrink any ?me soon. Policies promote reflec?on and allow us to take stock of an?‐plagiarism messages we repeat and promote as 13 instruc?ve devices. For me, it’s less “You fail the course” and more “Be honest so that I won’t fail you.” References Heckler, Nina C. and David R. Forde. 2015. “The Role of Cultural Values in Plagiarism in Higher Educa?on.” Journal of Academic Ethics, 13, 61‐75. Yardley, Jennifer, Melanie Domenech Rodríguez, ScoZ C. Bates, and Johnathan Nelson. 2009. “True Confessions? Alumni’s Retrospec?ve Reports on Undergraduate Chea?ng Behaviors.” Ethics and Behavior, 19(1), 1‐14. Ideas For the Classroom Linking Technology, Sociology and the Real World in One Independent Project Orit Hirsh Kingsborough Community College How do we engage the students beyond simply learning the terminology for a test? How can we make the sociological theories not to sound encyclopedic, but relevant? How can we demonstrate to our students that the theories they are studying have been developed based on interac?ons found in everyday life and can be studied on any street corner, shopping mall, and classroom? Ader five semesters of tes?ng out various ideas, I have developed a project which successfully engages all of the students in ac?vely learning the material, enriches their understanding of fundamental sociological theories, and causes them to reflect on how they are affected by their social backgrounds in society. The project asks students to examine social problems from a sociological perspec?ve and asks them to suggest policies for modifying the nega?ve aspects of these social problems. Students then create an infographic or a video that leverages their technological skills and present these theories and relevant topics to the class. I have found this project and the technological twist engages almost all of the students. They are invested in applying their sociological knowledge to understanding their social environment. At the beginning of the semester, I introduce the two‐part and provide a list of general and specific topics as examples. The students have the op?on to select one of the topics and relate it to their own lives or to choose a sociological topic of their own. The topics might be connected to their hobbies, college major, or ideas that were covered throughout the semester. In the past, students have wriZen about diverse topics such as: objec?fica?on of women in the media; how social media affects teens; the percep?on of black hair; racism in soccer; the cultural differences between speakers of Cantonese verses Mandarin; college enrollment for minori?es in a 4‐year college verses a 2 year college; and addic?on to mobile phones. The first part of the project includes researching the topic of interest by selec?ng two ar?cles from the popular press (web, magazines, and newspapers) and two ar?cles from a social science journal, which enables students to examine both the popular and social science perspec?ves on this topic. Their research results in a 4‐page essay, which is outlined below: 14 • • Start with an introductory paragraph that outlines and describes your social topic, such as why it is important. Select one of the sociological perspec?ves: func?onalism, conflict theory, symbolic interac?onism. • Interpret the social problem from the selected sociological perspec?ve. Furthermore, be specific in your explana?on: what you learned from each reading and which sociological perspec?ve you are using. • Suggest a social policy to improve the social problem Ideas For the Classroom Students Wri8ng Advice to the Lovelorn: Engaging Students and “Keeping it Real” Deborah A. Abowitz Bucknell University For the second part of the ar?cle, the students have to create a video or an infographic incorpora?ng their research. For each part of the assignment, I meet with the students to discuss the topic they have selected, help them outline the project and make it manageable, and discuss the best way to showcase their research (an infographic or a video). You can choose to have the students work individually or in groups. This project brings the theories to life and challenges students to view their everyday interac?ons from a sociological lens. Adding these technological tools somehow made the project seem more fun and crea?ve to students and their engagement overall increased. I no?ced that par?cipa?on during the lectures drama?cally increased. Even the students from my 8 a.m. class were more engaged; they asked more ques?ons and volunteered their ideas to the discussions more frequently. As a result, their grades improved as well. As a core class, Introduc?on to Sociology draws students from diverse educa?onal backgrounds. This assignment allows students to develop a beZer understanding of sociological aspects by researching ideas that maZer to them, while also challenging them to present their findings in a crea?ve way. I was cha•ng about student