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Fall 2023
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- Fall Picnic Kicks Off Semester
- Wisconsin Idea Course Returns
- New Book about Refugees and Race in Brazil
- Welcome, New Faculty!
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- ASA Awards Abound
- Grad Students Get It Done
- UW Homecoming 2023
- Fill the Hill
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Decency. Excellence. Diversity.
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Grad students John Canfield and Leila Moustafa at the Fall Picnic.
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Fall Picnic Kicks Off Semester
A new semester has begun, and the energy on campus is as electric and exciting as it always is this time of year. Students have returned to campus, and they're adjusting to new courses, new living quarters, and a new academic year in Madison. Our staff and faculty have been preparing for the students' return, and we hope they feel as welcome as Bucky at Camp Randall.
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Staff members Alice Justice, Toni Schulze, and Adrienne Pagac at the Fall Picnic.
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Every year, the Sociology Department hosts a fall picnic for everyone to meet and mingle with new and returning grad students, faculty, and staff. This year's gathering was very well attended, and the sense of community and fellowship was stronger than ever.
The start of the semester brings other traditions, too. Eric Grodsky and Jenna Nobles led the department's annual sociocultural bike tour around Madison. Participants rode their bikes (or the city's electric bikes) to various spots around Madison and learned about the city's varied neighborhoods and rich history. The tour was originally started by the late Erik Olin Wright.
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Wisconsin Idea Course Returns
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The Wisconsin Idea Course returns! This semester, the public lecture series is back in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Harry Brighouse is leading the course, and we have an excellent line-up of speakers planned.
This lecture series is free and open to the public. All are welcome and encouraged to attend!
Lectures are on Tuesdays at 6:00pm in room 2340 in the George L. Mosse Humanities Building. The full schedule of the speakers and more information about their lectures can be found online.
The Wisconsin Idea is a call to action, imploring the University to translate their research and instruction into positive material change for all citizens in Wisconsin--and in the world beyond.
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New Book about Refugees and Race in Brazil
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Katherine Jensen's new book, "The Color of Asylum: The Racial Politics of Safe Haven in Brazil" has been published by the University of Chicago Press. The book follows asylum seekers as they navigate the refugee regime—from how they arrive in Brazil, through the steps of applying for asylum and seeking assistance, to their lives after refugee status. She focuses on two of the largest and most successful groups of asylum seekers: Syrian and Congolese refugees. While the groups obtain asylum status in Brazil at roughly equivalent rates, their journey to that status could not be more different.
Madison bookstore Room of One's Own held a reading and conversation about the book, hosted by Sara McKinnon, Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture in the Department of Communication Arts.
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Welcome, New Faculty!
Nicholas Mark joins us as an Assistant Professor. His research uses demographic and causal inference methods to study inequality in the US, with an emphasis on understanding the causal mechanisms linking racism and social conditions to disparities in outcomes.
Tamkinat Rauf, an Anna Julia Cooper postdoctoral fellow in 2023-24 who will then be an Assistant Professor, researches how inequalities in well-being are influenced by macrosocial factors and generated in proximate contexts via the interplay of biological and social processes.
Michaela Simmons will join as an Anna Julia Cooper postdoctoral fellow in the 2023-24 academic year and then as an Assistant Professor starting in Fall 2024. Her research addresses the enduring consequences of racial inequality in the American welfare state.
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ASA Awards Abound
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The American Sociological Association (ASA) hosts the largest sociology conference of the year, and the following people won awards:
Wendy Li’s paper, "Regulatory Capture's Third Face of Power," in Socio-Economic Review has won the Graduate Student Paper Awards from the ASA Political Sociology section and the ASA Organizations, Occupations, and Work section.
Jessica Calarco’s book, Qualitative Literacy, won the book award from the ASA Methodology section.
Max Besbris’s article, "The Unequal Availability of Rental Housing Information Across Neighborhoods," was awarded an Honorable Mention for Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship in Population from the ASA Sociology Population Section.
Chiara Packard’s paper, “Prosecution for Services: How Access to Services through the Criminal Legal System Shapes Prosecutors’ Decisions,” won an Honorable Mention for the Distinguished Student Paper Award in the ASA Crime, Law, and Deviance section.
Youbin Kang’s paper, "The Meritocracy Habitus and the Classificatory Politics of Skill at the Seoul Metro,” won an Honorable Mention from the ASA Labor & Labor Movements section.
Taylor Laemmli’s paper, “Class Experience Mobility through Consumption, Work, and Relationships,” received an Honorable Mention for the Graduate Student Paper Award from the ASA Sociology of Consumers and Consumption section.
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Grad Students Get It Done
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Our graduate students are ambitious scholars. They play a critical role in undergraduate instruction as TAs and lecturers for most of our courses. Grad students also contribute to scientific research led by our faculty. All in all, grad students shape the future of the discipline and the department.
We have an exceptionally large cohort of 28 new grad students joining, and more than half of them are from countries outside of the US. These new grad students are energetic, generous, intelligent, and creative individuals who will learn, teach, conduct research, and help our department thrive.
Helping our graduate students helps our entire department to thrive.
Several scholarships have been established over the years to support our graduate students. These funds pave the way for students to share their research at critically important conferences, complete fieldwork, and collect data instrumental to their success.
Attending just one conference can cost over $1,000, and the experience of presenting research, attending other presentations, and networking with other sociologists is priceless.
If you're looking for a way to support the Department of Sociology, one of the best ways to do that is to support our amazing grad students. One way to start? Give to our Fill the Hill campaign, which is raising money to help grad students.
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UW Homecoming 2023
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This year, UW Homecoming will be October 2-7, with events to join whether you can attend in person or online. From the parade and football game to an online scavenger hunt and multicultural events, #UWHC has something for everyone.
Plus, Homecoming's happening during the UW's 175th anniversary celebration! The UW is hosting campus events and touring the state to celebrate UW's world-changing impact on the past, present, and future.
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Fill the Hill
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Pink plastic lawn flamingos will return to Bascom Hill on October 5, in memory of an iconic student prank. When you give $350 or more, we’ll send you one commemorative plastic lawn flamingo of your own — plus a bonus surprise!
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This newsletter was created by Erin Skarivoda, Tina Hunter, and Eric Grodsky.
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