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Welcome Assistant Professor Jennifer Karas Montez

Fall 2015 | Volume 9, Issue 1 D E P A R T M E N T N E W S L E T T E R

Sociology Department

Inside this issue:

Incoming PhD Students 2

Faculty News 4

Faculty Publications 4

ASA Presentations 5

SSSP Presentations 6

Alumni Presentations 7

Additional News 8

Jennifer Montez joined the Sociology Department in August. She has her Ph.D. in

Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. She was born and raised in Greenwood,

Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. Before coming to SU Jennifer was an Assistant Professor

of Sociology at Case Western Reserve University. Before that she was a Robert Wood

Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar at Harvard University.

Jennifer’s research examines why certain groups of people (e.g., college-educated

adults), as well as people in certain geographic areas (e.g., the Dakotas) within the United

States, live longer and healthier lives than others and why these inequalities have grown in

recent decades. Her other research and teaching interests are social demography; gendered

structural determinants of health; life course and aging inequalities in health at the

intersection of gender, education, and geography; trends and spatial patterns in U.S.

mortality; early-life origins of later-life health; women’s health.

Jennifer is a Faculty Affiliate in both the Aging Studies Institute and the Center for

Policy Research. Her office is in 314 Lyman Hall, [email protected].

This fall she is teaching SOC 513, Statistics for Social Science and in the spring she

will teach SOC 101, Introduction to Sociology & SOC 714, Intermediate Social Statistics.

WELCOME JENNIFER!

mailto:[email protected]

Jacob Bartholomew

Syracuse , NY

BA, Sociology

Syracuse University

MS, CFE

Syracuse University

P a g e 2

Welcome Ten New Ph.D. Students

JeungHyun Kim

Seoul, Korea

BA, Political Science

Yonsei University

MPhil, Development

Studies

University of Cambridge

Syracuse University

Fellowship

S o c i o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t

Michael Branch

Old Forge, NY

BA, French

Elmira College

Jen Brooks

Atlanta, GA

BA, Sociology

Grinnell College

Shantai Peckoo

Derwood, MD

BA, Psychology

Syracuse University

McNair Fellow

Starting Spring ‘16

Athena Last

Glendora, CA

BA, Sociology

California State

Polytechnic University

MA, Sociology

California State University,

Los Angeles

Dalton Stevens

Normal, IL

BA, Sociology

Illinois State University

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Wencheng Zhang

Chifeng, China

BA, Sociology

Shanghai University

MA, Sociology

Renmin University

Jinpu Wang

Jinan, China

BA, Business

Administration

Shandong University

MPP, Public Policy

University of Maryland

Theresa Yera

Williamsville, NY

BA, Anthropology

SUNY Buffalo

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FACULTY NEWS


Yingyi Ma has been

named the Director of

the Asian/Asian

American Studies

Program at SU. She

has also been elected

to the Maxwell Faculty

Council and will serve

from 2015-2018.

Jennifer Karas Montez

gave a briefing on

Capital Hill regarding

the impact of

Education on Mortality

and Health.

She was also recently

invited by the National

Academies of Science,

Engineering, and

Medicine to participate

in an expert panel

meeting on women’s

health and longevity.

“Raising the Bar-The

Health of American

Women: A National

Perspective on

Women’s Health” will

be held on 9/25/14 in

Washington, DC.

Merril Silverstein was

awarded a $1.49

million grant from the

John Templeton

Foundation for a three

year study entitled,

“Religious Transitions,

Transmission and

Trajectories Among

Baby–Boomers and

Their Families.” He

was also awarded a

National Institute of

Health (NIH) grant of

$401,072 for the

project “Religiosity and

Mortality Risk in Later

Life.” Both projects

focus on positive

outcomes for older

individuals, their

families and society

related to religious

engagement in later

life. Given the rapidly

growing older

population and

concerns about the

viability of families as

conduits for

transmitting and

preserving religious

traditions, the research

project provides much-

needed data analysis

on a major social issue

confronting families

today.

