TEACHING/LEARNING MATTERSASA’S NEWSLETTER FOR THE

Volume 43, Number 1 Spring 2014

Section Chair’s Corner

Katherine R. Rowell, Ph.D.

Center for Teaching and Learning Director

Professor of Sociology

Sinclair Community College

A special thanks to Carla Corroto and the Membership Committee for their continued good work. Please encourage a new colleague or student to join ASA and our section! We are hoping to see continued growth in our section this year!

As you will note in this edition of the newsletter, our publications committee has been busy and we now have a new editor joining our newsletter team. We are pleased to welcome Francisco Vivoni as our newest member. A very special thanks to Corey Dolgon for serving as one of our newsletter editors for the past couple years. We appreciate his service and dedication to our section.

Spring (if it ever arrives) will be especially busy for the Awards Committee (Bernice Pescosolido and Michael Schwarz), the Program Committee (Kate Linnenberg,chair), and our Preconference planning team (Melinda Messineo). Please be sure to check our website for Awards Nomination information and deadlines.

I have been busy working on planning our reception and reviewing our membership data. I am also currently co-chairing the ASA Community College Task Force and we are preparing to do a national survey of community college faculty. I am hoping that the data we gather may eventually help the ASA and our section figure out ways to better reach community college faculty.

Meanwhile, if you have any comments or concerns about the Section, please feel free to contact me: Katherine.rowell@sinclair.edu.

I look forward to hearing from you !

Well, I am excited for our “Spring” edition of our newsletter! Unlike the predictions made by the local groundhog in my community, I am so hoping that our “Spring “ newsletter truly brings Spring to those of you who have not seen sunlight and warm weather since November! It has been a tough winter in Ohio and many of my students have missed more than a week of class. Like my students, I have found it difficult to play “catch up”!

Despite the cold and busy lives, we lead, several members of our council have been busy. First, Liz Grauerholz and the Nominations Committee have worked diligently to submit an exciting group of candidates. It is important to renew your membership by March 31st in order to vote in the elections in April.

1

1. Section Chair’s Corner

2. Editor’s Introduction

3. Connecting the Classroom to the Community

3. Section Officers

5 Meet Lori

6. Ideas for the Classroom

9. Meet Francisco

9. Trails Update

9. Teaching Resources

10. Making Time For Trails

12. Meet the Candidates

17. The Firmament

17. Call for Summer Newsletter

Editor’s Introduction

Daina Cheyenne Harvey

Assistant Professor, College of the Holy Cross

Greetings from Worcester, Massachusetts and welcome to the Spring edition of the STLS newsletter. The bulk of the newsletter features the slate of candidates for the Section’s upcoming election. We have such a great group of candidates—I may vote twice.

We continue our Connecting Classroom to Community column with a piece from Eric Dietrich, Whitney Adams, and Shelby Rogala. They report on a student organization at Montana State University that attempts to bridge the gap between students and communities through long-term interdisciplinary projects.

We are lucky enough to have two members that sent in ideas for assignments and another two that remind or alert us to valuable repositories for teaching. As this is a section of the newsletter that we would like to expand, please keep those ideas coming.

We also have a section that I hope we can regularly feature where we hear from a graduate student. Here Lori Fazzino, UNLV, reflects on the how of teaching. Lori just won her University’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching—Congrats Lori!

We also use this edition to welcome our newest member, Francisco Vivoni, to the editorial team and we say good riddance to that fellow Corey Dolgon. Many, many thanks to Corey for all the hard work on the newsletter during his reign here—if you see him in San Francisco, buy him a drink. And with Francisco, to whom you will be digitally introduced to in this volume, we have finally established the Worcester Triumvirate—which is surely a sign of the complete takeover of ASA by STLS.

This edition also features an article by Stephanie Medley-Rath on TRAILS and an update on TRAILS

from Diane Pike. We end with a note from Monte Bute, reprinted from the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, that I think at this time of the semester we can all appreciate. Plus he quotes Tom Waits—and if you quote Waits, I will put you in the newsletter.

Enjoy!

Daina Cheyenne Harvey

Table of Contents

2

Connecting the Classroom to the

Community

Student-Driven Project Connects Montana

Campuses and Communities

Eric Dietrich, Whitney Adams, Shelby Rogala OFFICERS

Chair: Kathy Rowell Chair-Elect: Kate Linnenberg Past Chair: Liz Grauerholz Sec-Treas: Melinda Jo Messineo Student Rep: Naghme Naseri

NEWSLETTER EDITORS Daina Cheyenne Harvey Shelley White Francisco Vivoni

COUNCIL MEMBERS

Two-Year College Representatives Krisler Bailey Barbara Walters

Rebecca Hatch

Four-Year College Representatives Rachel Neal Carala Corroto

Marybeth Stalp University Representatives David Purcell Michael Schwartz Patricia Hoffman

SECTION COMMITTEES Awards Chair: Bernice Pescosolido Cooperative Initiatives: Jeff Chin Membership Chair: Carla Corroto Program Chair: Kate Linnenberg Publications Chair: Andrea Miller Nominations Chair: Liz Grauerholz Contingent Faculty: Suzanne Mauer Graduate Student Concerns: Naghme Naseri Sage Awards: Keith Roberts Pre-Conference Program Planning: Melinda Messineo Social Media: David Purcell

August 2013 To August 2014

STLS Officers / Council Members

SCOPE — short for Student Community Outreach ProjEct — is a student organization on Montana State University’s campus that seeks to bridge the gap between students and communities in Montana through meaningful, academically rigorous community based research.

