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Editor:
Tonya Allen
allen@pop.psu.edu
PRInformation
Spring 2009
Faculty Focus
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Paul Amato, Arnold S. and Bette G. Hoffman Professor of Family Sociology and Demography, received the 2008 Ernest Burgess Award for outstanding scholarly and career achievement in the study of families, National Council on Family Relations; and the 2008 Reuben Hill Award from the National Council on Family Relations for the best article published in the previous year to combine theory and research on the family.
Dr. Roger Finke, professor of sociology and religious studies and director of the Association of Religion Data Archives, received the 2009 Penn State President's Award for Excellence in Academic Integration.
Dr. Constance Flanagan, professor of agricultural and extension education, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and Social Sciences from Örebro University in Sweden in January, 2009.
Dr. D. Wayne Osgood, professor of crime, law and justice and sociology, received the 2009 Penn State Faculty Scholar Medal in the Social and Behavioral Sciences; and is Member, Committee on the Science of Adolescence, National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2008-2010.
Dr. Eric Plutzer, professor of political science and sociology and academic director, Survey Research Center, is a visiting scientist for the 2008-2009 academic year at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung in the working group on "Inequality and Social Integration." Dr. Plutzer's research on the teaching of creationism in US public schools was named by Discover Magazine as one of the "Top 100 Science Stories of 2008."
Dr. Darrell Steffensmeier, professor of sociology and crime, law and justice, received the 2009 Penn State Graduate Faculty Teaching Award.
Dr. Kevin J.A. Thomas, assistant professor of African and African American studies, sociology, and demography, was named 2009 Fellow, Rock Ethics Institute/Schreyer Honors College, Penn State; and received the 2009 Roy C. Buck Award for Outstanding Scholarly Publication by a Junior Faculty Member, College of Liberal Arts, Penn State.
Invited Speakers
Dr. Paul Amato, Arnold S. and Bette G. Hoffman Professor of Family Sociology and Demography, presented "Pathways, Timing, and Sequences: Young Adults' Family Formation Transitions," Conference on Romantic Relationships During Emerging Adulthood, Florida State University, February 2009; "Alone Together: How Marriage in America is Changing," Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, February 2009; "Parenting and Divorce," Oklahoma Department of Health and Human Services, Oklahoma City, December 2008; and "Is Child Well-Being Improving or Declining in the U.S.?" and "Divorce and Children's Well-Being: An Update," National Council on Family Relations, Little Rock, November 2008.
Dr. Glenn Firebaugh, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Demography and College of the Liberal Arts Research Professor, was a member of the panel "Inequality between and within States and Groups," International Studies Association, New York City, February 2009.
Dr. Constance Flanagan, professor of agricultural and extension education, presented "Personal Values and Political Views: Psychological Underpinnings of Democracies in Youth," public lecture delivered as part of the award of an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and Social Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden, February 2009; "Unpacking the Complexities of Civic Engagement," Public Engagement Symposium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, January 2009; and "Trust, Youth Engagement, and the Future of Democracy," Howland Lecture on Engagement, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, November 2008.
Dr. Douglas Granger, professor of biobehavioral health and human development and family studies and director, Behavioral Endocrinology Laboratory, presented invited talks at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest; the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge; the Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London; and the Department of Psychiatry, King's College, London.
Dr. Marianne Hillemeier, associate professor of health policy and administration and demography, gave an invited presentation (co-authored with Dr. George Farkas, University of California-Irvine, Dr. Paul L. Morgan, assistant professor of education, and Steven A. Maczuga, research programmer/analyst) entitled "Disparities in Children's Development: Findings from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort," NIH Summit on the Science of Eliminating Health Disparities, Washington, DC, December 2008.
Dr. John Iceland, professor of sociology and demography, presented results of a recently completed project on the residential patterns of immigrants (Where We Live Now: Immigration and Race in the United States, University of California Press, 2009) at the international conference "Together or Separate: Spatial Concentration and Immigrant Incorporation in the United States, Great Britain, and France," Paris, January 15-16, 2009.
Dr. Valarie King, associate professor of sociology, demography, and human development and family studies, was invited to deliver the 2009 Nam Lecture at Florida State University on the topic "Family Structure, Father Involvement, and Child Well-Being," February 27, 2009.
Dr. Stephen Matthews, associate professor of sociology, anthropology and demography and director, GIA Core, was co-chair (with Dr. Kevin Patrick, UCSD, and Dr. Jacqueline Kerr, SDSU/UCSD) of an NIEHS-supported workshop for grant recipients funded under the Genes, Environment and Health Initiative Exposure Biology Program, "The Three G's Workshop: GEI, GPS and GIS (Gene-Environment Interactions, Global Positioning Systems, and Geographic Information Systems)", San Diego, February 20-22, 2009, and presented the lead-off presentation on "GIS Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges."
Dr. D. Wayne Osgood, professor of crime, law and justice and sociology, was invited to present "Illegal Behavior," National Research Council Committee on the Science of Adolescence workshop on Individual Processes and Adolescent Risk Behavior, Washington, DC, November 2008; and "A Social Network Perspective on Substance Use and the Impact of School-Based Prevention Programs," International Institute on Developmental Science, Jena, Germany, October 2008.
Dr. Nilam Ram, assistant professor of human development and family studies, presented "Developmental and Experimental Aging: Matching Method to Theory," Aging Research Colloquium Series; and "Universal vs. Unique Developmental Outcomes: A 'Backwards' Approach to Assessing Interventions?" Applied Social Psychology Colloquium; both at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, September 2008.
Dr. Kevin J.A. Thomas, assistant professor of African and African American studies, sociology, and demography, presented "What Can Census Data Tell Us about the Language Assimilation of the Children of African Immigrants in the US?" invited presentation, Diaspora and Language conference organized by the Migration Studies Project and the Center for Language Acquisition, Penn State; and "Family Contexts and Schooling Disparities between the Children of Immigrant and US-Born Blacks," invited presentation, Center for Human Development and Family Research in Diverse Contexts, Penn State.
Leaves of Absence
Dr. David M. Almeida, professor of human development and family studies, to extend and enhance research on daily stress and health by consulting and collaborating with scientists to initiate a series of analysis and research articles on neurobiological correlates of naturally occurring daily stressors.
Dr. Francis Dodoo, College of Liberal Arts Research Professor and professor of sociology and demography, to enhance skills in qualitative research methods and use those approaches to explore questions about the relationship between urban poverty and risky sexual behavior in a new field site in the heart of Ghana's capital, Accra, with a focus on the relationship between urban poverty and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Roger Finke, professor of sociology and religious studies and director of the Association of Religion Data Archives, to secure additional external funding for ongoing research at the Association of Religion Data Archives and to complete publications from past external funding.
Dr. Melissa A. Hardy, Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and Sociology and director, Gerontology Center, to develop research in the biodemography of health and mortality.
Dr. David Post, professor of comparative and international education, to develop two themes of prior research: the political economy of child labor in Latin America, and equity and access to postsecondary education in Latin America.
Dr. Kenneth Weiss, Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology and professor of genetics and demography, to conduct research on a project to understand the genetic basis and evolution of complex traits, particularly the primate skull, and the problem of understanding the genetic basis of complex human diseases.
Dr. Linda A. Wray, associate professor of biobehavioral health, to consult with experts on marriage, daily stressors, and health outcomes of diabetes and develop an NIH research proposal to collect data on social support and diabetes management in middle-aged and older adults.
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