Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dr. Perez will talk about his unconventional path from high school student with a 1.2 GPA to UMass professor. Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 4:00 PM in 277 Draper Hall (SBS Dean’s Conference Room). Refreshments will be served. This conference is through CMASS The Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success.
As course registration nears, it is time to start thinking about what classes you want to take next semester!
One of the advantages of UMass belonging to the Five College system is that as Five College students, we are able to take classes at the other four schools–Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith.
How to Sign Up for 5 College Classes
This is a great way to take a class that might
not be offered at UMass, a class that is offered at a better time for your schedule, or if you just feel like experiencing the academics at another school.
If you are interested in signing up for a 5 College class, you should go to Enrollment and then Five College Enrollment on your Spire account, for more information on how to sign up. If you have any questions about Five College Interchange, go to the UMass-5 College Interchange office in 613 Goodell
Apply to be 1 of the 2 Seminar Coordinators for a Community-based Sustainability & Food Security course!
Unique, credit bearing practicum opportunity for two experienced students to work with a Plant & Soil Science professor, UMass Civic Engagement & Service Learning staff and community partner, Nuestras Raices to take the lead in coordinating a 2-credit Practicum course for college students interested in a community-based, hands on
experience with community gardening, sustainability and food security at Nuestras Raices in Holyoke, Mass. The coordinators will receive 4 Practicum credits for this role.
Project Description:
This Community-based Sustainability & Food Security course will be a 2-credit practicum course for up to 20 undergraduates. It will consist facilitating 2-hour seminar sessions, every other week (7 sessions) over the Fall 2012 semester as well as 4 farm work days (likely Saturdays) at La Finca Farm, Nuestras Raices in Holyoke, Mass.
The topics of the sessions will be determined in conjunction with the Practicum Facilitators, a sponsoring Plant and Soil Science faculty member and a staff member from UMass CESL.
Position Description:
The Seminar Coordinators(s) of this practicum course will:
1. Work with a faculty member and UMass CESL to plan 7 two-hour practicum sessions to include orientation to community-based service-learning practice, orientation to the Holyoke community, and several curricular topics related to sustainability, community gardening and food security. Planning will take place of over the Spring/Summer 2012.
2. Identify and arrange for guest speakers related to curricular topics for the 7 seminar sessions.
3. Arrange for relevant readings for each seminar session.
4. Facilitate the 7 seminar sessions.
5. Provide meaningful and relevant Reflection prompts after each practicum session that will help students connect the community-based work with the classroom content.
6. Review and provide feedback on student Reflections.
7. Work with staff at Nuestras Raices to coordinate 4, six- hour workdays (likely on Saturdays throughout the Fall) or the equivalent of 24 hours minimum for the semester.
8. Attend the workdays to provide coordination and leadership.
9. Keep track of student attendance and participation at each session and work day, and on each reflection assignment.
10. Gather feedback from the community partner about the effectiveness of the service and student participation.
11. Collaborate with the instructor of record to determine grading criteria and assign grades to the students.
12. Meet with the instructor of record and UMass CESL staff person as needed to create the most effective learning experience possible.
13. Submit bi-weekly reports to the instructor of record and UMass CESL staff.
14. Submit an end of the semester report on the seminar course, the service experience and a statement of personal learning.
Apply by Friday, April 6, 2012
To apply, send:
- your contact information (name, email, phone)
– anticipated year of graduation and major/minor
– a statement about why you are interested in this experience.
-an explanation of your qualifications related to the above Position Description
– names and contact info for 2 references who can speak to your ability related to this position
to both:
Molly Totman mtotman@acad.umass.edu and
Carol Soules csoules.cesl@umass.edu
Juniors!: Don’t forget to sign up for a junior year writing class!
You will have first priority for these classes
Senior and sophomore sociology majors: you will be able to sign up for these classes starting April 16th!
UMass Sociology student Rosalie Miller is currently interning with Border Angels in San Diego.
This past week with Border Angels was spent mostly in the office trying to get things squared away. Last weekend we worked the Lila Downs concert and did really good selling merchandise and getting signatures at the show! We were able to go backstage and meet 
with Lila which was pretty cool, and is yet another perk of traveling with an established organization.
As of yet we haven’t been the best about maintaining a presence at the office, since so much of the work can be done from elsewhere, and in fact can not be done at the office, so this week we tried to focus on establishing office hours and a presence so that we can start attracting more business on a walk in basis.