Montana, as they say, is one big small town. And like many small towns, available resources often fall short of need. Compounding this problem is another symptom of small town life, a gap in the demographic of young adults, leading to a loss of human capital throughout the state. Yet, with two large Universities, multiple satellite campuses and seven tribal colleges, Montana is also home to bright students from around the globe drawn to the state as much by academic opportunities as by its quality of life. Integrating these students successfully into Montana communities can be easy at first, but holding on to the talented minds can often prove challenging – from lack of support or lack of opportunity.

Many programs exist in the state to create opportunities for collaboration between communities and University students. Few, however, meet long-term community development needs by harnessing the potential of student research and outreach. In any partnership, equal ownership and investment is needed by each side. SCOPE connects students interested in research and community development work to businesses, non-profits and community organizations that have articulated needs in Montana. With the help of faculty and staff, students can work on long-term projects with community organizations and local businesses that

result in tangible and reciprocal benefits. SCOPE

strives for an interdisciplinary approach to community development projects and problems. The diverse, hands-on experience gained by the students while fulfilling their senior thesis, capstone or research requirements provides a unique opportunity for both academic and professional growth. Meanwhile, they partner with community organizations that are interested and excited to work with young minds on

projects the communities have identified as important.

3

4

In contrast to many community service learning endeavors, SCOPE is driven by the efforts of current students and recent alumni, making it possible to leverage social capital amongst young adult partners in ways that are generally difficult for faculty-led programs. Additionally, the organization’s membership creates an informal support mechanism for participants, providing coaching in soft skills involved in outreach work, establishing peer accountability for project completion and facilitating reflection on project work on terms closely aligned with student culture. This support mechanism is designed to complement discipline-specific academic guidance from faculty. SCOPE hopes to foster a culture of civic responsibility and community pride through preparing students for rigorous community based research and presenting findings to diverse audiences throughout the state.

Over the past year, SCOPE worked with the Carter County Museum in Ekalaka, Montana to coordinate a pilot project demonstrating the effectiveness of the organization’s model. Responding to a community desire for assistance in reinvigorating the museum –the cultural centerpiece of an isolated town in southeast Montana– five students recruited through SCOPE spent Summer 2013 working to catalogue museum specimens, redevelop exhibits and organize a culminating “Dino Shindig” that drew in attendees from across the nation.

Participating students were hosted at a residence made available by community members and supported by local donations. Several students pursuing or having recently completed degrees in history, landscape architecture, film and paleontology were able to design and complete projects directly

related to their disciplines, working closely with museum staff and collaborating with community members to leverage local resources.

The pilot project, though encouraging, also spoke to a continued need for program improvement. Even in a relatively homogenous state such as Montana, cultural diversity and awareness is crucial to integrating successfully within communities.

Rural towns and sovereign nation reservations present students with the challenges of integration, acceptance and cultural sensitivity. At the same time, communities must also place their trust in young adults that, as students, aren’t always known for their reliability.

Since summer 2013, SCOPE has launched three more projects, with others in the pipeline. Of the three current projects, two deal with rural health issues while one focuses on pollution prevention in tribal communities. The students working on the projects are receiving a mixture of credit, financial aid, stipend and mentorship to support their research. Their backgrounds range from pre-nursing to biology to political science. SCOPE will also send three additional students to Ekalaka for summer 2014 to work with the Carter County Museum for a second summer.

More projects have also been proposed, and SCOPE is working with a few communities on collaborative projects to find student populations that would be able to work on projects as a team or class. Developing these larger, interdisciplinary projects will hopefully fuel the majority of SCOPE’s future projects, although individual projects are just as valuable. However, biting off larger community questions, such as economic assessments, drainage or agricultural needs or health issues will greatly contribute to long-term development in a meaningful way. SCOPE is partnering with MSU Extension to locate and reach out to communities that have identified top priorities in the past through Extension assessment programs.

Community organizations seeking help have by and large understood their needs well enough to communicate to SCOPE their intentions. However, matching students to pre-packaged projects does not come without its challenges. As mentioned earlier, ownership is integral to any development process. Fostering ownership over projects that have been proposed by community programs, though appealing to many students, often falls short of exciting others. Building expectations to succeed with projects that have been

suggested by community members as opposed to traditional research work OR special projects developed by the student themselves will be a long process. Entering into a research project, as a student, requires buy-in and support at an initial level, and community based research currently lacks

5

this institutional drive. Changing the culture of research for both undergraduates and faculty members at MSU and in the state of Montana will come with its own set of challenges, which SCOPE hopes to explore and work to solving, as a template for future community based research on other campuses.

Cultivating trust in these relationships is a challenge for both students and communities. And integral to creating a culture of awareness is successful program expansion. Though isolated projects will serve individual communities, creating an ethic of service for University students and a pride of partnership for Montana citizens requires a larger scope of engagement — one SCOPE hopes to ultimately foster.

Meet A Graduate Student

Lori L. Fazzino, M.A.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

I am often asked, “What are you teaching?”, but seldom asked, “How are you teaching?” I believe 21st century pedagogy must stress both content and form; both the what and the how of teaching. I teach sociology, but the way in which I do so relies on what I call “passionate pedagogy”- a method of teaching underscored by emotional transparency about my love of teaching, or what Van Auken (2012) calls “intellectual excitement”. In the classroom, passionate pedagogy is being secure enough to be vulnerable, humble enough to say, “I don’t know, but will find out!” and dependable enough to follow through, flexible enough to make changes when needed and daring enough to do so mid-semester, open enough to learn from those being taught, and

invested enough to not let students fall through bureaucratic cracks if possible. It is because of passionate pedagogy that I have a high level of investment in and commitment to my students.

