Faculty, Graduate Students Gain National Spotlight

Welcome to Our

Department!

Two new postdoctoral

fellows joined us this fall.

Dr. Haiyi (Monica) Liu

(Ph.D., University of Cali-

fornia, San Diego) special-

izes in immigration, Chi-

nese society, gender, and

race/ethnicity.

Dr. Mesay Tegegne

(Ph.D., University of

Iowa, 2016) examines

issues of migration, glob-

alization, and health with

a particular focus on the

implications of interna-

tional migration for social

change and development.

SocioFeed

Official Newsletter of the

Department of Sociology

at the University of South

Florida

Volume 4, Issue 1

November 2017

Students from Dr. Rob

Benford’s Mobilizing for

Change course pose for

picture. They organized a

social movement at USF

called Safe HOME

(Housing Opportunities

Made Equal).

Two faculty were recently honored with

distinguished career awards by the

American Sociological Association.

Dr. Sara Green

received the 2017

Distinguished Ca-

reer in the Sociology

of Disability Award

from the Disability

and Society Section

of ASA.

Distinguished Uni-

versity Professor

Stephen Turner

(USF Department of

Philosophy) was

awarded the 2017

Lifetime Achieve-

ment Award from

the History of Sociol-

ogy Section of ASA.

Dr. Donileen Loseke served as the

2016-17 President of the Society for

the Study of Social Problems (see

feature article on p. 5).

In August, 2017, Dr. Elizabeth

Hordge-Freeman received the

Society for the Study of Symbolic

Interaction’s Charles Cooley Book

Award for The Color of Love: Racial

Features, Stigma, and Socialization

in Black Brazilian Families (2015).

Dr. Pangri Mehta, a recent gradu-

ate of our doctoral program, was one

of twelve ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ final-

ists in the American Association for

the Advancement of Science’s Annu-

al ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ competition.

Our doctoral student Hadi Khosh-

neviss won this year’s Student Paper

Award from the Society for the Study

of Social Problems’ Section on Conflict,

Social Action, and Change.

(Continued on page 3)

Undergrads Organize Social Movement

Honors & Awards at ASA, SSSI, and SSSP

Ms. Fransheska Andaluz won an Outstand-

ing Staff Award from the College of Arts and

Sciences, in December, 2016.

Dr. Elizabeth Aranda was appointed Assis-

tant Dean for Global Engagement, College of

Arts and Sciences, and elected Chair-Elect of

the ASA Section on Latino/a Sociology.

Dr. James Cavendish began his term as

Chair of the Department in Fall, 2016.

Drs. Damien Contessa and Heidi Steinour

returned for a 2nd year as visiting instructors.

Ms. Sheela Fernandez completed her CRA-

USF Advanced Training, giving her the desig-

nation of a Certified Research Administrator.

Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman received

tenure and promotion to Associate Professor

in May, 2017.

Graduate student Hadi Khoshneviss was

selected to serve a two-year term as a Public

Engagement Liaison for ASA’s Law Section.

Post-Doctoral Scholar Dr. Julia Meszaros

became Assistant Professor of Sociology at

Lebanon Valley College in Harrisburg, PA.

Visiting Instructor Dr. Sue Nash became

Assistant Professor of Sociology at St. Mary’s

University in San Antonio, TX.

Ms. Christina Partin was promoted from

Instructor II to Instructor III.

Dr. Will Tyson was elected to serve on the

Executive Committee of the Southern Socio-

logical Society.

Dr. David Zeller, a recent graduate of our

doctoral program, joined our faculty as a visit-

ing instructor in Fall, 2017.

