Annual Faculty Party

Marlese Durr

Dr. Marlese Durr recently returned to the Department after spending her sabbatical year as the Social Science Advisor for Bureau of International Organization Affairs at U.S Department of State in Washington, D.C. as part of the Franklin Fellows Program. Dr. Durr received training in Multilateral Diplomacy and worked on projects in the United Nations Educational Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a specialized Agency of the United Nations housed in the Department of State. Some of the projects Dr. Durr worked included:

1. Anti-Racism Announcement Bilateral Agreement between Brazil and the U.S.
2. Coalition of Cities Against Racism Program (Co-CAR) within the U.S. as a part of UNESCO
3. World Philosophy Day 2011
4. United Nations General Assembly Note on Sports
5. Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC)
6. Rutgers University UNESCO Category II Center

Additionally, Dr. Durr received A Superior Honor Award along with the members of IO/UNESCO for their work on the Palestinian membership bid at UNESCO (December 2011) and currently serves on the following sociology committees:

1. Board of Director Member, Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) 2011-2014
2. American Sociological Association Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) 12/11
3. Member of Gender & Society Publications Committee (2012-2014).

Julianne Weinzimmer

Dr. Julianne Weinzimmer has recently published a book entitled Homeland Conflict and Identity for Palestinian and Jewish Israeli Americans. The New Americans: Recent Immigration and American Society. In addition to this scholarly feat she has also co-authored an article published in Teaching Sociology entitled “Exploring the Benefits of Community-Based Research in a Sociology of Sexualities Course”. During spring of 2012 Dr. Weinzimmer also plans to offer a new course with an international focus and centers on conflicts related to gender and sexuality.

Anna Bellasari

Dr. Anna Bellasari has completed a manuscript for a module entitled The Obesity Epidemic in North America: Connecting Biology and Culture to Waveland Press. It is scheduled to appear in the spring of 2012. Members of her ATH352 (Primate Behavior) class, ATH241 (Introduction to Biological Anthropology) class, and Anthropology Club, are taking a field trip to the Columbus Zoo to study collections of gorilla, bonobo, orangutan, gibbon, and several monkey species on October 8 ( see pictures below).

Select photo for enlargement.

Jackie Bergdahl

Dr. Jackie Bergdahl served as Wright State University Faculty president for the academic year 2010-2011, noting "I learned a lot about governance in general during my two years involved in faculty governance (as Faculty President elect, then Faculty President)." Duties included converting the curriculum from quarters to semesters, finalizing the Faculty Constitution, creating an ad hoc committee of faculty to ensure faculty representation during the master planning process, working on the campus master plan, and working on the Quadrennial Review Committee. She is currently on full year's professional development leave. During this time she has submitted a manuscript to the Journal of Gambling Studies, focusing on the characteristics of students who gamble online. Additionally, she is working on about Teaching and Food for submission to the journal Food, Culture and Society, as well as an article that looks at the impact of social class on driving. Findings from the latter article will be presented at 2012 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meeting. Dr. Bergdahl also plans to create an introduction to sociology and a social problems course using food as the basis as well as creating upper division sociology of food course.

Karen Lahm

Dr. Karen Lahm recently became the director of the Applied Behavioral Sciences Master's Program, and is working diligently on semester conversion, developing new courses for the program, and trying to recruit new students into the program. She recently received a Professional Development Grant to survey women inmates at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. This survey examined inmate's life behind bars, as well as, inmate program participation, inmate behavior, and inmate victimization. Additionally, she presented a paper at the 2011 Midwest Criminal Justice Association Conference which examined women inmates and victimization behind bars.

Laurel Monnig

Dr. Laurel Monnig attended the American Anthropological Association in November of 2011. At this conference, she participated in an invited session on a panel entitled, “Between Integration and Resistance: Militarization in the Pacific.” She presented her work on the cultural and environmental impact of US militarization/colonialism on the indigenous Chamorros of Guam. The panel was honored to have as their discussant the Former US Congressional Representative for Guam, Dr. Robert Underwood, who is now the President of the University of Guam. Additionally, she is also working on an article for publication about how “the Chamorro family” is instrumental in establishing notions of authenticity in defining who is and who is not Chamorro. These indigenous notions of group membership are used to oppose those imposed, US colonial notions of who is “authentically” Chamorro based on racial ideology.

La Fleur F. Small

Dr. La Fleur Small has just published two book chapters. The first is entitled “Impact of Socio-Medical Factors on the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS among Specific Subpopulations.” In Social and Psychological Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Their Ramification, Dr. Gobopamang Letamo (Ed.). The second is entitled “Global Health: Disease Burden and Health Sector Reform in Ghana.” In Voices in Medical Sociology: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives, Dr. Cynthia Cook (Ed.). In addition to these publications she is completing work on her very first book focusing on vulnerability and healthcare utilization. She will present research on the healthcare vulnerabilities of older adults at the 2012 Southern Sociological Society Meetings. She will be on sabbatical during the 2012-2013 academic year, and during this time plans to complete evaluation research on the Center for Healthy Community’s Kinship Navigation Program. This will be the third year Dr. Small will serve as a sociology panels reviewer for the Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral and Post-doctoral Fellowship awards.

Christopher Dudas

Christopher Dudas recently declared a major in Sociology. Having returned to academia after a seven year hiatus, the warm and intellectually stimulating environment of this department has provided a wonderful new disciplinary home for him. As an alumna of Miami University’s Philosophy program, he was initially drawn to Sociology and the opportunity to explore its relation to contemporary European philosophy. Through various departmental members’ gentle prodding, his enthusiasm has been partially rerouted into testing theories rather than merely elaborating upon them. To further this newfound passion, he has begun applying to as many graduate schools as possible and took the newly refurbished GRE. Chris is pursuing a PhD sociology with emphasis on medical sociology and theory.

Honors Sociology/Anthropology Projects

Anthony, Michelle
2010 The Timber Ridge Site, 33GR1098

Bruce-Kelsey, Mara
2010 Skeletal Analysis of Human Remains from the Timber Ridge Site, 33GR1098.

Collins, Linda
2010 The Owens Rockshelter No. 3 Site, 33GR670-3.

Dees, Stephen
2012 HIV/AIDS among youth: International Comparisons between Latin America and the USA

Hummel, Rebecca
2010 An Artifact Analysis of the Sandy Run Site, 33WA100.

Moore, Katelin
2011 Women, Work and Economics.