I structure my course using multi-faceted means that support collaborative learning. Transforming a new class of diverse students into a community of individuals is no small task. I begin this process in the first class meeting with an ice breaker that requires students to pair up and ask one another a series of questions. The final question – What is the most embarrassing thing you have done in public? – always generates recurrent answers, such as walking into glass doors or urinating in public, and as a class, we discuss what can be learned from these patterns. Collective positing about mundane similarities gets students thinking sociologically from day one and uses common experience to minimize difference. about their learning experiences, and an esprit de corps begins to develop. When we review the syllabus, I intentionally frame objectives as “our tasks” and class sessions as the “time we will share”. By communicating that we are “in this together”, students begin to trust that I care about their learning experiences

Fostering deep-learning and practical application are the goals I have for all my classes (Bain 2004). I enliven course material through personal narratives, relevant speakers, and controversial pop culture. The course materials I utilize are strategically incorporated to challenge assumptions. When we encourage students to critically examine the claims, information, and arguments they confront, we are building their confidence in challenging authority, using the classroom as a training ground for society where critical thinking skills can be developed. This approach has yielded much success in getting students to engage with material outside the classroom with one another, their peers, and their families. I will adjust schedules in order to cover specific topics more in-depth when student request. When evaluating student learning, I rely on a variety of assessment tools, such as course journals, media projects, and observation assignments, providing students with multiple ways demonstrate their sociological proficiency.

My approach generates more work, which as a graduate student, I have more than enough of. However, it is through this approach that I embody passionate pedagogy. Many students have commented about the different approach I

6

take in the classroom, specifically they have been motivated to invest more in a class they know the professor genuinely cares about. It is not unusual for students to email me, even once the semester has concluded, and tell me about the ways in which they see what we covered in class manifest in their everyday lives. This is when I know a student has achieved deep learning; this is why I embrace not only what I teach, but the way I teach. When students truly learn sociology, they become well-equipped, thoughtful, informed, critical members of society, and they are more prepared to embark on their futures, wherever their paths may lead them.

ReferencesBain, Ken. 2004. What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Van Auken, Paul. 2013. “Maybe It's Both of Us: Engagement and Learning.” Teaching Sociology 41 (2): 207-215.

Ideas for the Classroom

Developing the Sociological Imagination Using Sociological Images

Author: Georgiana Bostean, Chapman University

The “sociological imagination”—the ability to see the impact of broader social forces on individual lives, as C. Wright Mills described it—is fundamental to sociology. Thus, developing it is often an aim of introductory sociology courses. The sociological imagination can be cultivated but often requires a great deal of work, making it an important pedagogical issue, as demonstrated by its attention in teaching journals. In an effort to stimulate students’ ability to see the impact of society on their daily lives, and to capitalize on the increasing use of electronic media among many students, I developed a three-pronged project to explore the use of the Sociological Images website as a tool by which to cultivate and exercise students’ sociological imaginations.

Sociological Images, developed by Lisa Wade of Occidental College, is a blog “presenting brief

discussions of compelling and timely imagery that span the breadth of sociological inquiry.” In early March, for example, several posts commented on issues of race, class, and gender in Mardi Gras history; one included historic and contemporary photos of the Baby Dolls, with a discussion of their history and significance. Anyone can submit images (such as advertisements, products, news coverage, music videos) for inclusion, but the moderator and guest bloggers write the analysis of images. There are several contributing social scientists, including Gwen Sharp, Philip Cohen, Martin Hart-Landsberg, and Jay Livingston. Given its blog style, the Sociological Images website is ideal for introductory sociology courses because it is a forum for sociological discourse written in an accessible manner. I used the website in-class nearly weekly to visualize and discuss selected sociological concepts.

The project consisted of: (1) two identical assignments in which students selected 3 blog posts from the website and expanded on the commentary presented on the site, incorporating discussion of sociological concepts and theories learned in our course; and, (2) a final project in which students found three of their own “sociological images,” preferably photos taken in their daily lives, and analyzed them from sociological perspectives. The first two assignments exposed students to sociological analysis of images and allowed them to expand on the authors’ blogs by incorporating course material. The final project allowed students to exercise their own imaginations by seeing sociologically to find images in their daily lives, and writing their own sociological analyses of those issues in both an academic style, and a more broadly accessible blog style. (Considering Mills’ criticism of “socspeak” and recent calls for sociologists to engage in more public discourse, the writing component was deliberately designed to give students practice writing for both academic and broader audiences.)

I implemented the project in two lower-division sociology courses, with 48 students total. Based on student evaluations, the project appears to have effectively engaged students to apply sociological concepts to their lives and to see sociologically. Several students commented on linking the classroom to real life: “It took textbook reading and turned it into real life, modern day situations.” Another student commented, “These assignments have solidified my desire to pursue a degree in sociology. Very helpful.” Critiques included that one of the two identical

7

assignments could be cut, and a few students felt they had to stretch to link an image to a concept. Notwithstanding these issues, students were creative in finding images, many of them taking their own photos. For instance, one student took a photo (below) of a billboard advertising a chicken meal at a restaurant with a photo of a women and the caption, “Do you lust for juicy thighs?” The student discussed sexualization, and tied the discussion to two other images linked to gender stratification.

