We had exciting developments this year, some of which are featured in this newsletter. Our department has again offered a variety of courses in Macomb, at WIU-QC, and online. In these courses, our professors and instructors have kept our students very up-to-date with current developments in Sociology and Anthropology. And while doing this, they made it a point to show during class, numerous thought provoking videos, documentaries, and films, along with assigning our students to complete intriguing exercises, reviews, papers, and research projects. As well, our department recently had highly positive program reviews of our: two undergraduate majors (Sociology; Anthropology); graduate major in Sociology. Furthermore, in current assessment reports, student learning in these three majors and in our General Education classes—was similarly found to be very favorable as a whole. To sum up, our department is indeed a great place to study Sociology and Anthropology as a major or minor and for general interest as elective courses. Please contact me Dr. John F. Wozniak, jf-wozniak@wiu.edu if you would like to have more specific information or have questions about any of our programs of

study.

Dr. Oswald S. Warner “Roots and Routes: The Global African Diaspora in Trinidad”

During his sabbatical, Dr. Warner focused on researching the significance of geographical mobility as a historical dimension of identity formation of peoples of the Global African diaspora. Furthermore, his research is to demonstrate how, for the New World African descent communities, migration and the phenomenon we call “circulatoriness” are more associated with the “Global African Personality” or social identity formation. Trinidad is not necessarily unique in comparison to other island societies of the Caribbean in this respect. In many ways it is very representative of other people and places. However, it can be seen as one model within the Caribbean to assess the nature of demographic restructuring over time and at important historical moments up to the present.

Dr. Andrea Alveshere Received Summer Stipend

This past summer Dr. Alveshere was in the field locating sites for research projects to study the effect of different decomposition rates on skeletal remains. Her students are currently working at the Taphonomic Research Site and able to have the opportunity to do full environmental assessments. Eventually they will be working with the School of Agriculture so that when an animal that dies, she will transport it to one site so they can watch (with trail cameras) how the wildlife interacts with the remains, and the decomposition process. Bones will then be collected to see what kinds of markings have been produced in the process. This is very relevant to forensic anthropology and to the archaeological interpretation of skeletal remains.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Dr. John F. Wozniak

WESTERN SOCIETY The Official Newsletter of the Sociology and Anthropology

Department Fall 2015

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Congratulations Alpha Kappa Delta Inductees

FACULTY RESEARCH

Dr. Tawnya Adkins Covert is working on the final chapters of a coauthored book on Political Socialization with Philo Wasburn, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Purdue University - titled Making Citizens: Political Socialization Research and Beyond

Dr. Andrea Alveshere currently has several students doing research projects on samples and data collected from our new Taphonomic Research Sites (see Faculty Spotlight on page 1).For more information see: http://www.wiu.edu/cas/chemistry/faculty/alveshere/taphonomic_research.php

Dr. Patrick McGinty helped a community development organization win money for a USDA summer food program and then spent the summer serving free breakfast and lunch to children throughout southwestern Fulton County.

Dr. John F. Wozniak will present a paper at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, titled "Environmental Racism as Criminal Conduct: Implications for Peacemaking and Green Criminology” in Washington DC on November 2015.

Congratulations Scholarship Recipients

Zachary M. Young received the Harriet Stull Award Shaquita Fuller received the Kara Leigh Broughton

Memorial Scholarship Abby Beck received the Dr. Kenneth and Prof. Chris

Adamski-Mietus Sociological Masters Scholarship for Graduate Studies Shyan Edwards won 1st Place

Podium Presentation at the 2nd Annual Graduate Research Day Conference

STUDENT RECOGNITION

Congratulations

Inductees include Alex J. Breckenridge, Matthew Devine, Shyan Edwards, Shaquita J. Fuller, Andrea Jones, Megan N. Rosenak, Evan Swanson, Nathaniel Thompson, Lexis Thurman, and Monserrat Zepada.

Summer Abroad Opportunity "Stories of India" is a two-week class that will focus on the role of food in the exile Tibetan community located in the Himalayan city of Dharamsala. This Tibetan enclave in northern India has been the home of the Dalai Lama in since his exile from Tibet in 1959. Students will explore what it means to be an exile forced to live in a culture that is not your own. Eating our way through India, we will explore the role of food in retaining cultural identity.

In addition to time spent in Dharamsala, we will also explore the old city in New Dehli, and visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the Lotus Temple. All students are welcome! The course is available for undergraduate and graduate credit - ANTH 379/679 (3 credit hrs).

Scholarships are also available. See Dr. Heather McIlivaine-Newsad in 408 Morgan Hall or email her at h-mcilvaine-newsad@wiu.edu if you are interested in finding out more about this course. This is the third time Dr. Heather McIlvaine-Newsad and Dr. Sarah Haynes will be leading a study abroad together.

Noteworthy The Integrated Baccalaureate and Master of Arts Degree Program (IBMP) in Sociology provides an opportunity for outstanding undergraduate Sociology majors to complete both Bachelor and Master of Arts (BA and MA) degrees in five years. Typically, the baccalaureate degree requires four years to complete and a master’s degree requires an additional minimum of two years. The goals of the program are to teach students discipline specific history, theory, and methods as well as to develop critical thinking and technical skills in utilizing the sociological perspective for understanding the social world and affecting positive change.