engagement recently with a colleague in Economics. He popped by my office, quite excited ader having just taught one of those classes where things “clicked.” He told me about the student‐centered examples he uses to make abstract macro‐economic models maZer to his students. Between us, we have almost six decades of teaching experience; while I spent most of my career at our current ins?tu?on, he is new to our faculty. Despite our different genders, disciplines and teaching backgrounds, we both ended up in the same pedagogical “place” as teachers: trying to engage students by “keeping it real.” We both accept that teaching today puts the burden on us not to be “boring,” and that most students do not see intrinsic value in what and how we used to teach. When my students say a course is “boring,” this is code for either material that is too “academic” or an instructor whose style is just “not engaging” to them. When pressed, they confess that “too academic” means course material seems unrelated to or divorced from the “real world,” while “not engaging” mostly refers to old‐school low‐tech pedagogy (like, gasp!, live lectures). In all, they use “boring” to characterize courses that are not inherently entertaining in form or func?on (at least, not by their social media‐driven standards). Although I actually do use a range of instruc?onal technologies in various courses, I do not rely on high‐tech 15 digital razzle‐dazzle to engage my students in class. Instead, like my colleague, I focus on “keeping it real” to help my students connect to sociology while I try to avoid the s?gma of being “boring.” Keeping it real means two things to me. First, whenever possible, I select some required readings that directly connect social theory and data to their lives. I look for studies that have some personal or prac?cal relevance to students (for example, journal ar?cles that use undergraduate samples). Some might perceive this as pandering to their genera?onal narcissism, but it increases the likelihood that they do the readings while providing fodder for some meaningful in‐class discussions. Second, and more to the point here, I try to design unique wri?ng assignments requiring crea?ve integra?on and applica?on of course material to real world situa?ons. Students not only enjoy doing these assignments (something frequently men?oned in end‐of‐term student evalua?ons), but these kind of assignments are not easily plagiarized, so I spend less ?me policing academic dishonesty. Whether teaching introductory sociology, research methods, or upper‐level seminars, I have long since put away the long essay assignments and tradi?onal research or “term” papers that were the staples of my own undergraduate and graduate courses. I do not ques?on their pedagogical value, in a perfect world, just their efficacy with my students here and now. One of the most enjoyable and effec?ve examples of this kind of assignment (this is from my senior seminar on courtship and marriage in the US), has students wri?ng “advice to the lovelorn.” In the role of advice columnists (“Dear Cupid”), they write formal responses to “leZers” solici?ng advice on personal dilemmas. I crad each “Dear Cupid” leZer to reflect topics covered in our course that relate to “real” problems facing 20‐somethings. On the rare occasion that there is an older or non‐tradi?onal student in the class, the same assignment also draws well from their broader life experience. Some topics come from anonymous ques?ons students submit during the first week of class when I ask what they want to learn from the course. As a result, Dear Cupid leZers may include ques?ons about hooking up or about transi?oning from hooking up to rela?onships, but they are just as frequently about cohabita?on, work‐family balance, and other topics gradua?ng seniors have on their minds. I grade student response leZers on both content and style (this is a wri?ng‐intensive course). In terms of content, as Cupid, they need to integrate what they learned from course readings and class discussion into their advice on the leZer’s topic. I look at whether their answers: a) reflect a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the issues; b) appropriately apply the material; and c) whether or not they provide balanced perspec?ve on controversial issues. They get bonus points for leZers that are wiZy, not just “smart.” I give students some choice in this assignment, so they can respond to leZers with more personal appeal. I post four “Dear Cupid” leZers from which they must choose two. Here is a sample leZer: Dear Cupid, My boyfriend and I have been together for 3 years now. We used to hook up in college but aher gradua8on, we ended up in the same city and finally began da8ng. We got exclusive last year. Now he says we should move in together since we spend all our 8me at my place or his and are was8ng rent. He thinks this way we’ll be able to tell