The outcome of this exploration suggests that assignments such as this visual project utilizing the Sociological Images website, can be a starting point in developing the sociological imagination. Exposing students to accessibly-written sociological analysis of timely topics, and challenging students to find visual examples of sociological concepts and write their own sociological analysis in both academic and more accessible style, may help to bridge the disconnect between sociological concepts and the “real world.”

Ultimately, such projects help train the next generation of social scientists, because after all, as Mills wrote, it is the sociological imagination that distinguishes the social scientist from the “mere technician.”

Assignment: Commercial Deconstruction

Author: Virginia Adams O’Connell, Associate Professor, Moravian College

Looking  for  a  way  to  connect  the  myriad  of  topics  covered  in  an  introductory  sociology  class  (race,  sex/gender,  class,  inequality,  consumerism,  health  and  disease)  with  a  discussion  of  the  impact  of  mass  media  as  a  socializa?on  

agent?    I  have  experienced  great  success  with  an  assignment  called  commercial  deconstruc?on.    The  assignment  is  outlined  below:

SOC 115: Introduction to SociologyA Sociological Analysis of Commercials

Using the information from the frameworks we have covered in class and insights from any of the articles we have read to date, use your sociological eye to provide a rich analysis of at least five television/internet commercials. Try to identify the cultural norms represented in the commercials. Reflect on how commercials are agents of socialization

1) How do they define an idealized self? 2) How do they present some characterization of a

desired state and how might having the product help us achieve this desired state through either a positive or negative representation?

3) Think about “hegemony”-- the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group. Hegemony in part involves getting people to go along with the status quo because it seems like the best course or the natural order of things. How do commercials present the world as a representation of the natural order?

4) Think about issues of racism, sexism and/or stereotyping in commercials. How are men and women portrayed differently in commercials? Do this for other demographic characteristics such as race, age, etc.

8

5) Analyze what is being communicated by the advertisers about our “place” in society based on any of our classic variables: gender, race, age, education, SES and religion.

6) Do some advertisements actually challenge current norms of behavior? Do they represent people in unexpected ways? If so, how? How might commercials be agents of social change?

In addition to deconstructing the commercials, pay attention to what kinds of commercials are played during different kinds of programs. For example, are the commercials run during Real Housewives of New Jersey different than those run during Monday Night Football? Which shows are “chick shows,” “guy shows,” and “gender-neutral” shows? Think about this as you watch. Identify the show you were watching when you saw the commercial(s) you are analyzing.

Some of you might like to use a chart to track patterns. The chart could take any number of forms, but for example, let us for a moment assume that you are looking at five “home-based” commercials (these might be commercials about cleaning products, food items, bathroom tissue, etc.) You might want to look at who is doing what in the household during the commercial:

Gender/age

Cooking CleaningWatching  TV

On  the  computer

Sleeping

“Father”“Mother”Male  childrenFemale  children

I am looking for some thoughtful analysis, so provide

details. You may not be able to merely do the first five you see at a given sitting as you might not be able to deconstruct the commercial and/or talk about the sociological significance. In that case, just watch until you do find something that you can manage.

Before they attempt the assignment on their own, we collectively deconstruct some commercials together in class. Students are always fully engaged as we watch the commercial and then watch it again pausing to address the “messages.” This exercise has the wonderful effect of bringing sociology home to them in a very direct way and they consistently report that after completing the assignment, they never look at commercials in a passive manner. They find themselves deconstructing not only commercials but billboards, magazine covers, etc. What they initial consider a pretty easy assignment morphs into a life-changing assignment.

Happy Spring! I’m very much excited to form part of the editorial team of the STLS newsletter. I look forward to working with Shelley and Daina in crafting informative newsletters geared towards fostering community among sociologists. I live and work in the great city of Worcester and seek to inspire students at Worcester State University to take on the social issues that shape our everyday urban experiences. In the classroom, I seek to inspire students to take on public sociology and social justice in order to change the world.

Francisco VivoniAssistant ProfessorDepartment of SociologyWorcester State University

As spring lamely attempts to arrive up here in Minnesota, let me take this opportunity to invite Section members to identify activities, pedagogies or syllabi that are working especially well for you and your students this term. As courses wind down in May, that could be a good time to think about submitting ideas to TRAILS, ASA’s digital library for teaching. Publishing in TRAILS is a terrific way to demonstrate your scholarly teaching, document your professional development, and most importantly, to share your good ideas with colleagues. TRAILS is going well, but we would benefit from more submissions.

TRAILS Update Diane Pike, Editor, TRAILS

A second update of note is that new Area Editors have joined us: Gail Wallace, Julie Pelton, Ming-Cheng Lo, Cynthia Siemsen, Ashley Rondini and Leslie Hossfeld. We welcome them and appreciate their willingness to take on this work. Their subject areas are listed at: http://trails.asanet.org/Pages/TRAILS%20Area%20Editors.aspx

If you would like more information, a free 30 day trial to TRAILS, or have questions, please contact me directly. It would be great to hear from you!

Diane Pike, Editor pike@augsburg.edu or trails@asanet.org.

Teaching Resources

Using the Pre-Health Collection within MedEdPORTAL’s iCollaborative to Enhance Your Resources for Teaching Pre-Health Competencies in Sociology

Author: Martie Gillen, University of Florida

The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) has updated its understanding of the expectations of students pursuing medical degrees. This has resulted in a revision of the MCAT exam and a defined set of pre-health competencies. The revised MCAT exam, known as the MCAT2015 will first be administered in the spring of 2015. To get the latest information about the revised MCAT exam, visit www.aamc.org/mcat2015/admins.