Career Moves

SocioFeed Page 2

Inside this issue:

Award Winning Teacher Training Program

Leads to Graduate Students’ Success

3

Recent Faculty Books & Edited Volumes 4

$3 Million in Grants 4

USF Sociology was Integral Part of 2017

SSSP Meeting

5

Other Recent Publications of Faculty &

Students

6

Undergraduate Student Success & Service 7

Alumni Corner 7

Supporting our Student Success Movement 7

Announcements Internships allow students to gain practical ex-

perience in an area where they acquired expertise

through their course work. Consumer Culture,

Disability and Society, Identity and Community,

Inequalities and Social Justice, Race and Ethnic

Relations, and Sociology of Education are feeder

courses for internships. For more information

please contact Dr. Mayberry.

If you are an alumnus/a, please email us at SOC-

Alumni@usf.edu to share your accomplishments.

A Word from the Chair

Whether you are a prospective or

current student, a faculty mem-

ber, an alumnus/a, or an outside

observer seeking to learn more

about USF Sociology, you’ll dis-

cover in reading this newsletter

that we are a community of schol-

ars dedicated to providing quality

education and professional devel-

opment, fostering our students’

success, and conducting basic and

applied research to share with

the University of South Florida, various local and national

constituencies, and the broader academic community. Thank

you for taking the time to learn about us.

If you would like to receive more information about our pro-

grams, please contact me at jcavendi@usf.edu or 813-974-

2633. If you’re an alumnus/a of either Sociology or ISS, please

email us at SOC-Alumni@usf.edu to let us know what you’ve

been up to or to share your professional accomplishments.

Finally, I invite you to please consider joining us for our Soci-

ology Expo and Biannual Banquet on Wednesday, April 11,

2018. Please reserve the date on your calendars and be on the

lookout for more details as the date approaches.

Cheers,

James Cavendish

Page 3

In 2016, the Department of Sociology’s Teacher

Training Program, co-founded by Dr. Maralee

Mayberry and Ms. Christina Partin, re-

ceived the Southern Sociological Society’s

(SSS) Distinguished Contributions to Teaching

Award. Just a few months later, Mayberry

and Partin were asked to showcase the pro-

gram in Seattle, WA, at the ASA’s Director of

Graduate Studies Pre-Conference Workshop

titled “Excellence in Graduate Student Teacher

Training: Practical Insights for Graduate Pro-

grams and Their Leaders.”

Although the program dates back to 2001, it

has evolved to provide M.A. and Ph.D. stu-

dents with the skills and experiences necessary

to bolster their applications to Ph.D. programs

and academic jobs across the country. The

program now includes a graduate-level Teach-

ing Sociology course, experience as a Teaching

Assistant with guidance from our faculty, op-

portunity to teach courses as the Instructor of

Record with guided mentorship from the de-

partment’s Director of Pedagogy, involvement

in mentorship as a Teaching Associate Mentor,

development of a holistic teaching portfolio and

statement of teaching philosophy, and the op-

portunity to engage with and develop the

scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) by

using their courses as sites to conduct research

on effective pedagogy and student learning.

The TA Training Program is part of our gradu-

ate curriculum and has shown some direct re-

sults in terms of the employability of our stu-

dents. Although our Ph.D. program is in its

infancy, during the 2016-2017 academic year,

five of our doctoral students gradu-

ated with their Ph.D., and three of

these received tenure-track job

offers. This brings the total num-

ber of our Ph.D. graduates with

tenure-track jobs to six, which is a

remarkable achievement.

Faezeh Bahreini is Assistant

Professor of Sociology at Brad-

ley University in Peoria, IL.

Elaina Behounek is Assistant

Professor of Sociology at Mercer

University in Macon, GA.

Maggie Cobb is Assistant Pro-

fessor of Sociology at the Uni-

versity of Tampa, Tampa, FL.

Jennifer Earles is Assistant Pro-

fessor of Sociology at Frostburg

State University in Frostburg, MD.

Mary Catherine Whitlock is As-

sistant Professor of Sociology at

Georgia Southwestern State Uni-

versity in Americus, GA.

Loren Wilbers is Assistant Profes-

sor of Sociology at University of

Wisconsin-Whitewater.