if we’d make it if we got married. He says he loves me but my mom told me, “nobody buys a head of leNuce or a cabbage that somebody else already squeezed.” She doesn’t think I should live with him un8l there’s a ring on my finger. So, Cupid, what should I do? I love my boyfriend, but is living together really good prac8ce for marriage, or, it is just an easy way for him to squeeze the leaves? Signed, Confused Cabbage Many students fully embrace the assignment, submi•ng responses to extra leZers just for fun. In most semesters, students ask for class ?me to read their completed leZers aloud and share them with the group. The fact that the assignment focuses on “real” courtship and marriage dilemmas maZers to them, even though the wri?ng task is much more challenging than first appears. It turns out not to be so easy to integrate and apply almost an en?re semester of material on each topic in an accessible (and hopefully amusing) form, but they do not seem to mind struggling with this task. This assignment works best toward the end of the semester, when students have the breadth of course material and class discussion to draw on. I have not constructed it to serve as a final or culmina?ng class assignment, but with 16 some revision, it could serve well in that capacity. What this assignment gives me is an indicator of how well they have mastered (learned, integrated, and can apply) the sociology we read and what they took away from class discussions. Meet the Candidates Nominees for Chair‐Elect Michelle A. Smith Present Professional Posi:on Professor of Sociology, Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, OH, 2002‐present Amy Traver Present Professional Posi:on Assistant Professor of Sociology, Queensborough Community College, City University of New York (CUNY), Queens, NY, 2008‐present Posi:ons Held in ASA Member, ASA Sec?on on Teaching and Learning Pre‐ Conference Planning CommiZee, 2012‐2015 Member, ASA Sec?on on Teaching and Learning Nomina?ons CommiZee, 2011‐2013 Two‐year representa?ve, ASA Sec?on on Teaching and Learning Council, 2010‐2013 Posi:ons Held in ASA ASA Task Force on Community Colleges 2012‐ present Member, ASA Sec?on on Teaching and Learning Program CommiZee, 2010‐2012 SoTL Nomina?ons CommiZee 2013‐14 Member, ASA Sec?on on Teaching and Learning SAGE Award Selec?on CommiZee, 2010‐2011 SoTL Membership CommiZee 2005‐06 SoTL Coopera?ve Ini?a?ves CommiZee 2004‐2005 Personal Statement: As a sociologist, my primary passion is passing the core of the discipline on to undergraduate students. I believe that public sociology occurs every day within the classroom, thus understanding the dynamics of teaching and learning is cri?cal for our discipline. The sec?on on Teaching and Learning has been instrumental in raising awareness about the importance of SoTL, this sec?on is cri?cal to our discipline and all those who convey our discipline to the general public. In many respects my ‘home’ within the ASA is within the SoTL sec?on. My primary professional work occurs within the classroom and thus a main connec?on to the discipline of sociology is with sociologists who teach and who study the art and science of teaching – these connec?ons are made through this sec?on. Personal Statement: The ASA Sec?on on Teaching and Learning does a fantas?c job of clearing a space for community college faculty at the Annual Mee?ngs and in the organiza?on, more generally. It also recognizes community college faculty as sociologists with insights of value to the Sec?on and organiza?on. I believe that I have the experience to serve as Chair‐elect of the Sec?on. For example, I have represented community colleges on NEH‐funded pedagogy projects and an AACU research project. I have also sought out and received CUNY pedagogical research awards and a number of teaching and research fellowships and grants, including the Sec?on’s 2009 SAGE Teaching Innova?ons & Professional Development Award. In addi?on, and consistent with the focus of the Sec?on, I have published on various pedagogies in community‐college contexts. Finally, I have experience as the two‐year representa?ve on the Sec?on’s council and as caucus Co‐Chair of another na?onal research/teaching organiza?on. 17 Nominees for Secretary/Treasurer Carla Corroto Present Professional Posi:on Associate Professor of Sociology, Radford University, Radford, VA Posi:ons Held in ASA Council, 4‐year representa?ve Personal Statement: I have found the Sec?on on Teaching and Learning in Sociology to be a place of support, collegiality, and scholarly challenge. The members of this Sec?on are commiZed to sharing the sociological perspec?ve in the classroom, and beyond. Their passion is contagious! I am seeking office to serve the group that mentored me as a new faculty member. From the Carla B. Howery Teaching Enhancement Grants Program to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning sessions and workshops