Alumni Spotlight My name is Jeff Hamer, Lieutenant with the Macomb (IL) Police Department. I stumbled into my sociology major after I enrolled in a few sociology courses to fulfill catalog requirements. As I progressed through college, I took more sociology courses until my advisor suggested picking it up as a major. I believe my sociology education has helped my career in that I have a firm understanding of people, their motivation, how society is structured, as well as an appreciation for people and their experiences. In policing, these skills help me connect, communicate, and impact the lives of victims, witnesses, and suspects.

APPLIED SOCIOLOGY

Abby Beck will be working this fall on collecting data for her thesis titled “Using the Board Game “The Last Straw: The Social Determinants of Health” as a Pedagogical Method in the Sociology Classroom.” The game involves teams, that construct a profile by rolling the die to determine social statuses such as gender, race, and socioeconomic status of their team character. Teams are allocated a certain amount of vitality chips depending on their different social statuses. Events happen as each team rolls the die. Abby looks forward to examining students' perceptions of the game, and whether or not they think the game helped them to better understand sociological concepts. Contact Abby via email at as-beck@wiu.edu to find out more.

Students in Dr. Lora Ebert Wallace's health-related classes often participate in service- learning volunteerism as their class project. This semester, some students in Sociology of Mental Health (SOC 424G) are volunteering with Macomb Parks Special Recreation. These students assist with recreational classes and activities for those living with mental health diagnoses (go to http://www.mcsra.com for more information).

Next semester (S2016), students enrolled in Sociology of Health & Illness (SOC 365) will have the option of volunteering with the WIU Disability Resource Center's Celebrating Disability Culture Day. Contact Dr. Ebert Wallace at le-wallace2@wiu.edu for more information.

Students in the Sociology of Aging (405G) class are involved in a service-learning project at two local nursing homes. After viewing the documentary “Alive Inside” which shows how Alzheimer’s patients become isolated, students recognized that even those elderly who did not have the disease but were living in nursing homes could feel detached. In the film, after being given IPods loaded with music meaningful to each patient, there was a dramatic improvement in their lives. The documentary inspired the students to adapt the general idea to help improve the social well-being of residents. Feeling cut off is associated with a reduced quality of life. While physical interaction is preferred, it is not always possible; therefore they used music to help create a connection. They are still in the midst of the project but are excited to see the outcome. More information can be found by contacting Prof. Chris Adamski at CA-Adamski@wiu.edu

Interested in learning more about the Sociology and Anthropology department?

Contact 309-298-1056

Who Who Would Have Guessed?

Faculty were asked, “If you were not an academician, what would you be?” To be fair, some were asked for their dream job, others were asked what job they would be doing, which might account for the fantasy versus predictable answers. But who knows? Can you match the faculty member with his or her answer?

1. John F. Wozniak a. Pop star or D.J.

2. Lora Wallace b. Car Mechanic, Carpenter

3. Oswald Warner c. Supreme Court Justice or Broadway Musicals

4. Beate Wilson d. Travel & Food Writer or Yoga Instructor

5. Craig Tollini e. Album and Concert Reviewer for the Rolling Stone

6. Diane Sandage f. Window Dresser for Macy’s

7. Heather McIlvaine-Newsad g. Own a Multi-purpose Venue Coffee Shop

8. Elgin Mannion h. Accountant

9. Robert Hironimus-Wendt i. Park Ranger

10. Gordon Chang j. Cooking, Gardening or Woodworking Career

11.Davison Bideshi k. Animal Trainer

12. Pat Anderson l. Farmer

13. Alyssa Anderson m. F.B.I. Agent

14. Andrea Alveshire n. Travel Writer

15. Tawnya Adkins Covert o. Documentarian

16. Chris Adamski p. Civil Rights Lawyer

Check out the bulletin board near the main office MG 404 for the answers or email CA-Adamski@wiu.edu to find out who said what.

Editorial Staff: Beate Wilson Chris Adamski John F. Wozniak

I chose Sociology as my major because I have always been interested in the way people behave and interact with one another: how symbols are created and used, how people understand what they understand, and essentially what makes a person who they are. Psychology was nice, but I was looking for something more--its all well and good if you can find out someone has poor self esteem because of their relationship with their mother, but what does any of that mean? What does it mean to be a mother? What does the parent-child relationship look like, and why? Those questions can only be answered by Sociology. McKenzie Price Graduate Student I choose sociology as my major because I wanted to gain a better insight on how society operated so I can figure out how I can change the systems in which individuals are oppressed. Kenesha Green Undergraduate Student

…and some closing thoughts from our students… The Western Anthropology and Sociology Club (WASC) sponsors activities throughout the academic year. WASC members are undergraduate Sociology and Anthropology students who work with department faculty and graduate students to plan events such as inviting guest speakers for campus programs; hosting career workshops (on job and internship searches, résumé-writing, etc.), social events like food, film, and music nights; and organizing other activities relevant to the fields of Sociology and Anthropology. For more information, please contact the WASC Faculty Advisors: Dr. Andrea Alveshere (Anthropology) a-alveshere@wiu.edu or Prof. Beate Wilson (Sociology) bi-wilson1@wiu.edu