What Do You Want to Know About Sociology Departments or Programs?

This year, the ASA Research Department will be conducting a new survey of sociology departments and programs. We are asking departments for their input as we begin drafting the 2012 questionnaire. What would you like to see addressed in the new survey? What are the issues that your department or program are currently facing? What information does the Dean want to know?

Please post your comments.

Technology and Faculty Networks

The latest findings from our longitudinal study of the diffusion of innovation in and adoption of cutting-edge teaching materials by teaching and learning networks are now available in the Powerpoint presentation, The Effects of Technology on the Growth of a Teaching and Learning Network. These findings were presented last month at the 2011 Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) PI Meeting in Pentagon City.

(photo credits: EERA_ECER)

The ASA Research Department is Now on Facebook

The ASA Research Department has a Facebook page! Give us your thumbs up to receive updates about new publications, meetings, funding opportunities, and other happenings in the department. Also, if your department or organization has a Facebook page, please let us know.

Improvements in the Academic Job Market

Moving Towards Change: Findings from the 2010 Job Bank Survey is now available on our website. In it, we discuss what happened to the jobs available to newly minted PhDs that were advertised through the ASA in 2010. This year, we also compare specializations requested by employers to the academic interests of our student membership, as indicated on membership forms. Have a read and feel free to post your comments here. We are always interested to hear what you may be interested to learn from these surveys in the future.

The Job Market in Sociology: Findings and Upcoming Surveys

Our annual research brief on sociology and social science faculty salaries, “Falling Behind: Sociology and Other Social Science Faculty Salaries, AY 2010-2011“, is now available on our website. Data from the National Faculty Salary, conducted annually by the College & University Professional Association of Human Resources (CUPA-HR), shows that not only did social science faculty salaries fail to outpace inflation between academic years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, but that salary increases in recent years have become incrementally smaller. Not surprisingly, raises were larger at private institutions for most social science disciplines (economics is the exception).

In other job market-related research, we are preparing to go into the field with this year’s follow-up to the annual ASA Job Bank Survey. In addition to an audit of all jobs advertised in the Job Bank and regional society listservs in 2010, we will be surveying departments to determine the status of assistant and open rank faculty positions advertised during this period. Findings from this study will be available later this summer. Last year’s findings can be found in “Still a Down Market: Findings from the 2009/2010 Job Bank Survey.”

Sociology PhDs and Non-Academic Careers

Roberta Spalter-Roth and Nicole Van Vooren recently wrote a Footnotes article on sociology PhDs employed in non-academic positions. (See “Should New PhDs Consider Non-Academic Careers?”). Given that last year’s Job Bank Survey showed that junior sociologists faced a difficult job market, the article asks if there any signs of movement within the sociological community to encourage new sociology PhDs to consider and pursue professional sociological careers in research, practice, or policy outside of the academy?

This year, we will be conducting a new survey of non-academic PhDs, the planning of which will include a focus group here in DC this spring to discuss what issues and questions should be in the subsequent questionnaire. ASA members are also encouraged to send suggestions to research@asanet.org.

Resources for Crimes Research

Author Ron Arons recently published Wanted! U.S. Criminal Records Sources & Research Methodology, a renference guide targeted for genealogists, criminologists, sociologists, historians, and even true crime writers searching for prison records, criminal court documents, parole records, pardon records, execution information, investigative files, and more. The book also contains examples of documents you can find in repositories and a primer on how to conduct genealogical research on criminals. For more information or to purchase this text, visit the author’s website at www.ronarons.com.

Are you teaching or planning to teach a Graduate-Level Grant Writing Course?

Our colleague, Melissa Hotlzman, an associate professor of sociology at Ball State University, is preparing a Master’s-level grant-writing course for the Spring semester and is interested in hearing from those who presently teach (or will be teaching) similar courses.

You may contact Dr. Hotlzman directly at mkholtzman@bsu.edu.

Launching Majors Into Satisfying Careers: New Faculty Manual and Student Dataset Available

LAUNCHING MAJORS INTO SATISFYING CAREERS: A FACULTY MANUAL WITH A STUDENT DATA SET. The contents of this manual and the attached CD provide sociology faculty members and their departments with a variety of easy-to-access resources, such as powerpoints, letters to parents of majors, sample resumes, and a codebook based on the American Sociological Association’s longitudinal Bachelor’s and Beyond study.  It also provides curriculum ideas including data analysis suggestions, career links, and examples of alumni surveys. The purpose is to help students prepare for and navigate a difficult job market.  These resources and curriculum ideas should increase the likelihood that they will find satisfying careers using their sociological knowledge and skills, without sacrificing the theoretical and conceptual core of sociology.  In addition, the manual is designed to provide suggestions to departments to help them position themselves within their universities, including an assessment guide, given the increasing pressures on departments to assess student success both inside the academy and in students’ post-baccalaureate lives.

EARLY BIRD PRICE: $15.00 for members and $ 23.00 for non-members.

Click here to view a sample of the manual.

Order your copy online from the ASA Bookstore.

NOTE: The included CD-Rom contains all information that is available in the hard-copy manual in addition to the datasets, which are avaialble in both SPSS and STATA formats.

Sociologists and Social Networking

Not to be confused with social network analysis (although we are now undertaking that as well), but the American Sociological Association has set up shop on Twitter and Facebook. (You can also track ASA Twitter posts on this blog on the panel on the right of the screen. These will be maintained by our press department.) Be sure to check them out, subscribe to the feeds, and join the group!