The AAMC has recognized four scientific foundational concepts for the new MCAT2015 exam that are also integral to the teaching of sociology (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2012).

1) Biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors influence behavior and behavior change. The sociology content categories for this foundational concept include social processes that influence behavior.

2) Psychological, socio-cultural, and biological factors influence the way we think about ourselves and others. The sociology content

9

Meet The Newest Member of

the Editorial Team

Teaching Resources

(continued)

categories for this foundational concept include self-identity such as self-concept and identity and formation of identity; social thinking such as prejudice and bias; and social interactions such as the elements of social interaction, self-presentation and interacting with others, and discrimination. 3) Cultural and social differences influence well-being. The sociology content categories for this foundational concept include understanding social structure such as theoretical approaches, social institutions, and culture; and demographic characteristics and processes such as demographic structure of society and demographic shifts and social change.4) Social stratification and access to resources influence well-being. The sociology content categories for this foundational concept include social inequality such as spatial inequality, social class, health disparities, and healthcare disparities.

These concepts are tested on the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section of the MCAT2015 exam. The AAMC estimates that 30% of the questions in this section will center on the discipline of sociology (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2012).

"Reel American History" Important Visual Resources for Teaching and Learning American History

Author: Edward J. Gallagher, Professor of English Lehigh University, [From: Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College, CUNY]

The goal of the Lehigh University student Reel American History web-project is to investigate how the “reel” makes the “real,” that is, how movies construct our history. The ever-in-progress RAH site contains information-rich projects on sixty-four

films ranging from the 11th century Inuit hero Atanarjuat to Oliver Stone’s “W.” RAH can be used as a basis for full or focused courses in American history through film, for complements to text-based courses, and for research and writing assignments. Each project has a bibliography on the “real” and the “reel” aspects of the topic and a variety of essays to provide both information and to whet discussion. In addition, RAH is always open to adding new projects or pieces to existing projects from outside Lehigh. That six films considered for major awards during the recent Academy Awards were based on American history testifies to the continued popularity and significance of this cinematic genre.

For further Information go to:http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/teachers/

10

Making Time For TRAILS

Stephanie Medley-Rath, Lake Land College

I was motivated to submit my teaching materials to TRAILS (Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology) after attending the session “Getting Published in TRAILS” at the 2012 ASA meeting. I left that session with the confidence that I do have syllabi, assignments, and course activities that with some minor editing could be submitted to TRAILS. I knew I needed to make the time for TRAILS.

I have a 5/5 teaching load and five different preps (spread out over a year), plus an online version of one course. Yes, it is an intense teaching schedule, but it also means I have a lot of potential material that is being repeatedly tried out in my classes that is just waiting to be shared on TRAILS. Over the next semester, I thought about which materials would require the least amount of editing and that I was most interested in polishing up. I selected one in-class activity to revise and submit. I was revising this assignment anyway for the spring semester, so with a little extra effort, I was able to get a publication out of it, too. While revising your own courses why not select one or two assignments and take a little extra time to revise for TRAILS, too?

Submitting to TRAILS, however, is not as simple as just sending in your assignment as is. Like any peer-reviewed publication, you need to follow their guidelines. At first, this felt tedious, but in the end the revision process was worthwhile because the TRAILS guidelines motivated me to reevaluate my assignments. In particular, I was faced with the question of “what is the learning goal of this assignment?” I had to move beyond the goal of “doing something different or fun” or some vague learning goal like “develops critical thinking.” Combining my course revisions with submitting to TRAILS was incredibly helpful in evaluating my own teaching and forced me to clearly articulate learning goals for my assignments.

Editing with TRAILS in mind strengthened my assignments because submissions need to include information that I do not typically include on an assignment. For example, I had to consider the potential pitfalls (both real and imagined) of the assignment, articulate these pitfalls, and discuss strategies for mitigating these pitfalls. I also had to determine how the assignment fit into my course and whether or not there was a better method of reaching the same learning goal. Taking the time to submit to TRAILS was time well spent. Overall, it took me about an afternoon to edit my first submission and I was able to revise the next submission more quickly now that I am familiar with the process.

As someone who values scholarly teaching, I feel that it is my responsibility to make the time to share resources that work. Moreover, as a community college faculty member, I want to make sure that there are teaching materials that have been used successfully at community colleges within the TRAILS database. This does not mean that these resources could not be used at other types of institutions, but that teachers know that they have successfully worked in this type of classroom environment.

Finally, there is also the self-serving purpose: publishing on TRAILS provides near-instant gratification. In a discipline where the revise and resubmit process can take anywhere from a few months to years, TRAILS has a very quick turn-around time. I had feedback from the editors within a couple of weeks and within about five months, I had three new publications to add to my CV.

I will close with this message: if you are reading this newsletter, you have something that is worth publishing in TRAILS. You have taken an interest in teaching and in learning more about TRAILS. Now is the time to identify what materials you have that you could polish up and share. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

11

Meet the Candidates

The Nominations Committee is charged with the task of developing a slate for the annual ASA election, which begins April 22. This year, the committee developed a few questions to pose to each nominee that may help members in voting. We are very grateful to those who agreed to stand for office this year. We are fortunate to have such outstanding members who are willing to give the Section the gift of their time and expertise.

Nominees are listed by position for which they are standing and within each position, by alphabetic order.

