Faculty, Graduate Students Gain National Spotlight
Welcome to Our
Department!
Two new postdoctoral
fellows joined us this fall.
Dr. Haiyi (Monica) Liu
(Ph.D., University of Cali-
fornia, San Diego) special-
izes in immigration, Chi-
nese society, gender, and
race/ethnicity.
Dr. Mesay Tegegne
(Ph.D., University of
Iowa, 2016) examines
issues of migration, glob-
alization, and health with
a particular focus on the
implications of interna-
tional migration for social
change and development.
SocioFeed
Official Newsletter of the
Department of Sociology
at the University of South
Florida
Volume 4, Issue 1
November 2017
Students from Dr. Rob
Benford’s Mobilizing for
Change course pose for
picture. They organized a
social movement at USF
called Safe HOME
(Housing Opportunities
Made Equal).
Two faculty were recently honored with
distinguished career awards by the
American Sociological Association.
Dr. Sara Green
received the 2017
Distinguished Ca-
reer in the Sociology
of Disability Award
from the Disability
and Society Section
of ASA.
Distinguished Uni-
versity Professor
Stephen Turner
(USF Department of
Philosophy) was
awarded the 2017
Lifetime Achieve-
ment Award from
the History of Sociol-
ogy Section of ASA.
Dr. Donileen Loseke served as the
2016-17 President of the Society for
the Study of Social Problems (see
feature article on p. 5).
In August, 2017, Dr. Elizabeth
Hordge-Freeman received the
Society for the Study of Symbolic
Interaction’s Charles Cooley Book
Award for The Color of Love: Racial
Features, Stigma, and Socialization
in Black Brazilian Families (2015).
Dr. Pangri Mehta, a recent gradu-
ate of our doctoral program, was one
of twelve ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ final-
ists in the American Association for
the Advancement of Science’s Annu-
al ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ competition.
Our doctoral student Hadi Khosh-
neviss won this year’s Student Paper
Award from the Society for the Study
of Social Problems’ Section on Conflict,
Social Action, and Change.
(Continued on page 3)
Undergrads Organize Social Movement
Honors & Awards at ASA, SSSI, and SSSP
Ms. Fransheska Andaluz won an Outstand-
ing Staff Award from the College of Arts and
Sciences, in December, 2016.
Dr. Elizabeth Aranda was appointed Assis-
tant Dean for Global Engagement, College of
Arts and Sciences, and elected Chair-Elect of
the ASA Section on Latino/a Sociology.
Dr. James Cavendish began his term as
Chair of the Department in Fall, 2016.
Drs. Damien Contessa and Heidi Steinour
returned for a 2nd year as visiting instructors.
Ms. Sheela Fernandez completed her CRA-
USF Advanced Training, giving her the desig-
nation of a Certified Research Administrator.
Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman received
tenure and promotion to Associate Professor
in May, 2017.
Graduate student Hadi Khoshneviss was
selected to serve a two-year term as a Public
Engagement Liaison for ASA’s Law Section.
Post-Doctoral Scholar Dr. Julia Meszaros
became Assistant Professor of Sociology at
Lebanon Valley College in Harrisburg, PA.
Visiting Instructor Dr. Sue Nash became
Assistant Professor of Sociology at St. Mary’s
University in San Antonio, TX.
Ms. Christina Partin was promoted from
Instructor II to Instructor III.
Dr. Will Tyson was elected to serve on the
Executive Committee of the Southern Socio-
logical Society.
Dr. David Zeller, a recent graduate of our
doctoral program, joined our faculty as a visit-
ing instructor in Fall, 2017.
Career Moves
SocioFeed Page 2
Inside this issue:
Award Winning Teacher Training Program
Leads to Graduate Students’ Success
3
Recent Faculty Books & Edited Volumes 4
$3 Million in Grants 4
USF Sociology was Integral Part of 2017
SSSP Meeting
5
Other Recent Publications of Faculty &
Students
6
Undergraduate Student Success & Service 7
Alumni Corner 7
Supporting our Student Success Movement 7
Announcements Internships allow students to gain practical ex-
perience in an area where they acquired expertise
through their course work. Consumer Culture,
Disability and Society, Identity and Community,
Inequalities and Social Justice, Race and Ethnic
Relations, and Sociology of Education are feeder
courses for internships. For more information
please contact Dr. Mayberry.
