Rutgers-Camden 
Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice

Spring 2004 Newsletter

Sixth-Annual Undergraduate Research Poster Session Coming Up on April 30th
Register Now!

 
Co-sponsored with the Psychology Department, our department’s annualUndergraduate Research Poster Session will be held 12:15-1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 30th. If you have research you have done either this semester or last fall that would lend itself to a visual presentation, please consider presenting your work. In some classes, extra credit may be earned this way, but in any case it’s a great thing to be able to put on your resume. Further details are available at the poster session webpage, where you can also sign up to make a poster presentation. Please do so no later than Friday, April 23rd. All majors and minors, whether or not they are presenting, are invited to attend this end-of-the-semester event. Click below to see pictures from previous years’ events.
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Fall 2004 Preregistration News and Advice
Read this before you register!

Preregistration for the Fall Semester begins April 7th. All students are strongly encouraged to see a departmental advisor in planning their fall schedule. Here are a few Fall 2004 preregistration tips (click here for the combined departmental spring schedule):
 The Online Syllabi web page at the departmental web site contains links to more than forty course web sites in the department, and offers a great way to explore course offerings for the Spring Semester. 
 All Sociology and CJ majors should take Methods and Techniques of Social Research (920:301) in the Fall semester if they have not already taken it. 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 is offered only in the fallIf you expect to graduate in Spring 2005, you must take Sociological Theory in the fall if you haven’t already completed it.
 It is generally a good idea to focus on required courses first, leaving electives until later. Sociology majors should take Introduction to Cultural Anthropology as early along as possible. 

 Co-sponsored with the Psychology Department, Sociology’s Service Learning course on “Bridging the Digital Divide in Camden” will continue to combine a Wednesday late afternoon seminar with 5-6 hours of fieldwork at Camden community centers and schools. 
 The Summer School schedule for courses in Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice is available online.
 Some of your questions about advising may be answered at our department’s Advising FAQs web page

Kelly Gerber
Criminal Justice
 

Masterton Award Recipients Announced

Named after the founder and first chair of our department, theGeorge Masterton Award is awarded each year for outstanding academic achievement and participation in the life of the department. This year the award is being given to Kelly Gerber (Criminal Justice) and Kristi Napoleon (Sociology). Congratulations and best wishes to both!

Kristi Napoleon
Sociology

Prof. Humphries

Professor Humphries Receives Award, Recognition

At the November meetings of the American Society of Criminology, Dr. Drew Humphries received the Outstanding Scholar of the Year Award, given by the Division of Women and Crime. According to the award committee, Dr. Humphries’ book, Crack Mothers, “epitomizes her dedication to ameliorating the plight of women, especially those who suffer from sources of multiple jeopardy, viz., racial/ethnic discrimination, poverty, drug abuse and racist criminal justice sanctioning policies.” In addition, Humphries’ research was cited for its contributions to issues important to women: drug use/abuse and pregnancy, domestic violence, sexual assault, and abortion. In March 2004 Dr. Humphries was profiled in SJ Magazine’s section on “Power Women of SJ: Women Who Wow!”

Criminal Justice Delegation Tours South Africa & Namibia

Dr. Jon’a Meyer again led a group of Rutgers-Camden criminal justice students, along with several honorary members of the delegation, on a tour of criminal justice institutions and facilities in South Africa and Namibia in March over spring break. Click here for a detailed trip description.

Faculty Pursue Pedagogical Innovation with Teaching Grant

If you know what the “gizmos” are on the left, chances are that you’re taking either Jon’a Meyer’s Theories of Crime and Delinquency or Monika Wood’s Sociology of Aging course. Both instructors are experimenting with a wireless student response system from e-instruction. The response pads enable instant feedback to the instructor that is then represented in graphical form, viewable by all. This and several other innovations are being supported by a teaching grant from the Office of the Vice-President for Undergraduate Education. Other components of the grant involve the creation of new online streaming tutorials by Profs. Wood and Meyer (check out the Online Tutorials and Videos web page at the department web site for the latest additions); and several new uses of WebCT by Prof. Goertzel, including the electronic submission and immediate grading of MicroCase exercises in his Methods and Techniques of Social Research course. These innovations were shared with 25 other faculty and staff at a workshop on April 2, 2004.

Can You Believe What You Read?
Exercising Critical Literacy on Cooper Street

According to a sign that recently appeared on campus, the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice will be moving to our new building at 405-7 Cooper street this summer. But as our students know, you can’t always believe what you read! Progress on combining and rehabilitating the two buildings has been slow, and some of us are admittedly skeptical. But sometime in 2004 we are likely to relocate to our new quarters, which will include such amenities for students as a lounge, computer lab, and seminar room. Stay tuned…

 

 

 

Click on the Footnotes image to access the ASA story on our department

Department Web site Gets Facelift, Further Development

In case you haven’t noticed, our department web site has a new look and a slightly-modified navigation structure that makes moving around easier. The web site continues to be regularly updated and expanded.

If you’re a sociology or criminal justice major and are not already familiar with it, you should check out our department’s Web-Enhanced Curriculum site, which offers a variety of resources to support student work in courses across the department’s curriculumThe departmental web site is organized around its Departmental Homepageand its Web-Enhanced Curriculum Homepage, as outlined below. If you have Windows Media Player 9 (available on all campus lab computers), you may watch and listen to a“screen movie” tour of the web site (you’ll need to bring your own headphones if you use the lab). Several methods and MicroCase-related tutorials have been added to the Online Research Tutorials and Videos web page, along with a streaming video by Dr. Coe on“Turning an Event into Field notes: A Ghanaian Example.” The Department’s Web-Enhanced Curriculum was an important factor in its receipt of the university’s Programmatic Excellence Award this year. Check it out! It’s there for you to use! Comments and suggestions welcome.

Departmental Homepage

Online Syllabi & Course Web sites
Masters Program in Criminal Justice
Current Newsletter
Faculty 
Major Requirements
Minor Requirements
Course Schedule 
Departmental Mailing List
Masterton Award
Advising FAQs 
Poster Session Album
Faculty Resources

Web-Enhanced Curriculum Homepage
Online Syllabi & Course Web sites
Masters Program in Criminal Justice
Current Newsletter

Plagiarism Policy and Guidelines
Citation Guidelines
Table and Graph Format 
Library Resources Online 
MicroCase Resources
Online Research Tutorials and Videos
Virtual Tours
Recommended Web sites
Writing in the Discipline
Student Research Opportunities
Streaming Audio and Video Project 

Dept. E-Mailings: Periodic department mailings about events and departmental news are sent to all sociology and criminal justice majors. To receive them, be sure that you have declared sociology or cj as your major and be sure that the email address you wish to use is registered at the Rutgers student directory. The list is more fully described at the department’s E-Mailing List web page

MicroCase Tutors Needed for Fall Semester

MicroCase tutor/graders are needed for several courses in the fall. Independent study credit may be earned for doing this. Interested students should have completed the Methods and Techniques course with at least a B. Contact Dr. Wood if you would like further details.

Several data analysis and MicroCase streaming tutorials have been added to theMicroCase Resources web page.

October 30, 2004 . Contact Robert Wood with comments or questions.