Fall 2006 Newsletter

Peter Pan in Changing Camden

Chairperson Jane Siegel

In This Issue
(click below)
New Dept. Chair
Preregistration
Meloy Book
Mexico Study Tour
CJ Internship
Bluebond-Langner 
Agritourism
Johnson Park
Degree Navigator 
Website

Professor Siegel Takes Over As Department Chair in January

After six and one-half years in office, Professor Robert Wood is stepping down as department Chair at the end of this semester. He will be succeeded by Professor Jane Siegel, who will be returning from a research leave devoted to finishing her much-anticipated book on the children and families of incarcerated mothers, Disrupted Childhoods: Children of Women in Prison, to be published by Rutgers University Press in its Childhood Studies book series.

Professor Siegel joined the Rutgers faculty in 2000. She holds a Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Drew University. She has published numerous articles on the long-term consequences of sexual abuse and on sexual victimization. She teaches a broad array of courses in the undergraduate and graduate criminal justice programs.

Professor Wood feels that the high point of his tenure as chairperson was the department’s receipt in 2003 of the Rutgers University Programmatic Excellence Award in Undergraduate Education, which recognized the department’s collective effort to expand its program, build a skills-based curriculum making effective use of instructional technology, and develop a web-enhanced curriculum through innovative online resources. Dr. Wood looks forward to a year-long sabbatical in the 2007-8 academic year to work on a book on globalization and travel.

Dr. Humphries To Direct CJ During Dr. Meyer’s Spring 07 Leave

Dr. Meyer will be on research leave during the Spring 2007 semester. During that time Dr. Humphries will be Acting Director of the Criminal Justice Program.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring 2007 Preregistration Starts Nov. 6th 
Read this before you register!

Preregistration for the Spring 2007 Semester begins November 6th. All students are strongly encouraged to see a departmental advisor in planning their schedule. Sociology majors may see any sociology or anthropology faculty members they choose, or be assigned an advisor by the department secretary, Sherry Pisacano. Criminal Justice uses an advisor pool system; click here for current advising hours.

Please note that there will be no print schedule distributed. You will have to rely on the online schedule. The department would like to get your feedback about this change. Dr. Wood encourages students to email him after they register to let him know how they found this new system.

New Options for Majors:
Introduction to Latin American Studies (590:210) now fulfills the multicultural requirement for the criminal justice major. When taught by Professor Goertzel, the course can also serve as an elective for the sociology major (get Prof. Goertzel or Wood to initial your sociology major worksheet). Dr. Goertzel will be teaching the course the spring of 2007.
Newly-offered Spring 2007 courses include: a new anthropology special topics course on Immigration and Families by Prof. Coe; a new sociology special topics course by Prof. Hazzard-Donald entitled “The Red and the Black: African Americans and American Indians in the North American Environment;” andPunishment and Sentencing, taught by Sherri Goldberg.

Winterim Courses New and Old
In Anthropology, Prof. McCarty offers his North American Indians course.
In Criminal Justice, Prof. Meloy is teaching again her popular Social Justice in Film course, while Prof. Murphy will offer a course on Criminal Investigations.
In Sociology, Prof. Wood is offering a new course on the Sociology and Art of Travel for both experienced and would-be travelers. Students planning to take Rutgers international studies tours are particularly encouraged to take this course. Prof. Asbury will be offering Contemporary Social Problems.

Internship/Service Learning Opportunities:
Internships and service learning placements provide valuable practical experience and often serve to connect students with potential employers.
Criminal Justice Internship (see article below)
Service Learning Internship in Health Literacy and Cultural Competency for Camden’s Healthcare Providers, offered as a three-credit independent study either in sociology (Dr. Wood) or psychology (Dr. Whitlow). Students will work as part of a larger team of social work and health professionals and will participate in focus groups with Camden families as consumers of the health systems in Camden; the development of health education materials; health education seminars for Camden families and health literacy assessments. Students will be responsible for meeting with their assigned clinical team on a bi-weekly basis. Training and coordination will be provided by Angela Connor, Senior Program Director, Center for Children and Childhood Studies. Interested students should email or call Ms. Connor at (856) 225-6739 to set up an appointment to discuss the internship and to make the necessary credit arrangements.
CONTACT Community Helplines offers helpline training and volunteer opportunities that can be eligible for internship credit. See Prof. Wood for details.
In addition, the Career Center runs a College of Arts and Sciences Internship Seminar with placement each semester.

