Research Director, Roberta Spalter-Roth, will be hosting the early-morning chairs breakfast at the Southern Sociological Society’s Annual Meeting on Friday, March 23. There, we will be discussing one of our major upcoming projects — the 2012 Department Survey — and asking chairs for their input about issues their departments are currently facing, and how these could be addressed in the new survey.
Even if you will not be attending these meetings, we would still like to hear from your department. Post your comments and tell us what about the issues most important to your department. What is it that you would you like to see addressed in the 2012 Department Survey?
The American Sociological Association hosts a breakfast meeting during the sociological regional meetings for all interested department chairs to come together and discuss the major issues they currently face within their departments and how the ASA can provide support. Most recently, department chairs met at the Eastern Sociological Society’s annual meeting in Philadelphia for a lively discussion about the challenges in their departments. These are summarized below.
Assessment seems to be less of a problem this year. Have department’s made peace with the additional requirements?
Recruiting diverse faculty is still an ongoing issue. What are some of the successful strategies employed by other departments?
Recruitment of majors is also a critical concern. Some departments are facing the risk of being closed, primarily due to the small number of sociology majors. Sociology classes, however, remain in high demand for fulfilling general education requirements. What strategies have been successful in increasing the number of majors to avoid losing the department?
How do these challenges compare with your department? What others issues facing your department are not mentioned here?
When posting comments to this blog discussion, please note that all blog comments are publicly visible. Do not include your name if you wish to remain anonymous.
The Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline(FAD) is supported by the American Sociological Association through a matching grant from the National Science Foundation. The goal of the program is to nurture the development of scientific knowledge by funding small, groundbreaking research initiatives and other important scientific research activities such as conferences. FAD awards provide scholars with “seed money” for innovative research that has the potential for challenging the discipline, stimulating new lines of research, and creating new networks of scientific collaboration. The award is intended to provide opportunities for substantive and methodological breakthroughs, broaden the dissemination of scientific knowledge, and provide leverage for acquisition of additional research funds.
Interested applicants must apply online. Annual deadlines are June 15 and December 15.Visit the ASA website to learn more. We will also be hosting FAD workshop at the 2011 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas (see below).
The ASA is transitioning from print-based teaching resource materials to a digital library. The Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology (TRAILS) launches Spring, 2010.
In the last year, the staff of sociologists at the American Sociological Association have been working on several National Science Foundation-funded research projects that involve social network analysis. These projects explore (1) diffusion of innovation in digital libraries; (2) product, diffusion, and use of STEM teaching materials; and (3) mentoring, networks, and under-represented minorities in the science pipeline.
Earlier this month, the Center for Advanced Research and Communication (ARC) hosted the principal investigator’s meeting for projects awarded grants for research and evaluation on education in science and engineering (REESE). At the poster session, presented early Phase I findings from our study exploring the relationship between teaching and learning networks and the diffusion of innovation in digital libraries. This is of particular interest to the ASA as we move from paper-based teaching resource materials to a digital library (debuting in 2010).
Our colleague, Mary Senter of the University of Central Michigan, has been working with us in our longitudinal study of sociology baccalaureates from the class of 2005. As part of a workshop on the findings from the this survey presented at the Eastern Sociological Society’s 2009 annual meeting, Dr. Senter discusses the curricular, departmental and pedagogic implications of the findings. You can also find Research Director Roberta Spalter-Roth’s presentation from this workshop previously posted in this blog.
Click here to learn more about the study and view the research briefs.
Feel free to post your comments and questions by clicking Add Comment at the end of this post. Please do not include your name if you wish to remain anonymous when commenting.
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