The Department acknowledges the

hard work of our graduate students

and all faculty who have made this

program successful, including the cur-

rent Graduate Director Dr. Sara

Crawley and Program Development

Coordinator Dr. Emelda Curry.

Drs. Crawley, Earles, Whitlock, Bahreini, Mehta, and Hordge-Freeman

USF doctoral student

Jasmón Bailey won

one of ASA’s prestig-

ious Minority Fellow-

ship Program (MFP)

Awards to assist his

dissertation writing

during the 2017-2018

academic year.

Jasmón is one of only

five scholars who com-

prise the new MFP

cohort.

(Continued from page 1)

Faculty, Graduate Students Gain National Spotlight

Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman receives SSSI’s Charles Cooley Book Award.

Award-Winning Teacher Training Program Leads

to Graduate Students’ Success on Job Market

SocioFeed Page 4

Recent Faculty Books & Edited Volumes

Collectively, our faculty have received close to $3

million dollars in grants over the last year.

Distinguished University Professor John

Skvoretz (along with his co-PIs) was awarded a

$1.7 million grant from the Defense Advanced

Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a 4-year

project titled “Modeling Information Diffusion

Processes with Deep Learning Algorithms” in

response to the Computational Simulation of

Online Social Behavior (SocialSim) BAA. Dr.

Skvoretz also received (along with his co-PIs

Jennifer E. Lewis and Luanna Prevost) a grant

from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a

project titled “Collaborative Research: Mapping

Change in Higher Education-Social Networks and

STEM Reforms,” $559,000.

Dr. Elizabeth Aranda (and her co-PIs Heide

Castañedo and Elizabeth Vaquera) were awarded

an NSF Sociology Program grant for their research

titled “Ontological Security in Uncertain Times:

Legal Status and the Social and Emotional Well-

Being of Undocumented Young Adults,” $330,000.

This research extends Dr. Aranda’s continuing

research on the plight of undocumented

immigrants, as seen in her recent co-authored

article “Emotional Challenges of Undocumented

Young Adults: Ontological Security, Emotional

Capital, and Well-being” (Social Problems).

Donileen Loseke pub-

lished the second edition

of Methodological Think-

ing: Basic Principles of

Research Design. Sage

Publications, 2016.

Elizabeth Hordge-

Freeman co-edited Race

and The Politics of

Knowledge Production:

Diaspora and Black Trans-

national Scholarship in the

United States and Brazil.

Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Cecil Greek co-edited

(with C. Picart and M. Ja-

cobsen) Framing Law and

Crime: An Interdiscipli-

nary Anthology. Fairleigh

Dickinson University

Press, 2016.

Shawn Bingham and

Sara Green published

Seriously Funny: Disa-

bility & the Paradoxical

Power of Humor. Lynn

Reinner Press, 2016.

Shawn Bingham co-

edited The Bohemian

South: Creating Coun-

tercultures, from Poe to

Punk. University of

North Carolina Press,

2017.

Sara Green co-edited

Sociology Looking at

Disability: What Did We

Know and When Did We

Know It? Emerald

Group Publishing, 2016.

Dr. David Jacobson was awarded a prestigious Fulbright

Fellowship to carry out his research “Advancing Our

Understanding of Instability and Resilience: Using Digital

Tools and Technologies to Elicit the Dynamics of Civil

Conflict.” This project entails using more informed

measures to analyze the underlying factors driving civil

conflict in select countries, with the aim of reducing civil

conflict and building more resilient communities.

$3 Million in Grants

(Continued on page 5)

Page 5

Dr. Maralee Mayberry is co-PI on

an NSF EAGER grant (with PI

Michelle Hughes Miller and co-PI

Chrystal Smith) for their project

titled “Collaborative Research:

Exploring the Effects of Academic

Climate and Social Networks on the

Persistence of Sexual and Gender

Minority STEM Undergraduates,”

$126,010.