at ASA, this Sec?on is fundamental to the scholarship of teaching and learning in sociology. I have served as chair of the membership commiZee and am currently on the social media commiZee for the Sec?on. My goal is to further the shared mission of teaching excellence that I believe is vital to the discipline. Thank you. Student Forum Advisory Board, Chair 2006‐2007 Personal Statement: I would be honored to serve the Sec?on on Teaching and Learning as the Secretary/Treasurer. I have been a member of the sec?on for close to ten years. Ever since aZending the pre‐conference as a graduate student I have felt that it is my home within ASA. I currently serve as co‐editor of our newsleZer and am on the publica?ons commiZee. I have also served on the nomina?ons commiZee. Within ASA I have also been chair of the Student Forum Advisory Board (where I served on the travel grant, research grant, and outreach commiZees) and was the graduate student representa?ve to the Culture sec?on. I have also presided over eight sessions, been a discussant at three sessions, and organized two sessions at various ASA conferences. I appreciate your considera?on for this important posi?on. Nominees for Council Members (2‐year school) Alison BeHer Present Professional Posi:on Assistant Professor, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY, 2011‐Present Posi:ons Held in ASA ASA Task Force on Community College Faculty, Appointed Member, 2012‐2015 ASA TRAILS Area Editor, Sexuali?es, 2014‐Present Daina Harvey Present Professional Posi:on Assistant Professor, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA 2013‐present Posi:ons Held in ASA NewsleZer Editor, Sec?on on Teaching and Learning, 2013‐present Publica?ons CommiZee, Sec?on on Teaching and Learning, 2013‐present Student Representa?ve, Sec?on on Culture 2010 Nomina?ons CommiZee, Sec?on on Teaching and Learning, 2010 ASA Teaching and Learning Sec?on, Program CommiZee, 2014‐2015 ASA Body and Embodiment Sec?on, Council Member, 2010‐2012 Personal Statement: I would like to serve the ASA Sec?on on Teaching and Learning as a Council Member represen?ng two year colleges. In this posi?on, I would be a voice for others at two year colleges and other marginalized scholars. I currently sit on the ASA Task Force for Community College Faculty working to amplify the voices of community college faculty in sociology and in our professional organiza?ons. I have been ac?vely involved in ASA in a variety of ways, including 18 serving as an Area Editor for TRAILS, a Council Member for the Body and Embodiment Sec?on, and an Organizer for a Professional Development Workshop on teaching. In this posi?on, I would like to con?nue to serve the organiza?on and help others focused on innova?ve, crea?ve, high‐quality teaching in sociology as well as enhance the visibility of sociologists at community colleges. Debra Swanson Deidre Tyler Task Force on Sociology and General Educa?on, 2007 Present Professional Posi:on Professor of Sociology and Social Work, Hope College, Holland, MI, 1989 ‐ present Posi:ons Held in ASA Task Force on Teaching Sociology in the High School, 2012 ‐ 2014 Personal Statement: Nominees for Council Members (4‐year school) Stephanie Medley‐Rath Present Professional Posi:on Assistant Professor of Sociology, Indiana University Kokomo, 2014‐present Posi:ons Held in ASA Editorial Board, Teaching Sociology, 2014‐2017 Personal Statement: I have taught at a range of ins?tu?ons and se•ngs, including both two‐year and four‐year, online and face‐to‐face, and private and public colleges. These diverse teaching experiences have made me the teacher that I am and give me insight into the challenges faced by faculty in each se•ng. I have taught as an instructor, an assistant professor, and as an adjunct. Honestly, I am not sure my teaching history is all that unique, but I would like to be a voice for those of us who have eclec?c teaching histories. I want to serve as 4‐year school representa?ve because it is ?me for me to increase my contribu?ons to the sec?on. My involvement thus far has been peripheral. I have published in TRAILS and serve as an editorial board member for Teaching Sociology. My ASA home is this sec?on and I would like to serve it in a greater capacity. I would be honored to serve on the Council of the Teaching and Learning Sec?on of ASA as the 4 year college representa?ve. I have spent more than 25 years teaching at a small liberal arts college. I have been very involved with the North Central Sociological Associa?on, par?cularly around issues of teaching, and was awarded the John F. Schnabel award for Dis?nguished Contribu?ons to Teaching in 2008. In 2009, I received Hope College's Ruth and John Reed Faculty Achievement Award for my role as director of Hope's Teaching Enhancement Workshop. And more recently (2014) I received the Michigan Campus Compact award for including service‐learning in my classes. I love