Interviews start in late January – the Student Interview Project provides hands on research oppor-tunities for students each year and helps the University learn about issues affecting our students.

Dr. Elaine McDuff, Associate Professor of Sociology, has been awarded a sabbatical for the 2012-13 academic year in order to initiate a new research project exploring emerging patterns associated with the feminization of migration in southern Africa. The project is expected to provide some student research opportunities and to enrich many of the courses Dr. McDuff teaches.

Truman Sociology/Anthropology and History major, Rudy Cesaretti, presented a poster at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting in Montreal, Canada last week. The poster focuses on visual interpretation of yearbook photos from the decades surrounding school consolidation in Schuyler and Putnam counties. This research supplements significant qualitative field work (TruScholars project summer 2011) and quantitative analysis Rudy is doing to learn more about the changing role of schools in community identity formation in rural northeast Missouri. He travelled to the AAA meeting with Dr. Amber Johnson, who also presented a paper on “Using Binford’s Frames of Reference to Model Mobility” in a session focused on both ethnographic and archaeological studies of mobility at multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Students for Social Change is concentrating our annual Social Justice week on disability awareness this week (October 31-November 3rd). We will be holding various events to facilitate a greater understanding of disabilities in America as well as abroad. Our aim is to bring together individuals and issues to allow students and faculty to explore disability with the hopes of normalizing disabilities. We will provide a chance for students to interact with disabilities through seeing the issue through a global and local lens with the goal of offering the chance for all of us to gain a fraction of insight into issues that surround it with the intention of being able to better understand disability as well as ourselves.

SOAN Majors Angela Page and Kiera Hulsey were sworn in this morning by Judge Steele to volunteer as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) interns this year

A group of six Sociology/Anthropology majors and one Communications major created a documentary in the Fall of 2008 of the logic of the career of Lewis Binford for their capstone project.  Dr. Binford has had a global impact in anthropological archeology.  “The Binford Project: Logic of a Life’s Work”  DVD  is 80 minutes long and available. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to support student initiated projects in the Department of Society and Environment.

Congratulations to Zak Palmer for winning the Missouri Sociological Association poster competition (and $50) with a poster of his research on “The Relationship Between Race and Racial Attitudes as Measured by Trait-Assignment in the Sims 3”.

Find many exciting events from this past academic year in this Fall’s 2011 Newsletter.  From in the classroom– to outside the classroom and alumni– many activities and experiences are shared throughout.

Department Seminar this Friday, September 30th from 12:30-1:30pm in Barnett Hall, Rm 2226 Dr. Mielke, English will briefly discuss who Sun Ra is — and show a few clips from Youtube to convey the visual spectacle of an Arkestra concert.

The Department of Society & Environment will host our annual End of Year Picnic in Red Barn Park (Anthropology Lab in BT 2222 is the Rain Location) on Wednesday, May 4 [Reading Day] from 4ish-6ish.

The Department will provide stuff for sandwiches & drinks – you’re welcome to bring a dish to share or just come & bring a friend.

• Take a study break
• Say goodbye to graduating seniors
• Share summer plans
• Visit with friends & faculty before summer