Dr. Will Tyson continues his research,

funded by two NSF grants totaling $2

Qualitative Research,”

Dr. Kusenbach on

“Ethnography,” and Dr.

Loseke on “Narrative

Methodologies.”

With her specialties in

social constructionism

and narrative analysis,

Dr. Loseke decided to

organize the meeting

around the theme

“Narratives in the World

of Social Problems: Pow-

er, Resistance, and

Transformation.”

A key feature of the meet-

ing was a Critical Dia-

logue Session focused on

the rise and contribution

of social constructionism in the

study of social problems, featuring

leading figures Joel Best, James

Holstein, and Donileen. Loseke.

Several USF faculty and graduate

students presented papers or served

as panelists at the meeting, includ-

ing Dr, Elizabeth Aranda, Rebecca

Blackwell, Doug Engelman, Carley

Geiss, Alissa Klein, Melinda Maco-

ni, Dr. Maralee Mayberry, Girsea

Dr. Donileen Loseke, 2016-17 President of SSSP,

delivered her presidential address “Narrative and the

Politics of Meaning in a ‘Post-Fact’ World” at the an-

nual meeting of SSSP in Montreal in August, 2017.

million, on the educational and

career outcomes of high school,

college, and university students in

the STEM fields, particularly

among those in underrepresented

groups.

When Professor Donileen Loseke be-

came the 2016-2017 President of the Socie-

ty for the Study of Social Problems, she

enlisted the support of her colleagues and

students at USF to make SSSP’s 67th An-

nual Meeting in Montreal a success. She

enlisted Dr. Sara Crawley to serve as Co-

Chair of the 2017 Program Committee, and

they together with Dr. Maggie Kusen-

bach organized and

lead a day-long

workshop, spon-

sored by USF’s De-

partment of Sociolo-

gy, on “Qualitative

Research Practice”

at the beginning of

the meeting.

The workshop was

divided into two

sections, one deal-

ing with the episte-

mological and meth-

odological founda-

tions of qualitative

research, and the

other with practical

issues involved in

the research pro-

cess. Dr. Crawley

spoke on “The Epis-

temological Base of

Faculty Receive National Grants & Awards

Dr. John Skvoretz Dr. Elizabeth Aranda Dr. David Jacobson Dr. Maralee Mayberry Dr. Will Tyson

(Continued from page 4)

USF Sociology was Integral Part of 2017 SSSP Meeting

Martinez, Christina Partin, Dr. Erica

Toothman, Edlin Veras, and Melissa

Welch.

Panic in the U.S.,” which appeared in

Information Communication & Society.

Doctoral student Silpa Satheesh pub-

lished an article “Development as Re-

colonization: the Political Ecology of

the Endosulphan Disaster in Kasargod,

India” in the journal Critical Asian

Studies.

Doctoral student Rodrigo Serrao

published a book review in the Review

of Religious Research.

Doctoral student Melissa Welch pub-

lished a chapter “Back to the Future:

Irving K. Zola’s Contributions to the

Sociology of Disability” in Sociology

Looking at Disability: What Did We

Know and When Did We Know It?, Vol-

ume 9 of the Research in Social Science

and Disability book series (Green, S., &

Barnartt, S., Eds). Emerald Group

Publishing Limited. 2017.

Doctoral student Erik Withers pub-

lished an article “Whiteness and Cul-

ture” in the journal Sociology Compass.

Other Grants & Awards

Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman re-

ceived a Proposal Enhancement Grant

from USF Research & Innovation for

her research on Human Trafficking

and an Internal Pilot Project Grant

from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Drs. Laurel Graham and Jennifer

Friedman worked with Becky Zarger

(USF Anthropology) and the Tampa

Heights Junior Civic Association to

complete the community engaged re-

search for which they received a

$25,000 grant from the Aetna Founda-

tion. This project assesses food, gar-

dening, and entrepreneurship

knowledge and skills among youth.