Reprinted from SU

News 8/31/15

FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

Andrew London with Karyn Stewart (PhD

’13) “Falling Through the Cracks: Lack of

Health Insurance Among Elderly

Foreign-and Native-Born Blacks” Journal

of Immigrant and

Minority Health

Janet Wilmoth and Andrew London “The Influence of

Military Service on Aging” in George L and Ferraro, K

(Eds.) Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences,

Elsevier

Dawn Dow “Kin-Care in

Contemporary African

American Middle-Class

Mothers Lives: How

Structure and Culture

Influence Childcare

Choices” Section on

Racial and Ethnic Mi-

norities Roundtable

& “Challenging the Con-

trolling Image of the

Thug: Raising African

American Boys and

Confronting Gendered

Racism” Regular Ses-

sion Masculinities

Prema Kurien

“Contemporary Ethno-

Religious Groups and

Political Activism in the

United States” Regular

Session The Politics of

Race, Ethnicity and Re-

ligion & Presider

Andrew London and

Janet Wilmoth “Life

Course Perspectives on

Military Serve, Gender,

and Extramarital Sex”

Thematic Session The

Military and Sexuality.

Andrew was also a Dis-

cussant at the Regular

Session Social Policy.

Amy Lutz “A National

Investigation of Bans of

Affirmative Action and

Racial Differences in

College Destination”

with Pamela Bennett in

the Regular Session

Affirmative Action &

“Perceptions of Socio-

economic Mobility by

Second Generation

Mexican Americans

and French North Afri-

cans” with Dalia Abdel-

hady and Yael Brin-

baum in the Section on

Inequality, Poverty and

Mobility

Yingyi Ma “Stay vs. Re-

turn: That is a Ques-

tion” with Yue Zhang

Section on Internation-

al Migration

Roundtable-Migration

and Education

Jennifer Montez Table

Presider Psychosocial

Influences on Well-

Being, Section on Aging

and the Life Course

Roundtable

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FACULTY PRESENTATIONS AT ASA

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS AT ASA

Trent Fenner “Karl

Polanyi’s

Environmental Sociology" with Steven

Brechin Table at Section on

Environment and

Technology

Jessica Hausauer “A

Whole Bunch of Combustibles: Welfare

Rules and Barriers to

Compliance” Regular

Session Poverty & the

Modern American

Welfare State.

Elizabeth Mount “Community

Transformation Among

Hijras in South India: Sexual Rights, NGO’s

and Converging Paths Toward Social Change”

Roundtable Section on

Global & Transnational

Sociology

Dalton Stevens “(In)Visible Agency:

Masculinity, Physical Disability & Sexuality

over the Lifecourse”

with Tom Gerschick Thematic Session

Sexuality, Citizenship

and Disability

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FACULTY PRESENTATIONS AT SSSP


Marj DeVault “Where

is Compliance?:

Accountability in Policy

and on the Front Line”

with Michael Schwartz

and Rebecca Garden

Critical Dialogue:

Accountability,

Productivity, and Digital

Coordination of Human

Service Work; Marj was

also a panelist at the

Session Crime &

Juvenile Delinquency

Division Lifetime

Achievement Award

Honoring Howard

Becker.

Madonna Harrington

Meyer Presider at the

Thematic Session

Critical Dialogue: Lifting

the Veil on

Grandparenting in the

21st Century and

presented “Working

Grandmothers:

Balancing Unpaid and

Paid Work During

Middle Age”

Andrew London

Organizer & Presider,

Thematic Session

Unmasking Inequalities

in Aging; Presented

“Uninsurance Among

Older Immigrants: An

Under-Recognized

Social Problem” with

Karyn Stewart, PhD ‘13

at the Session on

Social & Contextual

Determinants of Health

Care Access,

Utilization, and

Outcomes; He was also

the Organizer of the

Thematic Session


the Veil on


21st Century.

