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Winter 2026
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- Alum Rose Lavelle named 2025 Female Player of the Year by U.S. Soccer
- Chancellor Mnookin announces departure
- The ARTs of staffing
- Allison Daminger asks, What's On Her Mind?
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- Jane Ahn selected as TA fellow
- Day of the Badger April 14-15
- Disability Resource Center named for Sociology alum
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Decency. Excellence. Diversity.
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Alum Rose Lavelle named 2025 Female Player of the Year by U.S. Soccer
Rose's accomplishments include a FIFA Women's World Championship in 2019 and an Olympic gold medal in 2024. She's a star midfielder on Gotham FC, and she's been on the U.S. Women's National Team for the past decade. Even though she started the 2025 season recovering from an ankle surgery, Rose went on to score game-winning goals.
We would like to believe a background in sociology may have contributed to Rose's success on the field. Perhaps sociology classes helped her to think in terms of systems and structures, contributing to her strategic analysis. Or possibly concepts like conflict theory and social cohesion might have helped her think about soccer differently and act accordingly. She obviously has extraordinary talent and resilience, for which we can't take all of the credit, but we can't help but think that Rose's background in sociology has helped her get to where she is now: one of the most talented soccer players in the country!
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Chancellor Mnookin announces departure
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At the end of the academic year, Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin will depart the University of Wisconsin–Madison to serve as president of Columbia University in New York City.
Mnookin, a nationally noted evidence scholar, has served as chancellor of UW–Madison since Aug. 4, 2022. Before coming to Madison, she was dean of the University of California, Los Angeles Law School.
During her leadership tenure, the university has risen in important national rankings, improved student outcomes, achieved record fundraising success and helped make a UW–Madison education affordable and accessible for more Wisconsin students.
“It has been a true honor to be a part of the Wisconsin family. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, even in a challenging period for higher education, and I know great possibilities lie ahead for the UW–Madison campus community,” says Mnookin. Read more here.
Jay Rothman, president of the Universities of Wisconsin, has announced that Dr. Eric Wilcots will serve as interim chancellor.
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The ARTs of staffing
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Our department's staffing structure looks quite different after a move from the College of Letters & Science to centralize staffing into Administrative Regional Teams, or ARTs, which break down subject area silos. Staff are an essential part of our department as they perform the processes that enable teaching and research at a large institution.
Naomi Conn has joined Sociology, CDE, and CDHA as an expert on communications and outreach. She comes to us from the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, where she worked after serving in the United States Air Force. Kim Gonzalez has expanded her duties to cover payroll as well as human resources tasks, a massive undertaking. Leigh Stangl, Justin Ostrem, and Daniel Kinney form our financial team, ensuring that funds from many different sources flow to the right places at the appropriate times in order to keep things running smoothly. Our student workers, Cash Haas and Youngjoon Moon, are indispensable when it comes to the dozens of details that require attention on a day-to-day basis. All of our staff have done an incredible job of tackling major changes head on in order to ensure the success of the department.
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Allison Daminger asks, What's On Her Mind?
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Allison Daminger spoke at the Wisconsin Book Festival on a panel about her book, What's On Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life. The panel, called "Worth More: Gender Roles In The Home and Their Cost and Value," featured History professor Emily Callaci and former Gender and Women's Studies professor Pernille Ipsen.
Allison's book What’s on Her Mind provides an illuminating look at the cognitive labor that families depend on and reveals why this essential aspect of family life is disproportionately handled by women—even in couples that aspire to practice equality.
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Jane Ahn selected as TA fellow
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Grad student Jane Ahn has been selected as a Writing-Across-the-Curriculum TA Fellow for her work as a Communication-B instructor, mentoring over 120 new communication assistants in courses from various disciplines across campus.
Her breakout session, “Reverse Outlining: Using Section to Scaffold Writing Skills,” provided participants with a valuable tool to help students improve their writing by breaking down a reading.
In evaluations, many participants identified her session as the “most useful” session of the six that were offered.
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Day of the Badger on April 14-15
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The party to pay it forward will return this April 14-15! Get ready to join us in celebrating Day of the Badger by sharing your favorite memories from UW Sociology and advocating in support of the department.
We are also uplifting the Andrea Michelle Sperka Scholarship, which was created in memory of a dedicated Sociology student who tragically lost her life just after finishing her last semester abroad. Andrea managed a demanding academic schedule and dedicated time to giving back to her community. This scholarship honors her legacy by supporting Sociology majors who are similarly dedicated and generous to their education and their community.
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Disability Resource Center named for Sociology alum
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The McBurney Disability Resource Center is UW-Madison’s resource for ensuring equal access to education for all of our students through academic and classroom accommodations. The center is named and founded in memory of Floyd “Mike” McBurney, who graduated with a degree in Sociology from UW-Madison in 1960.
Mike faced an uncertain future in a time with many physical and social barriers for people with severe physical disabilities. Yet, he wasn't deterred from achieving his goals; in 1963, along with James Graaskamp, he successfully lobbied for state legislation to require public buildings to be accessible to everyone in the state of Wisconsin. Read more here.
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This newsletter was created by Erin Skarivoda, Naomi Conn, and Tina Hunter.
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