Dr. Erica Toothman will receive a

USF 2017/18 Outstanding Undergrad-

uate Teaching Award in Nov., 2017.

Nine of our graduate students received

Travel Grants from either USF’s Office

of Graduate Studies or the Student

Government to present their research

at conferences.

Congratulations to the following faculty

and graduate students for their recent

scholarly contributions.

Dr. Elizabeth Aranda co-authored

“Puerto Rican Families in Central

Florida: Prejudice, Discrimination,

and Their Implications for Successful

Integration,” which appeared in Wom-

en, Gender, and Families of Color

In addition to their books (featured on

p. 4), Drs. Sara Green and Shawn

Bingham published a chapter “I could

have so easily been excluded: Explor-

ing narratives of inclusion and exclu-

sion in the lives of professional per-

formers with disabilities” in Scorgie,

K., & Sobsie, R. (Eds.) Working with

Families for Inclusive Education: Nav-

igating Identity, Opportunity and Be-

longing, International Perspectives on

Inclusive Education, Volume 10. Em-

erald Group Publishing Limited. 2017.

Dr. Sara Crawley had her article

“Heteronormativity made me lesbian:

Femme, butch and the production of

sexual embodiment projects” pub-

lished in the journal Sexualities.

In addition to her co-edited book

(featured on p. 4), Dr. Elizabeth

Hordge-Freeman co-authored an

article “Between Power and Marginali-

ty: Gaining Access and Navigating the

Field in Multiethnic Settings,” which

appeared in Qualitative Research.

Dr. Margarethe Kusenbach co-

edited (with Gaby Christmann) a spe-

cial issue of the International Journal

of Mass Emergencies and Disasters in

which she also has an article “It’s Not

Where I’d be Running Like an Idiot for

a Small One:” Hurricane Perceptions

and Evacuation Decision Making

Among Florida Mobile Home Resi-

dents.”

Dr. Donileen Loseke published two

articles -- “Seeing the Light: Qualita-

tive Research, Culture, and Cognition”

in Qualitative Sociology, and

“Symbolic Interaction and Narrative

Productions of Meaning in Public

Spaces” in Studies in Symbolic Inter-

action, an edited annual.

Dr. John Skvoretz and graduate

student Jasmon Bailey published

an article “‘Red, White, Yellow, Blue,

All Out but You’: Status Effects on

Team Formation, an Expectation

States Theory” in Social Psychology

Quarterly. Dr. Skvoretz also pub-

lished an article “All for one and one

for all: Theoretical models, sociologi-

cal theory, and mathematical sociolo-

gy” in The Journal of Mathematical

Sociology.

Dr. Erica Toothman co-authored

an article “Explaining Age Differ-

ences in Women’s Emotional Well-

being: The Role of Subjective Experi-

ences of Aging” in the Journal of

Women & Aging, which attracted

media coverage by both the Tampa

Bay Times and The Washington Post.

Dr. Will Tyson co-authored an arti-

cle “How Schools Structure Oppor-

tunity: The Role of Curriculum and

Placement in Math Attainment” that

was published in Research in Social

Stratification and Mobility.

Doctoral student Patrick Casey

published an article “Stigmatized

Identities: Too Muslim to Be Ameri-

can, Too American to Be Muslim” in

the journal Symbolic Interaction.

Doctoral student Justine Egner

published a chapter: “A Messy Tra-

jectory: From Medical Sociology to

Crip Theory” in Sociology Looking at

Disability: What Did We Know and

When Did We Know It?, Volume 9 of

the Research in Social Science and

Disability book series (Green, S., &

Barnartt, S., Eds). Emerald Group

Publishing Limited. 2017.

Doctoral student Hadi Khoshneviss

published an article “Accountability

in a State of Liminality: Iranian Stu-

dents’ Experiences in American Air-

ports” in the journal Mobilities.