Jennifer Karas Montez

“The Benefits of

Educational Attainment

for U.S. Adult Mortality:

Are They Contingent on

the Broader

Environment?” with

Kaitlyn Barnes at the

Thematic Session


in Aging

Merril Silverstein

“Middle Aged

Grandparents in the

Middle: Caring for

Multiple Generations”

with Yooumi Lee at the

Thematic Session


the Veil on


21st Century

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS AT SSSP

Ynesse Abdul-Malak “Health and

Grandparenting Among Immigrant

Women in U.S.” at the Thematic Session

Critical Dialogue: Lifting the Veil on


21st Century

Rebecca Wang, Carrie Elliott, Natalee Simpson,

Tre Wentling and Professor Andrew London

“Explicating Gender and Ambivalence in

Intergenerational Relationships: Insights

from Case Studies of

Transgender Adult-Children” at the

Roundtable Youth, Aging,

and the Life Course

Tre Wentling “Multi-Scalar Recognition:

TransNormative and TransQueer Un/Authorized

Document Amendments” at the Roundtable

Sexuality and Sexual

Identity

Margaret Abraham ‘89

“In and Across

Contexts: Persistence

and Change in

Addressing Gendered

and Intersectional

Violence” in the

Session Feminist

Issues in the 21st

Century: Change and

Innovation

Liat Ben-Moshe ‘12

“Why Prisons are not

the New Asylums, and

other Tales about

Deinstitutionalization

and Incarceration” at

the Session Health,

Disability, and

Incarceration

Liat also presented

“Intersectionality in

Disability Studies

through the Lens of

Race, Gender and

Families of Color” with

Sandy Magana in the

Thematic Session

Race, Class, Gender,

and Disability:

Intersectional

Perspectives

Lauren Eastwood ‘02

Organizer of the

Thematic Session:

Migration and Human

Rights

Cheryl Najarian Souza

‘04 “’I would Love to

Have a Wife’: How

Mom (and Dad)

Politicians Navigate

Gender and Social

Class in their Work and

Family Lives while

Advocating for Social

Justice” at the

Thematic Session


in Family Carework

Gina Petonito ‘92 “Je

Suis Ahmed: A

Constructionist

Analysis of Counter

Claims Surrounding the

Charlie Hebdo

Shootings” at the

Session Struggles Over

Narrative: Race and

Ethnicity in Media(ted)

Spheres

Frank Ridzi ‘03

“Grassroots and Grass

Tips: Inside Coalitions,

Collective Impact and

the Education Reform

Industry” at the

Session Educational

Problems and Debates

Frank was also an

Organizer and Presider

at the Session Critical

Dialogue: Using

Quantitative and Other

Mixed Methods in

Institutional

Ethnography.

Fumilayo Showers ‘13

“Caring for the Elderly

Poor: West African

Immigrants and the

Long-Term Care

Industry in the United

States” Paper

presented at the

Session Labor and

Migration in the Global

Economy

Linda Waldron ‘02

“Social Media Use,

Gender Identity and the

Normalization of

Oversharing among

College Students” with

Jill Rusett & Samuel

O’Neil-paper presented

at the Papers in the

Round: Youth, Aging

and the Life Course

Linda also presented

“Are They Learning or

Just Having Fun?

Perceptions of the

Benefits and

Challenges of Digital

Technology in the

Classroom” at the

Papers in the Round:

Community Contexts of

Education.

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ALUMNI PRESENTATIONS AT SSSP

Lorraine Herbst, an

adjunct professor in

Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies

passed away on September 1, 2015.

She taught here from 2005-2008 and was

well respected and admired by students

and colleagues alike.

She will be missed.

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ALUMNI PRESENTATIONS AT ASA


Amy Best ‘98 was the

co-leader of the 2

Policy and Research

Workshops:

Discovering How to Get

Research Used in the

Policy Process &

Navigating IRB

Approval for Studies of

Vulnerable Populations:

The Case of Children

and Youth.

Abbey Willis MA ‘11

“Identity as Selectivity

Filter: One Step Toward

a Political Economy of

Compulsory

Monogamy” at the

Section on Sociology of

Sexualities Roundtable

on Heteronormativity

FACULTY CAMPUS PRESENTATIONS

Prema Kurien presented “Race,

Religion, and the Political Incorporation

of Contemporary Immigrants” at the

PARCC Conversations

in Conflict Studies.

Gretchen Purser presented “Work as Unto the Lord:

Enhancing Employability in an Evangelical Job-

Readiness Program” with Brian Hennigan at the

PARCC Conversation in

Conflict Studies Series.

REST IN PEACE LORRAINE HERBST

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