Quick Access to Course Information:

Winterim Courses  Anthro CJ Soc	Spring 2007 Dept. Courses (combined)	Tentative Summer 2007 Schedule
	Two Year Schedule

Pre-Registration Reminders: 
All Sociology and CJ majors should take Methods and Techniques of Social Research (920:301) as soon as possible. This course is a prerequisite for a number of upper-level courses, and knowledge of MicroCase and the basics of data analysis are increasingly expected in all upper-level courses. Note: the methods course also fulfills the second math requirement in the CCAS curriculum.
Sociological Theory, required for all sociology majors, is only offered in the fall. Because Dr. Wood will on leave in 2007-8, an evening version of the course will be taught in fall 2007 by Prof. Patrick McCarty. Students expecting to graduate in May 2007 who have not yet taken the course should plan to take Prof. McCarty’s course in the fall.
Dr. Goertzel’s spring 2007 Communication class (920.341) counts both as a sociology elective and as a “writing intensive” course in the college curriculum. 
Selected Urban Studies courses can count as one elective in the sociology major. Check the sociology major webpage for details. 
Many of your questions about advising may be answered by consulting our department’s Sociology Advising Page and our Criminal Justice Advising Page.

 

Professor Meloy Publishes Book on Sex Offenders

Professor Michelle Meloy’s book, Sex Offenses and the Men Who Commit Them: An Assessment of Sex Offenders on Probation, was recently published by the Northeastern University Press. Based on interviews with more than 150 convicted male sex offenders, Dr. Meloy focuses on the catalysts, stigmas, and effective deterrence of sexual violence. Rejecting the commonly held belief that sex offending is solely the result of offender psychopathology, Meloy demonstrates how certain methods of police or community surveillance undermine the ability of sex offender probationers to effectively reestablish themselves as citizens, and she proposes an empirically based public policy response to sex offending.

Profs. Goertzel and Meyer to Lead Study Tours to Mexico

Professor Ted. Goertzel, in conjunction with Prof. Jon’a Meyer, will be leading a study tour to Mexico over the spring break in 2007. The study tour will provide an introduction to the pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico and to modern artists who have incorporated Mexican history and culture in their work. The week will be divided between Mexico City and Guanajuato. In Mexico City students will visit the Anthropology Museum, Diego Rivera’s murals, the Frida Kahlo Museum, the Templo Mayor and the Museum of the City. Day trips will be made to the floating gardens at Xochimilco and to the archeological site at San Juan Teotihuacan. In Guanajuato students will visit the Diego Rivera museum, with side trips to San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hidalgo. Several credit options are available, one linked to Dr. Goertzel’s spring Introduction to Latin American Studies course. Further details are available at the study tour website. Dr. Meyer will lead a criminal justice study tour that will share the same basic itinerary, but which will include visits to various criminal justice institutions.

CJ Internships Available for Spring

The criminal justice internship is designed to provide advanced criminal justice undergraduates with applied criminal justice experience, something that employers increasingly expect. Interns observe experienced professionals making decisions in a variety of settings and, when appropriate, participate in the work of the agency. In the process, interns gain perspectives on career goals, professional objectives, law and graduate school opportunities and experience an environment where they can apply the knowledge developed in criminal justice courses to the realities of justice related agencies. Class attendance and course work are also required.

Placements options include: State level probation and parole departments; Federal Pre-trial Services; Federal Public Defender’s Office, Investigations Division; Camden County Family Court; Camden County Prosecutor’s Office; Camden Country Public Defender’s Office; Center for Family Services, and Youth Residential Facility, among others. Interested students should meet with Dr. Meloy upon the commencement of spring registration to discuss eligibility, placement options, and internship initiation.

 

 

South Jersey Agricultural Tourism Study by Prof. Wood 
Culminates in Day-Long Rutgers Farm Tour

Supported by a Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs fellowship, Professor Robert Wood spent the past year exploring the potential of visits to farms, farmers’ markets, and agricultural fairs to make farming in the “Garden State” economically viable. New Jersey has been losing about 10,000 acres of farmland to commercial and residential development each year, and two years ago the state’s Secretary of Agriculture convened an advisory Agritourism Council, which Prof. Wood was asked to join, to promote agricultural tourism as one of a variety of tools to help keep farmers in business. Dr. Wood’s study, Farmland Preservation and Agritourism in South Jersey: An Exploratory Study, is available online. In June, Dr. Wood led a tour of 15 Rutgers faculty, staff, students and family members (including our department’s youngest “member,” Morgan Meloy) to two South Jersey farms that have pioneered in the development of agritourism. The tour group toured the dairy operation at Creamy Acres Farm and then learned about the educational outreach program at Duffield’s Farm. Further tour photos…

Renovation of Johnson Park Nears Completion; Website Explores its Place in Camden’s Social History

Rutgers students walking past the Walt Whitman Center along Cooper Street between 2nd and 3rd may not have realized that the building was part of one of Camden’s most famous and liveliest parks. Thanks to grants from the Camden Economic Recovery Board and the state’s Green Acres program, the park has been completely renovated, with Rutgers-Camden providing the project management. Sociology adjunct ProfessorMonika Wood has created a website for Rutgers-Camden that explores the creation of the park by Eldridge Johnson, the founder of RCA and its place in Camden’s history. The website includes reminiscences of Camden residents about the park, as well as extensive photographs documenting its rich architectural and historical legacy. Across the street in back of the famous statue of Peter Pan, an old RCA building awaits conversion into condominiums. It’s a great place to reflect on Camden’s past and future.