If you are an alumnus/a, please email us at SOC-
[email protected] to share your accomplishments.
A Word from the Chair
Whether you are a prospective or
current student, a faculty mem-
ber, an alumnus/a, or an outside
observer seeking to learn more
about USF Sociology, you’ll dis-
cover in reading this newsletter
that we are a community of schol-
ars dedicated to providing quality
education and professional devel-
opment, fostering our students’
success, and conducting basic and
applied research to share with
the University of South Florida, various local and national
constituencies, and the broader academic community. Thank
you for taking the time to learn about us.
If you would like to receive more information about our pro-
grams, please contact me at [email protected] or 813-974-
2633. If you’re an alumnus/a of either Sociology or ISS, please
email us at [email protected] to let us know what you’ve
been up to or to share your professional accomplishments.
Finally, I invite you to please consider joining us for our Soci-
ology Expo and Biannual Banquet on Wednesday, April 11,
2018. Please reserve the date on your calendars and be on the
lookout for more details as the date approaches.
Cheers,
James Cavendish
Page 3
In 2016, the Department of Sociology’s Teacher
Training Program, co-founded by Dr. Maralee
Mayberry and Ms. Christina Partin, re-
ceived the Southern Sociological Society’s
(SSS) Distinguished Contributions to Teaching
Award. Just a few months later, Mayberry
and Partin were asked to showcase the pro-
gram in Seattle, WA, at the ASA’s Director of
Graduate Studies Pre-Conference Workshop
titled “Excellence in Graduate Student Teacher
Training: Practical Insights for Graduate Pro-
grams and Their Leaders.”
Although the program dates back to 2001, it
has evolved to provide M.A. and Ph.D. stu-
dents with the skills and experiences necessary
to bolster their applications to Ph.D. programs
and academic jobs across the country. The
program now includes a graduate-level Teach-
ing Sociology course, experience as a Teaching
Assistant with guidance from our faculty, op-
portunity to teach courses as the Instructor of
Record with guided mentorship from the de-
partment’s Director of Pedagogy, involvement
in mentorship as a Teaching Associate Mentor,
development of a holistic teaching portfolio and
statement of teaching philosophy, and the op-
portunity to engage with and develop the
scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) by
using their courses as sites to conduct research
on effective pedagogy and student learning.
The TA Training Program is part of our gradu-
ate curriculum and has shown some direct re-
sults in terms of the employability of our stu-
dents. Although our Ph.D. program is in its
infancy, during the 2016-2017 academic year,
five of our doctoral students gradu-
ated with their Ph.D., and three of
these received tenure-track job
offers. This brings the total num-
ber of our Ph.D. graduates with
tenure-track jobs to six, which is a
remarkable achievement.
Faezeh Bahreini is Assistant
Professor of Sociology at Brad-
ley University in Peoria, IL.
Elaina Behounek is Assistant
Professor of Sociology at Mercer
University in Macon, GA.
Maggie Cobb is Assistant Pro-
fessor of Sociology at the Uni-
versity of Tampa, Tampa, FL.
Jennifer Earles is Assistant Pro-
fessor of Sociology at Frostburg
State University in Frostburg, MD.
Mary Catherine Whitlock is As-
sistant Professor of Sociology at
Georgia Southwestern State Uni-
versity in Americus, GA.
Loren Wilbers is Assistant Profes-
sor of Sociology at University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater.
The Department acknowledges the
hard work of our graduate students
and all faculty who have made this
program successful, including the cur-
rent Graduate Director Dr. Sara
Crawley and Program Development
Coordinator Dr. Emelda Curry.
Drs. Crawley, Earles, Whitlock, Bahreini, Mehta, and Hordge-Freeman
USF doctoral student
Jasmón Bailey won
one of ASA’s prestig-
ious Minority Fellow-
ship Program (MFP)
Awards to assist his
dissertation writing
during the 2017-2018
academic year.
Jasmón is one of only
five scholars who com-
prise the new MFP
cohort.
(Continued from page 1)
Faculty, Graduate Students Gain National Spotlight
Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman receives SSSI’s Charles Cooley Book Award.
Award-Winning Teacher Training Program Leads
to Graduate Students’ Success on Job Market
SocioFeed Page 4
Recent Faculty Books & Edited Volumes
Collectively, our faculty have received close to $3
million dollars in grants over the last year.