being in the classroom and look forward to the opportunity of being more involved in ASA and the Teaching and Learning Sec?on. Nominees for Council Members (University) Jacqueline Bergdahl Present Professional Posi:on Associate Professor, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, 2005‐present Personal Statement: I would be honored to serve as University Representa?ve for the ASA sec?on on Teaching and Learning. I would enjoy the opportunity to pay forward the benefits I have received as a member of the sec?on. I also believe my experience in the Teaching and Learning sec?on of the North Central Sociological Associa?on gives me a good founda?on for useful service in the same sec?on in ASA. I hope you will offer me the opportunity to do so. 19 Lissa Yogan New Book Present Professional Posi:on Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN 2007 ‐ present Taking Account of Race, Racism, and Privilege Kathleen J. Fitzgerald University of New Orleans Posi:ons Held in ASA ASA High School Sociology Advisory Panel, 2011 ‐ 2015 Member of Wri?ng Team for Member, Sec?on on Teaching and Learning, 2008‐2015 Member, Sec?on on Race, Class, Gender, 2008‐2015 Member, Sec?on on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity 2012‐2015 Personal Statement: I have taught sociology for almost 20 years and have witnessed the impact of sociology on both general educa?on students and sociology majors. For many, the sociological imagina?on allows them to see the world and themselves in new ways. The work of this sec?on is vital to society. Many of our students will not become PhD students in sociology but they will all go out into the world and interact and lead various social ins?tu?ons. Their understanding of sociology and how it can shape their future ac?ons is dependent on excellent teaching that promotes deep learning. The work of teaching can be trans‐ forma?ve and I would like to further this sec?on's efforts at honoring excellent teachers, developing the content which informs the prac?ce of teaching, and building rela?onships among the many excellent teachers who emphasize varied content areas within sociology. It would be a pleasure to serve alongside the many excellent faculty members who belong to the Sec?on on Teaching and Learning. Announcements If you are looking for a new sociology of race/ethnic rela?ons textbook, look no further. Check out my new textbook Recognizing Race and Ethnicity: Power, Privilege, and Inequality (Westview Press 2014). This text encourages students to take account of race, racism, and the “other side of racism,” white privilege. To take account of race is to bring it out into the open – to emphasize how membership in par?cular racial groups works for some while hindering others. It exposes how race is s?ll alive and well as a social divide in our culture and, further, is embedded in our social ins?tu?ons, cultural ideologies, and iden??es. The phrase “take account of race” reflects the language used by Supreme Court Jus?ce Harry Blackmun in his opinion in the affirma?ve ac?on case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) where he notes: A race‐conscious remedy is necessary to achieve a fully integrated society, one in which color of a person’s skin will not determine the opportuni?es available to him or her...In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way...In order to treat persons equally, we must treat them differently. In this opinion, Blackmun emphasizes a key paradox in American society: that we must recognize race to get beyond it. Simply claiming we live in a color‐blind society is not enough as it fails to challenge white privilege or acknowledge ongoing racism. My objec?ve with this textbook is to offer professors and students an approach to the sociology of race rela?ons that differs rather drama?cally from the leading texts on the market. Our goal should be to engage students with an emphasis on self‐reflexivity as well as coverage of topics that are more meaningful to their lives: sports, popular culture, interracial rela?onships, and biracial/mul?racial iden??es. This text reflects the most current research in the sociology of race, including a discussion of the social construc?on of race, white privilege, and cri?cal race theory. 