To see the full set of responses from each candidate, please visit the Section’s webpage: http://www2.asanet.org/sectionteach/

Nominees for Section Chair:

Name: Maxine P. Atkinson, Professor, North Carolina State University

Why are you interested in serving in the Section? The Section is my ASA home. Without the Section, I probably would not come to ASA very often.  Section members are my colleagues. They share my passion for creating a more just world through teaching sociology.  This is the section that welcomes all sociologists from all types of institutions and at all career stages.

Related professional activities or things you'd like Section members to know: I am the recipient of both Section awards, the Hans O. Mauksch and the Carla B. Howery Award for Developing Teacher-Scholars, as well as the ASA Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Southern Sociological Society (SSS).   I am the only SSS president to set SoTL as the theme of the meetings and to give a presidential address on SoTL. I regularly teach a graduate course titled, "Teaching Sociology."

Why are you interested in serving in the Section? While teaching and research are critical to sociology, the discipline only thrives when its practitioners are also committed to service. I have benefited greatly over the years from attending Section activities and from learning about good teaching and good practice from Section members. I would be happy to serve the Section more directly and have served in other capacities (e.g., department chair, Academic Senate chair) which have provided me with the organizational skills for this task. In terms of an agenda for the coming year, I would like to see the Section develop more ties with the world of applied or public sociology. Many of our undergraduates (and graduate students as well) are interested in pursuing non-academic careers that are devoted to solving social problems and improving social life. I think that we need continuously to innovate ways in which we can maintain a strong and rigorous academic focus in our classes and departments while providing students with experiences that best prepare them for the world of practice. I am most impressed with efforts of the Section to develop pre-conference workshops in association with the meetings of regional sociology associations (attended by many sociologists with a strong teaching focus) and would work to continue them. I have been involved with webinar presentations to national audiences (sitting in my own in mid-Michigan) and would like to explore ways in which the Section might use webinar or teleconferencing technology to reach new members and provide services to existing ones (if it can be done without competing with existing ASA efforts, attendance at meetings, or the fine Section newsletter).

Name: Mary Scheuer Senter, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Applied Research and Rural Studies, Central Michigan University

Related Professional Activities or things you’d like Section members to know: While I teach in the areas of social inequality and research methods, I have come to define myself as an applied sociologist. I have been involved with the assessment of student learning since (yikes!) the mid-1990s and see it as a way of using our sociological methods within the academy to prompt useful discussions about student learning. More recently, I have worked with Roberta Spalter-Roth of the ASA’s Research Department on the NSF-funded Bachelor’s and Beyond studies tracing the trajectory of sociology majors from their senior years to their first years of graduate school or (hopefully) professional life. I served as Book Review editor of Teaching Sociology during Jeff Chin’s term as journal editor,

12

present regularly on topics related to teaching and assessment at professional meetings, and am a member of the Department Resources Group of the ASA.

Nominees for Council: 2 YEAR Representative

Name: Dona Fletcher, Professor/Chairperson of Sociology/Geography/Social Work, Sinclair Community College.

Why are you interested in serving in the Section?:  I have had many years of experience as Community College professor of  Sociology and feel that I could be a good representative voice.   I would like to see Community College professors have more of a voice in ASA.  I also know there are very few departments of sociology at the community college and I think having over fifteen years of experience as a department chair would be beneficial to the section and to community college faculty. 

Related professional activities or things you'd like Section members to know:  I have served on several state-wide committees in Ohio over the years dealing with articulation and semester conversion.  I have an extensive background and training in areas of faculty development dealing with diversity and inclusion.   As a community college faculty member, I have participated and attended many workshops on teaching and learning over the years and also have spent time at Evergreen College working on learning communities.  Finally, I currently serve as the President of the Dayton League of Women Voters.  I think my background in diversity and inclusion would be beneficial to the section. I would hope to reach to more community college faculty as well as increase the diversity of our membership.

Name: Michaela Nowell, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac

Why are you interested in serving in the Section?:

I have been at a two-year college for two years and am very passionate about the freshman-sophomore experience. I am also a big advocate of 2-year and community colleges. See my piece on those items here: http://conditionallyaccepted.com/2014/03/13/twoyear-institutions/

Related professional activities or things you'd like Section members to know (e.g., SoTL involvement; teaching-workshops): I have been very involved in developing and promoting ideas for teaching fat studies in the classroom. I have taught several workshops on teaching fat studies and will be part of a panel (if accepted) on teaching sociology of the body at ASA this coming year. I have written several pieces accepted to anthologies, as well as a blog piece: http://conditionallyaccepted.com/2013/09/27/sociology-of-fatness/

Nominees for Council: University

Name: Patti Giuffre, Director of Graduate Programs and Professor, Department of Sociology, Texas State University

Why are you interested in serving in the Section?: I have been actively involved in other ASA Sections and have always wanted to serve this section because of my ongoing and sustained commitment to teaching and learning. I have been teaching for 17 years. My commitment to teaching and learning has been recognized with seven teaching awards. Most recently, I was the recipient of our university’s Honors College Advisor of the Year (2011-2012). I have also been nominated for our university’s Outstanding Mentor Award (but will not find out whether I am the recipient until mid-2014).