On Saturday myself and the other Border Angels student staff member Sofia led a day labor outreach trip, so we prepared about 100 burritos in the morning and went out to a few Home Depots around town to give out food and water and check in on the men there. Day labor outreach is a really rewarding experience as the men are always really grateful and appreciative on emotional as well as physical material levels. Its gets tricky though because we never want to make them feel like recipients of charity, its important not to hurt peoples pride, so we try to just be very friendly and casual when we go to the sites. It also gets tricky logistically, as we dont want to put them in vulnerable legal situations by bringing attention to the fact that they are receiving aid, or hurt their chances of getting work, so we have to make sure to stay off of Home Depot property when we visit, and make sure to not interrupt if it looks like someone is seeking out workers. Its really crazy to consider the reasons why someone ends up in a position like a day laborer. For the most part the laborers are latino immigrants, undocumented or not, but sometimes there are white or black Americans standing with them looking for work, as a result of the economic situation. Even within the migrants, some are young and look like they could be college students or artists, and some are older and very clean cut and look like they could be working professionals back home. Its sad to consider that most of them have left families back in Mexico or Guatemala, or wherever. We got a lot of bags of donated clothes of all sorts to give out to the day laborers, and my first inclination was to have them look through all of it because i figured they could take womens and childrens clothing home to their families- but then I remembered that most of them have left their families behind, and often live in small apartments or hotel rooms with lots of other men in the same situation.
Today Enrique went out to the desert with a school group from Ohio, who will be doing outreach with us on Friday. Tomorrow im going to be going with pam and some professors from the university to take part in an oral history project recording the story of the first successful desegregation case in the nation, involving the mexican american community of Lemon Grove, CA (in San Diego county) in 1931. Then on Thursday we begin the 10 day long Latino Film Festival, where we will be maintaining a presence everyday. We are definately about to get busy!
Hope all is well
Rose
To read more about Rose’s internship, see previous posts here and here.
Greetings Soc majors! Here are the awards that we will be offering this semester:
W.E.B. Dubois Outstanding Sociological Achievement Award: (20 given in 2011) Awarded to sociology majors who have achieved distinction in any of a variety of ways. This might be through consistently high performance in courses, or by overcoming obstacles, or for outstanding class participation, or for involvement in the community, or for any variety of other forms of accomplishment. The (20 or so) award winners will receive a one year subscription to Contexts and are expected to award the ceremony.
Best Paper Award: (one award given) Best paper award (a paper written for class, a thesis, anything) For the best paper, exam, or written product written by a sociology major in a sociology course, independent study, as a thesis, or for any other purpose if the focus is on sociological issues and concepts. Students should submit a copy of the paper they would like to have considered, either by electronic means (which is preferred) or in hardy copy, by April 2nd at noon, to Juliet Carvajal, carvajal@soc.umass.edu . A decision on the award winner will be made by a committee of two faculty. The award winner will receive $100 and is expected to attend the award ceremony.
Jane Adams Sociology in Practice Award: (one given) This award might recognize many different sorts of accomplishments, including (for example) work on an internship, activity connected with a group working on an issue or cause, a summer activity, a job-related activity, or any other activity that used sociological ideas and insights to address some problem or issue. Statements should discuss the actions undertaken, explain how they relate to sociology, consider what practical effect (if any) the actions had, and consider in what ways (if any) the student learned from the experience. Faculty, students, and staff may/should encourage majors to aplly, and students can nominate themselves or others. Statements should be sent by April 2nd by noon to Juliet Carvajal (carvajal@soc.umass.edu) explaining why the student should be considered for the award, and providing any additional documentation they believe would be helpful to the committee. The award winner will receive $100 and is expected to attend the award ceremony.
**Student Selected Winner** C. Wright Mills Award for Sociological Imagination: This award will be given to one Sociology Major who best illustrates how sociology has had an influence on their life by changing the way they think about social issues. Students should submit a short statement by April 2nd at noon to Juliet Carvajal (carvajal@soc.umass.edu) Statements should be not more than 500 words, about how being a sociology major has had an impact on their thinking. The award winner will be chosen by a team of sociology undergraduate students, will receive $100, and is expected to attend the award ceremony at the end of the year. Open to all junior and senior sociology majors.
Sociology at UMass Award*: This award is open to all junior and senior sociology majors. In your own words (does not need to be a formal essay), with a maximum of 3 double-spaced pages, please answer the following question “How has sociology affected your college experience?” Some of the ways to approach the essay include: Has your point of view changed because of sociology? Has a major in sociology affected your anticipated career path since you left high school/had an internship/independent study/etc.?
David S. Leiderman Award: (given to three last year) Given to one (or more) outstanding senior major(s) with a commitment to improving the lives of children and families. Cash amount varies depending on market return to an endowed fund.
Henry Korson Outstanding Junior Award: (one given last year): Awarded to one (or more) outstanding junior major(s). Cash amount varies depending on market return to an endowed fund.
Henry Korson Outstanding Senior Award: (3 given last year) Awarded to one (or more) outstanding senior major(s). Cash amount varies depending on market to an endowed fund.
All Award Submissions due by April 2nd, 2012
Sociology BBQ and Award Ceremony April 25th, 2012
“A Day in the life of a Sociology Student” will showcase Sociology majors who are doing great things, like interning, studying abroad and more!