20 I have taught race rela?ons courses since 1995, yet have failed to find one textbook that addresses everything I think needs to be addressed in a sociology course on race/ethnicity. For instance, no textbook currently on the market addresses white privilege to the extent that it should (for instance, having an en?re chapter devoted to the concept). Yet, this is where the inves?ga?ve lens has shided in our discipline: to the study of those privileged by societal status hierarchies. It is not enough to study the sociology of racial inequality, how and why some groups are disadvantaged by current societal arrangements. We also have to study race privilege, the other side of racism. If certain groups are oppressed and discriminated against, we have to recognize that some other group benefits from the exis?ng social arrangement. Thus, we must clearly inves?gate where whites historically and currently benefit from the racial hierarchy, not only where people of color have been disadvantaged. We need to bring white people “to the table,” so to speak, instead of allowing them (us) that comfortable distance while racial/ethnic “others” are being discussed. For too long not only our culture but the discipline of sociology, has treated racial/ethnic minori?es as “the problem,” yet excluded ourselves (those of us who are white) from the discussion. The only way to truly alter race rela?ons is to make this invisible aspect of the racial hierarchy visible, to acknowledge that race shapes all people’s lives, for beZer or for worse. Announcements New Book Sixteen for '16 ‐‐ A Discussion Book for the 2016 Elec:ons Salvatore Babones University of Sydney It's only spring 2015 but the 2016 elec?on season has already begun. The non‐candidate candidates have established their "exploratory commiZees," the inevitable scandals have started to emerge, and the best‐known advisors have been snapped up by the best‐financed campaigns. For the candidates of the two major par?es the top advisors include publicists, economists, and interna?onal rela?ons experts, but not a lot of sociologists. Sociology has important insights to offer about how best to run a country, but unfortunately our insights are rarely (never?) welcome at the table. Most of the signature policies adopted by major party candidates would fail a first‐year sociology final take‐home exam. America is ruled by poli?cal expediency, not by sociological insight. My new book Sixteen for '16: A Progressive Agenda for a BeZer America (2015 Policy Press) is one American sociologist's aZempt to inject some sociological reality into America's poli?cal debate. The book tackles sixteen issues ranging from classic social policy topics (educa?on and healthcare) to controversial areas of debate (abor?on and immigra?on) to areas that sociologists too oden cede to others (foreign policy, global warming). Each of the 16 short chapters makes an argument for reasonable, realis?c, sociologically‐informed policies. I have made every effort to be fair but the book is in no way even‐handed. For example, Chapter 1 kicks off with reams of data to show that America needs more and beZer jobs, especially for young people just entering the labor force, and argues that government must play an ac?ve role in crea?ng them. More state budget cuts simply will not create more jobs. Sixteen for '16 may not be even‐handed but it is empha?cally non‐par?san. No poli?cal party is endorsed or cri?cized and no likely 2016 Presiden?al candidates are named. My royal?es from the book have been pledged to support inves?ga?ve repor?ng by Truthout.org, which is 21 also scrupulously non‐par?san. The publisher, Policy Press is a non‐profit press whose credo is "publishing with a purpose." No corporate or poli?cal interests are involved in the publishing of this book. I teach Introduc?on to Sociology and I have wriZen Sixteen for '16 with the needs of teachers foremost in my mind. Each chapter is almost exactly 2000 words long, appropriate for reading in prepara?on for a class discussion. The 270 endnotes document every figure cited in the book, poin?ng mainly to online sources that are easily accessible to students. Perhaps most importantly, the book is cheap: with a list price of $16.00, the paperback is available for just $12.98 online (the e‐book will be even less). The argumenta?on in every chapter is independent of the other fideen and the chapters can be read in any order. The book uses no advanced sta?s?cs and no theore?cal jargon. I have worked very hard to ensure that the book accessible for beginning undergraduate students in the sincere hope is that sociology teachers will use individual chapters as discussion prompts throughout the semester. A teaching resources website will go online in June. Elec?on repor?ng these days focuses mainly on which side is leading in the polls, not on what they will do once in office. Everyone loves the 538 blog as a fun bit of sport. But our students should be discussing the issues, not the personali?es and their prospects for winning. On the issues we have too long focused on cri?cism, le•ng economists dictate actual social policy. Our students should learn that prac?cal sociology offers a much beZer guide to what will work in the real world than highly abstract economic theories. I won't make any money from Sixteen for '16 and I certainly won't get any credit from the sociological research community. This book is wriZen by a teacher for use by teachers. With apologies for making such an explicit plug, I do hope that you will use it ‐‐ and enjoy it. 22