Related professional activities or things you'd

like Section members to know:  I have been engaged in various ASA SoTL-related activities: (1) I am a member of the Teaching Sociology editorial board; (2) I published an article (with Cindy Anderson and Sharon Bird) on teaching gender and work (2006). This article was the result of a teaching workshop, and describes Cindy and Sharon’s creative teaching ideas; (3) I co-edited an ASA Syllabi Collection on gender and work with Sharon Bird (2006); and, (4) I have presented or organized/facilitated three ASA teaching workshops. In my department, I have been faculty supervisor for Alpha Kappa Delta, and participated in

13

Name: Mary Nell Trautner, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, University at Buffalo-SUNY

Why are you interested in serving in the Section?: I have benefitted tremendously from Section members and Section activities, and welcome the opportunity to give back. My enjoyment of teaching (and any skills I have at it) has very much been influenced by the section and section members. For example, I learned a lot about teaching and its value from one of my undergraduate mentors, Ed Kain, who has been heavily involved with the section for many years. I have attended numerous conference workshops and sessions organized by the T&L section since I began attending ASA meetings as an undergraduate in 1998, and I have picked up countless suggestions, tips, and tricks from those sessions, along with ASA syllabi sets, Teaching Sociology, and TRAILS.

Related professional activities or things you'd like Section members to know (e.g., SoTL involvement; teaching-workshops): I’ve been involved in two of the section’s pre-conference workshops (once as an attendee and once as a co-organizer). I’ve also published three SoTL articles in Teaching Sociology (on physical appearance bias, academic integrity, and incorporating pedagogy into graduate seminars), two “teaching and learning guides” to accompany articles in Sociology Compass, a course guide for instructors of Sociology of Gender on the Sociological Images blog, and a syllabus and a teaching exercise in what used to be ASA syllabi sets (now on TRAILS). Two of my published research articles have been reprinted in readers for use in undergraduate classes. I’ve also been recently appointed to the Teaching Sociology editorial board.

I also try to encourage graduate students to be thoughtful in their approaches to teaching. In addition to incorporating Teaching Sociology articles into my graduate Sociology of Gender seminars, in my role as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for my department, I advise and mentor our graduate student instructors through classroom observation, syllabus review, and a new series of department-level teaching proseminars I developed that are focused on pedagogy and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Nominees for Council: 4 YEAR Representative

Name: Jan Thomas, Associate Provost and Professor of Sociology, Kenyon College

Why are you interested in serving in the Section?: I have been a member of the section since I began graduate school in the late 1980s and regularly attend ASA and section sessions and events. In my current position as an Associate Provost, I oversee our fairly new teaching and learning center and have been involved in thinking about how to integrate and encourage the scholarship of teaching and learning at my institution and beyond. I would welcome the opportunity to serve the Teaching and Learning Section as a council member and help represent the voices of smaller schools and liberal arts colleges.

Related professional activities or things you'd like Section members to know (e.g., SoTL involvement; teaching-workshops): Member, ASA distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award Committee 2009-2012 Teaching Workshop Organizer and Leader. “Integrating Women into Classical Theory Courses,” the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal (August 11, 2006).Thomas, Jan E., editor. 2005. Incorporating the Women Founders into Classical Theory Courses: A Resource Book. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.Thomas, Jan E. and Annis Kukulan. 2004. “’Why Don’t I Know About These Women?’ Classical Theory and the Inclusion of Women.” Teaching Sociology, Vol. 32(3):252-263.

14

advising, curriculum development, active mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, and served on various teaching- and learning-related committees, including our Awards and Scholarships Committee, and (Improving) Student Writing Committee.

Nominees for Council: 4 YEAR Representative (continued)

Name: Lissa J. Yogan, Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Valparaiso University

Why are you interested in serving in the Section?: I feel as if I am at a point in my career where I can give back, share what I've learned and help both new teachers of sociology as well as the larger section.  I have gained a great deal from the section, ASA and individual members.

Related professional activities or things you'd like Section members to know (e.g., SoTL involvement; teaching-workshops): I began training facilitators and teachers when I worked in the Department of Residence Life at the University of Maryland years ago.  After obtaining my Ph.D in sociology, I continued to be fascinated with issues of teaching and learning.  I have chaired the North Central Sociological Association's section on teaching, served as NCSA Vice-President and am currently President.  I have given several workshops and papers on issues related to teaching such as "Books that help us teach", "Presenting a Studio Model of Research Methods", "How to teach Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality" . I co-chaired the High School Teacher's Workshop at the 2013 NCSA meetings and serve on the High School Teachers Advisory Council of ASA.  I recently (2013) received the Valparaiso University Excellence in Teaching award.  

Nominees for Graduate Student Representative

Name: Michel Estefan, Graduate student in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley

Why are you interested in serving in the Section?

In my experience, graduate students who embrace the teacher-scholar model face additional challenges in grad school. The resources, support, and mentoring necessary to become a competent instructor aren’t always available, and when they are, teaching may not be as highly valued as other aspects of academia. The position of graduate student representative offers an opportunity to reach a broader group of graduate students, learn about their interests and challenges, and work with a committed group of faculty to develop resources to address these issues.

The mentoring opportunities for graduate students that the section on economic sociology (ES) will be offering at the ASA meeting this year illustrate one type of project I have in mind for our section. Students in the ES section submit a short description of their dissertation project or a brief statement of their research interests and CV and they are matched with faculty members who will offer them feedback during short meetings at ASA. We can easily adapt this model for our section. We could have a category for CVs focused on teaching institutions and another on teaching challenges or strategies. Students would submit their CV and have the opportunity to receive feedback on it by a faculty member working at an institution similar to the ones the student is interested in applying for jobs at. For the other category, students would submit a brief description of a challenging teaching situation or an idea for an activity or pedagogical technique and then discuss it with an experienced faculty member. The meetings could last 20-30 minutes and they would also be a great opportunity for students in our section to begin building closer connections with faculty members.