Doctoral student Girsea Martinez

co-authored “#WakeUpAmerica,

#IllegalsAreCriminals: The Role of

the Cyber Public Sphere in the Per-

petuation of the Latino Cyber-Moral

Other Recent Publications of Faculty & Students

SocioFeed Page 6

Page 7

In 2016-17, the recipients of our Outstanding

Senior Awards in Sociology and ISS, respec-

tively, were Ricky Scheiber-Camaretty

and Kathryn Barkley. The recipients of

our Wallace Scholarships were: Victoria

Adesso, Tatyana Bazard, Flandra Ismaj-

li, and Denzal Williams.

Although many people promote the success of

our undergraduate students, key players are

our program directors, our academic advisors

Brandon Kroll and Shani Garza, and fac-

ulty who direct honors thesis projects. Last

year, Dr. Michael Kleiman directed eight

honors theses, and Dr. Chris Ponticelli

directed three, one of whom — Flandra Ismajli — won the LGBT Special Col-

lections Research Award to study safe spaces offered by gay retirement com-

munities, the results of which she presented in spring, 2017.

Undergraduate Student Success

Interested in Supporting our Student Success Movement?

You can support the Department of Sociology’s student scholarships, study abroad initiatives, faculty-led research

projects, and programmatic needs by making a donation to the USF Foundation targeted to one of these areas.

Simply visit http://sociology.usf.edu, click on “Make A Gift,” and select which fund you would like to

contribute to. You can also mail a check, made out to the USF Foundation with Fund #420066 in the memo line,

to the Office of Development, College of Arts and Sciences, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, CPR 107, Tampa, FL 33620.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Alumni Corner

Flandra Ismajli and Dr. Ponticelli

...and Service The Sociology/ISS Club, under the leadership of Club President Xamil Vega

and faculty advisor Dr. Jennifer Friedman, spearheaded a Food and Supply

Drive, to assist the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico during Septem-

ber and October. On Friday, October 27, the students gathered to help load

hundreds of items on trucks for shipment to Puerto Rico.

Newest Master’s Alumni/ae: During the

2016-2017 academic year, six of our MA

students graduated with their master’s

degrees — Diamond Briggs, Elizabeth Joy

Fuller, Olivia Johnson, Toria Kwan, Azka

Tanveer Mahmood, and Manuel Ramirez.

Doctoral alumna Dr. Maggie Cobb, Assis-

tant Professor at University of Tampa, re-

cently published in the Journal of Contem-

porary Ethnography.

An alumna of our MA program, Dr. Na-

talie Delia Deckard, Assistant Professor

at Davidson College, recently published

articles in Social Currents, Sociological

Quarterly, and Sociology Compass.

MA alumnus Dr. Marc Settembrino, As-

sistant Professor at Southeastern Louisi-

ana University, recently published an arti-

cle in IJMED and a co-authored article in

Teaching Sociology.

MA alumna Morgan Sanchez and Doctor-

al alumna Dr. Loren Wilbers each recent-

ly published a chapter in the edited volume

Sociology Looking at Disability.

An alumnus of our bachelor’s program in

Sociology, Austin Stevens, is now Director

of Video Engagement Strategy at

TruScribe: Science in Moving Messages, a

company that supplies new learning tech-

nologies to colleges and universities.

Sociology UG honors grad Brianna Vice

recently published an article with Sara

Green.

In April, 2017, an alumnus of our ISS pro-

gram, Joe Zuniga, a nationally recognized

singer and author, returned to campus for a

book signing of his book Debra Lafave- A

Crown of Beauty for Ashes, which is a story

about second chances. His newest song

titled “Familias Unidas” (United Families)

can be watched on Youtube.

4202 E. Fowler Ave., CPR 107

Tampa, FL 33620-6455

Phone: (813) 974-2893

Fax: (813) 974-6455

E-mail: SOC-Alumni@usf.edu

Sociology.usf.edu

Page 8

Help Us Celebrate our Success

Consider joining us for our Expo & Banquet on Wednesday, April 11, 2018