Fall 2001 Newsletter

Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice

FALL 2001 NEWSLETTER

Preregistration for Spring 2002 Begins October 29th

The Spring 2002 schedule includes several courses not regularly offered. Visiting Prof. Sheryl Van Horne will introduce courses in Victimology and Drug Policy, and will offer again her Criminal Justice Planning course. Dr. Kathleen Asbury will be teaching Sexuality and Society, and Dr. Alexander Christensen will offer Physical Anthropology. Monika Wood will again offer her Sociology of Work and Careers course, which combines analysis of the changing nature of work with collaboration with the Career Center to help students plan their careers and develop important job-related skills. This is a particularly valuable course for graduating seniors. 
Dr. Augustine Isamah returns to teach Peoples and Cultures of Africa and Sociology of the Family, and Patrick McCarty will again offer Psychological Anthropology. John Weathers will continue to teach two sections of Sociology of Education, a required course in the Teacher Preparation Program.

An unusually-full summer schedule is planned for 2002. The tentative schedule may be accessed by clicking here. 

Teaching Excellence Center Director Dr. Nancy Omaha Boy will offer a Spring course in North American Indians and then a Study Tour on the Art and Culture of Northwest Indians in May. Students taking both the course and the study tour may write a combined paper for both. These pictures were taken byDr. Omaha Boy on the tour in 2000. Contact her directly for further information. 

Service Learning Course Serving Camden
Communities Enters Third Semester

The Department’s Service Learning course, offered jointly with the Psychology Department, will enter its third semester in the spring. The course, led by Anne Harkins, Technology Coordinator at the Molina School, focuses on “Bridging the Digital Divide in Camden” and meets each Wednesday afternoon as a seminar, with each student performing approximately five hours of service work at schools or community centers in the city. Service Learning offers a chance to contribute to the Camden community while at the same time acquiring valuable knowledge and skills. 

Is There Something About South Jersey?

With assistance from recent sociology graduate Jason Leonardis, Professor Ted Goertzel has created an online presentation called “There’s Something About South Jersey.” The presentation presents findings from a survey of South Jersey residents as well as a broader discussion of visions and options. It includes data on what people like and don’t like about South Jersey, and presents a set of “controversial theses” intended to stimulate thought and discussion. The presentation may be accessed at https://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/sj.htm. Check it out!

Free Book Table

Camden Campaign for Children’s Literacy Kicks Off Literacy Drive

Sponsored by Center for Children and Childhood Studies, whose director is Anthropology Professor Myra Bluebond-Langner, the Campaign for Children’s Literacy held a highly-successful kick-off event on Saturday, September 15th. Former Rutgers-Camden Sociology major and MSW Angela Connor played a major role in organizing the event. In addition to performances by Queen Nur and Sister Mafalda and the Kuumba Performers, over 1800 books were given to children from over 400 Camden families.
 Click here to see a short streaming video of the festivities. The Center has received major grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation to support the literacy initiative. Among the Center’s various activities, a Childhood Studies minor was instituted in the fall semester. The Center offers various internship possibilities for interested students. 

Afghanistan in Retrospect

With Afghanistan so much on everyone’s mind but so little understood, Sociology Chair and Professor Robert Wood has dusted off some old slides he took when he spent several weeks there when he was a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. The result is Afghanistan in 1973: Memories and Pictures in Retrospect, a website providing a brief historical context and pictures of the country at the time. Dr. Wood emphasizes the importance of understanding that themujaheddin rebellion emerged originally in response to efforts by a series of left-wing governments in the later 1970s to bring land reform and expanded rights to women in the countryside. Unfortunately the heavy-handed approach of these regimes provoked widespread uprisings, and it was in these circumstances that the beleagured government made the fateful and disastrous decision to invite in Soviet troops. U.S. support of the mujaheddin in this Cold War context paved the way for the ultimate victory of the Taliban and the continuing tragedy that has engulfed the country.

Web-Enhanced Curriculum Continues to Expand

The department continues to develop the wide variety of resources available at its website, and has plans for a substantial further expansion in the spring semester. The website is organized around its Departmental Homepage and its Web-Enhanced Curriculum Homepage. Here’s a list of what’s currently available:

Students are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the policies and resources at this site. 

Plan to Join the Fourth Annual Poster Session in April 2002
Show Off Your Research and Get a Free Lunch!

Are you engaged in research this semester as part of a course or an independent study? Plan to present it at the annual Undergraduate Research Poster Session, co-sponsored with the Psychology Department in April 2002. It looks good on your resume and it’s great fun as well. So save your work and think about how to present it visually. Further details will be forthcoming, but interested students may check with Prof. Wood in the meantime. Last year’s Poster Session attracted over 100 presenters and guests. Photos taken by Prof. Goertzel at the event last year may be seen at https://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/postersession2001.htm. Note: Students wishing to do independent research for credit during the spring semester should be formulating their projects and lining up faculty advisors now. For research involving human subjects, IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval must be sought ahead of time. 

MicroCase Tutors Needed for Spring Semester

Drs. Wood and Meyer are looking for student assistants to provide MicroCase tutoring to students in various courses, grading of exercises, updating of the MicroCase Resources webpage and assistance in developing online MicroCase tutorials as part of the department’s web-enhanced curriculum. Interested students (who must have completed Dr. Goertzel’s Methods and Techniques of Social Research course) should contact Dr. Wood or Dr. Meyer. Dr. Goertzel is also looking for an assistant for his Methods and Techniques of Social Research class. Up to three credits of independent study may be earned; there is also the possibility of work-study or other payment in lieu of credit. 

All students are strongly encouraged to subscribe to the Department’s E-Mailing List. By subscribing to this list, students will receive timely information about pre-registration, developments in the department, recommended lectures and events, etc. All majors and minors in sociology, anthropology and criminal justice are strongly encouraged to subscribe. Just go to https://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/curriculum/list.htm and follow the simple instructions.