Graduate Student News
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Department Awards and Fellowships:
Muna Adem, Denise Ambriz, Callie Cleckner, and Vitor Dias received the inaugural Sheldon Stryker Graduate Research Grant.
Elizabeth Bodamer received the Social Action Award.
Nolan Greenup, Patrick Kaminski, Dongeun Shin, and Kara Snawder received the Schuessler Scholarship for Study at ICPSR.
Nolan Greenup received the Clifford C. Clogg Scholarship to attend ICPSR.
Anne Groggel received the Edwin H. Sutherland Teaching Award.
Jelani Ince received an Advanced Departmental Fellowship for Fall 2018 and a Professional Development Grant for Spring 2018. He also received the Gerald D. Suttles Fellowship in Doctoral Ethnographic Research.
Peter Lista received the Atherton-Bean Fellowship.
William McConnell and Landon Schnabel received the Lindesmith-Mullins Fellowship.
WIlliam McConnell received the Schuessler Award for Graduate Student Research.
Jacob Miller received the Stewart Family Teaching Fellowship. Roshan Pandian received an Advanced Departmental Fellowship.
Clay Thomas received the Graduate Student Mentor Award and the Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship.
Other Honors and Awards
Muna Adem and Denise Ambriz received the GPSG Research Award
Muna Adem, Denise Ambriz, and Jelani Ince received the CRRES Graduate Student Research Grant.
Kayla Allison, Vitor Dias, and Adam Nicholson received the GPSG Travel Award
Kayla Allison received the Anna L. Homquist Fellowship through the College, and the 2017 Robert F. Borkenstein Graduate Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in the Department of Criminal Justice.
Zoe Caplan received an IU Grant-In-Aid.
Emma Cohen was accepted to the NAEP Doctoral Internship at American Institutes for Research for Summer 2018.
Patrick Kaminski received the NRT Fellowship.
Helge Marahrens received the Clifford C. Clogg Scholarship to study at ICPSR and the Alpha Kappa Delta travel award. William McConnell attended the Duke Social Networks & Health workshop as a fellow.
Roshan Pandian’s paper “Does Manufacturing Matter for Economic Growth in the Era of Globalization?” received the Terence K. Hopkins Student Paper Award from the ASA Section on Political Econ of World Systems. He also received third place in the 2018 NCSA Graduate Student Paper Competition for “World Society Integration and Gender Attitudes in Cross-National Context.”
Annie Russian received the NCAA Graduate Student Research Grant.
Landon Schnabel’s paper “Opiate of the Masses? Social Inequality, Religion, and Politics” received the Student Paper Award from the Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Section of the American Sociological Association. He also received the Robert J. McNamara Paper Award from the Association for the Sociology of Religion, as well as the Distinguished Article Award, Honorable Mention from the Religion Section of the American Sociological Association for “The Gender Pray Gap: Wage Labor and the Religiosity of High-Earning Women and Men.” His paper “Secularism and Fertility Worldwide” received the Student Paper Award, Honorable Mention from the Religion Section of the American Sociological Association. He also received the IU COAS Dissertation Completion Fellowship.
Eric Sevell received the Lieber Memorial Teaching Award. Nicholas Smith received the RWJF Health Policy Research Scholars Program award.
Jackie Tabor was the paper competition winner at NCSA for “Mom, Dad, or Somewhere In Between: Ambiguities Facing Children of Transgender Parents.”
Sean Vina participated in the Rand Summer Associate Program.
Eric Sevell received the 2018 Lieber Memorial Teaching Associate Award, which recognizes outstanding teaching by graduate students.
Eric joined the doctoral program in the Department of Sociology in 2011. He completed the rigorous Preparing Future Faculty sequence in our department, and served as the Preparing Future Faculty Fellow in 2016- 17. To date, he has taught three different courses for the department, including our first online offering of Criminology. In recognition of his contributions to teaching, Eric received the 2017 Glen D. and Dorothy E. Stewart Scholarship.
In her nomination letter, Jennifer Lee, Director of Graduate Studies, emphasized the strong connection Eric has with his students; “His class emphasizes the relevance of Sociology to their lives, so he works to really understand their lives, and does so successfully.” Eric’s students agree. She continues, “I have heard from several undergraduate students that Eric was one of their favorite instructors. And in fact, a former student named Eric as her favorite professor when she was interviewed for an IU Walter Center for Career Achievement Alumni Spotlight.”
The letters students provided in support of Eric’s nomination confirm the high regard in which he is held. One offered, “Eric hooked the attention of various students about the lecture hall with his charisma and excitement for his subject. From there the spark took flame.” This student continued, Eric’s understanding of various students’ backgrounds was essential in navigating tepid waters when it came to some issues. With the criminology class exhibiting great diversity, it is easy to see how problems could have arisen between students as students with more experienced opinions on a subject would debate with a purely theoretical side to an argument, but Eric’s manner and care developed a sense of diplomacy in the class room essential to explore various opinions further without class breaking into open rebellion.
Jane McLeod, Department chair, notes, “In reading the letters from Eric’s undergraduate students, I was struck by how many of them mentioned that, beyond being an extraordinary instructor, Eric became a valued mentor and role model.” One former student commented, Some of my fondest memories of my college experience were formed in the office hours when he let me ramble about my future, my goals and what I was passionate about. He helped me chart my course and believe that I could actually achieve what I set my mind to. During this time I was contemplating the task of accelerating my academic program and Eric naturally and willingness turned into a mentor during the process. We met for coffee, we talked after class; he’s someone I look up to. To me, he makes to cool to be smart and studying about the type of stuff that you’re interested in.
Eric introduces unique ways of bridging theory with real-world situations in his courses. For example, he uses Bloomington’s graffiti scene to discuss the political struggle in the art/vandalism distinction and to discuss graffiti from the perspective of those who consider themselves artists. Students then document and analyze graffiti using a variety of methods, including Google Earth’s “Street View” maps. He uses comic books to illustrate Merton’s concept of innovation as a response to anomie, with reference to the exclusion of young Jewish artists from mainstream publications following the Great Depression, and the adoption of comic book character nicknames by contemporary rappers as a response to their own social exclusion and otherness.
Because of his fresh and engaging approach to teaching, students consistently give Eric’s courses high ratings and describe him as passionate, empathetic, and diplomatic. We are fortunate and proud to have Eric as an instructor in our department, and celebrate this well-deserved honor with him!
The College of Arts