Hopefully the stories of these students will let you know what kind of opportunities are available, and what your fellow students are accomplishing.
UMass Sociology student Haley Cunningham is currently interning at Fiske Elementary School.
The following is a letter in which she describes what she has been up to.
This week was good. The teacher I TA for was out sick this week so I was helping out a lot. The kids are working on publishing stories that they wrote. We have them choose their 
favorite “small moment” that they wrote about and we type it up on the computer with them and then have them draw detailed pictures as we put “special publishing tape” down the spine to make them look more professional. The idea of a small idea is to get the kids to take a moment that happened during the day and stretch it out into a whole story. This helps the kids realize how to make moments into longer and more detailed stories.
We finally finished our ABC books! Took us a while and now were just reviewing each kids books and making sure they are done. We are starting to learn silent letters as well. This is very tricky for the kids to get but they are doing well with it. As for math we are still focusing on shapes. We are having the kids free play with clay to make shapes on their own (they are so cute with it). We are also having the kids make pattern block puzzles into animals and stuff. The kids are great and I am really going to miss them in May!
To read more about Haley’s internship experiences, see previous posts here.
Hi everybody! We hope your spring break was time well spent! If you’ve recently signed into the major, we strongly encourage going to the New Majors Orientation, this Tuesday from 12:30-2:30 in Thompson 620. There will be pizza! Please come and get information regarding requirements, planning for future semesters, study abroad, internships, 5-college courses, advising, sociology club, and much more! We hope to see you soon!
UMass Sociology student Rosalie Miller is currently interning with Border Angels in San Diego. The following is a description of what she has been up to.
This week with Border Angels has been more office based. We are trying to get in the swing of things to be applying for grants, so I was finally able to get Enrique to sit down with me so I could throw questions his way and gather 
information needed to start the application processes. Its pretty complex and I’m definitely gaining an intimate look inside the workings of Border Angels, which is serving me as an illustration of effective and non-effective ways to run a non-profit organization.
On Sunday I had a good time attending a service at a local UU church, which is starting a 6 week series on immigration as a moral issue, and so they asked Border Angels to come as guests. The service was really nice and it was interesting to see the ways in which they were choosing to tackle the issues of immigration within their congregation.
Last night we attended a great fundraiser for the organization, put together by one of our staff members who attends UCSD. In case you’re wondering just how many staff members there are, the answer is 4, including myself- one of whom is part time and the other of which is part-part time. This means that with myself not around, Enrique is the only person who has the space to be focusing on BA most of the time, and he is constantly running around going to meetings, functions, etc- only some of which that act to further the cause of Border Angels. Translation: its hard to make things happen in a big way for Border Angels, and for many other community based and non-profit organizations in similar situations. The fundraiser was a great success though! There were great bands, and the headliners were terrific, and we got a lot of support and interest from the students who attended. We also raised $550! On Sunday we will be tabling the Lila Downs concert in Balboa park, which should be a lot of fun, and we will probably be able to go backstage and meet with Lila and her band. We have been selling tickets at a discounted rate as a fundraiser, so I’ve been meeting with a lot of people and trying to do a lot of advertising. Lots of the time I feel like I don’t have that much to do but somehow I manage to stay pretty busy!
till next time,
rose
To read more about Rosalie’s internship, see previous posts here.
Today is the last day of the semester to sign in to the major!
See us in Thompson 722!
Just a reminder, the Departmental Honors Info & Pizza Session is today!
Machmer W-32 at 5:00 on Wednesday March 14.
This is for students who have interest in the Sociology departmental honors program, have applied, or have been accepted. Come see what it’s all about!
“A Day in the life of a Sociology Student” will showcase Sociology majors who are doing great things, like interning, studying abroad and more!
Hopefully the stories of these students will let you know what kind of opportunities are available, and what your fellow students are accomplishing.
UMass Sociology student Haley Cunningham is currently interning at Fiske Elementary School.
The following is a letter in which she describes what she has been up to.
This week has been interesting. Since we are in March now, we have started all new curriculum topics. In math we have moved past using tiles to show how to count and create mathematical equations. The kids had a packet of 10 sheets of paper that they needed to show ten different ways to arrange their tiles. Now that we have moved past the tile arrangements and using tiles for Math we are focused on creating and using shapes. The kids are using shapes to create things they know in their lives (oval = a dog). They are mostly independent with this task but need help every now and then. I love seeing what they come up with because I couldn’t think of some of the things they do.
The kids are still learning their ABC’s this week we focused on most of the last letters, they are very close with finishing the whole alphabet. We also learned this week how to use our bodies to help us spell and read. The kids are learning how to spell out words with their fingers and their arms. They take apart the words slowly and use their own knowledge to figure out the words.
Overall this week was really good, I was nervous because we were coming back from vacation and I didn’t know if the kids would be ready for focus but they were awesome and I get sad thinking about leaving them in May.