Related professional activities or things you’d like Section members to know: I strongly believe that students more effectively develop their critical thinking and communication skills when they are agents in the process of learning and discovery. But organizing an inclusive and cooperative classroom experience that fosters the students’ active engagement with the material requires skills you cannot hastily pick up toward the end of your graduate school career. As a result, I have invested heavily in developing my competency as an instructor. I have worked as a teaching assistant for five semesters at UC Berkeley in both theory and methods courses. I was invited by UC Berkeley’s Teaching Center to create a workshop to train

teaching assistants in a method I developed for  

15

structuring in-class discussion. Over the past two years, as a member of the Graduate Council’s Advisory Committee for Graduate Student Instructor Affairs I have worked alongside faculty and other graduate student representatives to improve preparation of teaching assistants across departments on campus. My efforts have been recognized with the awards for Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor and Graduate Student Instructor of the Year (the latter is the only fully student-run award granted to teaching assistants in the sociology department at Berkeley). Currently, I am working with Marion Fourcade, a faculty member in my department, to introduce a series of changes in the sociology undergraduate curriculum that will restructure how students relate to graduate student teaching assistants and faculty. The ultimate goal is to make them more active participants in the learning process.

Name: Jamie Oslawski-Lopez, Graduate Student & Instructor, Indiana University Bloomington (IUB)

Why are you interested in serving in the Section? Like myself, many graduate students are committed to their roles as instructors. As they begin their careers in the classroom, however, graduate students may need different types of support and resources as compared to more experienced faculty. Further, the experience of balancing both graduate studies and teaching can be challenging. I plan to use my experiences as a graduate student and instructor at Indiana University Bloomington to create opportunities within the Teaching and Learning Section that meet graduate

students’ needs.

it includes three courses focused on the practical and philosophical aspects of teaching. This past academic year, I was awarded one of the department’s PFF Shadowing Fellowships, which has allowed me to observe classes at a local liberal arts college and be mentored by the Sociology department’s faculty. Finally, I have attended and helped plan the annual PFF Graduate Student Conferences at IUB. The PFF conferences provide a venue for graduate students to spend a day reflecting on the teaching responsibilities at various types of institutions, navigating the job market, developing one’s self as a teacher and researcher, networking, and becoming part of the academic discipline.

Additionally, I have been engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. My co-authors and I have continued working on the project from which the “Betwixt and Between” paper that was recently published in Teaching Sociology stemmed, and are happy to report that we have successfully fielded a campus-wide survey investigating graduate student mental health. Using this survey data as well as the original focus group data, we are working on our next paper, which looks at formal and informal resource utilization and graduate student stress coping strategies.

Related professional activities or things you’d like Section members to know: I have been very involved with the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program at IUB. In the Spring of 2013, I completed the PFF Certificate in College Pedagogy;

16

The Firmament Works in Mysterious Ways

Monte Bute, Metropolitan State University

My university is in the midst of a public meltdown. We have been hammered with six negative news stories in the Pioneer Press in seven days (go to twincities.com and type in Metropolitan State University). As a union leader, I feel like my life has been nothing but crisis management 24/7 for the past week. Anger and tears are barely contained; I'm running on fumes. I awake exhausted and disheartened. Then one morning this week a student email showed up in my inbox—and that was just the smelling salts I needed. The firmament works in mysterious ways, serendipitously presenting us with critical junctures that we ignore at our own peril. The student was seeking answers to some leading questions she had posed that would have enabled

her to avoid doing a daunting three-page essay the old fashioned way: With her own intellectual firepower. I stood my ground.

"Sorry, I do not answer these types of questions. The whole point of the assignment is for you to engage in higher-order thinking. This is not a course where the teacher implicitly provides the answer, and then the student goes home and writes the paper. That is not how I teach. In this course, students struggle all week to figure out a puzzle, and then we solve it together during the next class meeting."

That interaction (and those that will follow throughout the semester) is why, well past the age of retirement, I still get up every morning, passionately ready for work. Even in the midst of this calamity, let me not forget why I practice this calling that I so love, at a university that I so cherish. I later headed off for breakfast with a former student of mine of whom I am very proud, and pleased that she still enjoys our improvisational conversations about authors, living and dead.

17

When I told her of my earlier email exchange, she laughed aloud and said that she had tried the exact same thing with me and didn't get away with it either. She then amazed me by quoting chapter and verse of remarks I had made in her class all those years ago. Sometimes tough love does pay dividends.

Crisis be damned, first things first. As Tom Waits put it:

Got to get behind the Mule in the morning and plow Got to get behind the Mule in the morning and plow.

Monte Bute teaches sociology at Metropolitan State University and is action coordinator for the Inter Faculty Organization, the union for Minnesota state universities.

Reprinted from the Twincities.com

Pioneer Press September 19, 2013

Dear Colleagues:

We are seeking submissions for the summer issue of Teaching/Learning Matters. As always, we welcome short articles of 500-750 words on topics such as teaching resources, including reviews of new texts or articles, discussions of assignments that have worked well, and of course announcements. We also invite submissions of up to 1000 words for our column, Connecting Classroom to Community. We would also like to encourage graduate students and adjuncts to submit short articles on teaching and learning issues that they face. Finally, please feel free to contact us if you have an idea for something you would like to see in or write for the newsletter. Please direct all submissions and inquiries to Francisco Vivoni at fvivoni@worcester.edu.

Thanks!DainaShelleyFrancisco