The College of Education and the Sociology Department hosted a campus visit by Dr. Felice Levine on Friday, April 24th for faculty and students from various departments accress the campus. Her talk was titled, "Connecting Professional Associations to the Professoriate and the Next Generation of Scholars-Lessons Learned from ASA and AERA."

Felice Levine has served as Executive Director of the American Educational Research Association since 2002 and previously was Executive Officer of the American Sociological Asociation (1991-2002). She received her A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago in sociology and psychology. Her research specialties include children and youth and the dynamics underlying their social development. She also has done considerable work on research and science policy issues, academic and scientific professions, and the thics of research.

Dr. Levine's talk highlighted how profesional associations and faculty in the academy can work together to further the agendas of their disciplines. Levine spoke of the benefits of supporting established and new interdisciplinary studies. She also stressed the need to increase mentoring programs for students to make the transition from an undergraduate level to a graduate level and beyond more successful.

Scott Fitzgerald was honored last week at the Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting with the MSS Distinguished Book Award for 2009. Judges for the award agreed that  Fitzgerald had "produced a timely and cogent analysis of the plight of the middle class" with his book, co-authored with kevin Leicht, Postindustrial Peasants: The illusion of Middle-Class Prosperity (2006 Worth Publishers.)

They added, "In the tradition of C. Wright Mills, [he clarifies] the relationship between personal troubles and a range of interconnected contemporary social problems ranging from the credit crunch to layoffs to declining benefits."

The Society sponsors this award in order to recognize the outstanding contributions to sociological research, theory, and policy analysis produced each year by its members in the form of books.

Amy Wilkins from the University of Colorado Boulder was also honored this year for her book, Wannabees, Goths, and Christians: The Boundaries of Sex, Style, and Status (2008 University of Chicago Press.)

The Department of Sociology and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are underwriting a series, The Way We Live on UNC Charlotte cable Channel 22. The series consists of 22 segments and provides an introduction to sociology that is keyed to some of the major textbooks used in Introductory Sociology courses. The series airs on Monday through Thursday evenings this semester at 8:30 p.m. Tune in and be sure not to miss the exciting promo spot about our department!