Distinguished University Professor John
Skvoretz (along with his co-PIs) was awarded a
$1.7 million grant from the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a 4-year
project titled “Modeling Information Diffusion
Processes with Deep Learning Algorithms” in
response to the Computational Simulation of
Online Social Behavior (SocialSim) BAA. Dr.
Skvoretz also received (along with his co-PIs
Jennifer E. Lewis and Luanna Prevost) a grant
from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a
project titled “Collaborative Research: Mapping
Change in Higher Education-Social Networks and
STEM Reforms,” $559,000.
Dr. Elizabeth Aranda (and her co-PIs Heide
Castañedo and Elizabeth Vaquera) were awarded
an NSF Sociology Program grant for their research
titled “Ontological Security in Uncertain Times:
Legal Status and the Social and Emotional Well-
Being of Undocumented Young Adults,” $330,000.
This research extends Dr. Aranda’s continuing
research on the plight of undocumented
immigrants, as seen in her recent co-authored
article “Emotional Challenges of Undocumented
Young Adults: Ontological Security, Emotional
Capital, and Well-being” (Social Problems).
Donileen Loseke pub-
lished the second edition
of Methodological Think-
ing: Basic Principles of
Research Design. Sage
Publications, 2016.
Elizabeth Hordge-
Freeman co-edited Race
and The Politics of
Knowledge Production:
Diaspora and Black Trans-
national Scholarship in the
United States and Brazil.
Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Cecil Greek co-edited
(with C. Picart and M. Ja-
cobsen) Framing Law and
Crime: An Interdiscipli-
nary Anthology. Fairleigh
Dickinson University
Press, 2016.
Shawn Bingham and
Sara Green published
Seriously Funny: Disa-
bility & the Paradoxical
Power of Humor. Lynn
Reinner Press, 2016.
Shawn Bingham co-
edited The Bohemian
South: Creating Coun-
tercultures, from Poe to
Punk. University of
North Carolina Press,
2017.
Sara Green co-edited
Sociology Looking at
Disability: What Did We
Know and When Did We
Know It? Emerald
Group Publishing, 2016.
Dr. David Jacobson was awarded a prestigious Fulbright
Fellowship to carry out his research “Advancing Our
Understanding of Instability and Resilience: Using Digital
Tools and Technologies to Elicit the Dynamics of Civil
Conflict.” This project entails using more informed
measures to analyze the underlying factors driving civil
conflict in select countries, with the aim of reducing civil
conflict and building more resilient communities.
$3 Million in Grants
(Continued on page 5)
Page 5
Dr. Maralee Mayberry is co-PI on
an NSF EAGER grant (with PI
Michelle Hughes Miller and co-PI
Chrystal Smith) for their project
titled “Collaborative Research:
Exploring the Effects of Academic
Climate and Social Networks on the
Persistence of Sexual and Gender
Minority STEM Undergraduates,”
$126,010.
Dr. Will Tyson continues his research,
funded by two NSF grants totaling $2
Qualitative Research,”
Dr. Kusenbach on
“Ethnography,” and Dr.
Loseke on “Narrative
Methodologies.”
With her specialties in
social constructionism
and narrative analysis,
Dr. Loseke decided to
organize the meeting
around the theme
“Narratives in the World
of Social Problems: Pow-
er, Resistance, and
Transformation.”
A key feature of the meet-
ing was a Critical Dia-
logue Session focused on
the rise and contribution
of social constructionism in the
study of social problems, featuring
leading figures Joel Best, James
Holstein, and Donileen. Loseke.
Several USF faculty and graduate
students presented papers or served
as panelists at the meeting, includ-
ing Dr, Elizabeth Aranda, Rebecca
Blackwell, Doug Engelman, Carley
Geiss, Alissa Klein, Melinda Maco-
ni, Dr. Maralee Mayberry, Girsea
Dr. Donileen Loseke, 2016-17 President of SSSP,
delivered her presidential address “Narrative and the
Politics of Meaning in a ‘Post-Fact’ World” at the an-
nual meeting of SSSP in Montreal in August, 2017.
million, on the educational and
career outcomes of high school,
college, and university students in
the STEM fields, particularly
among those in underrepresented
groups.
When Professor Donileen Loseke be-
came the 2016-2017 President of the Socie-
ty for the Study of Social Problems, she
enlisted the support of her colleagues and
students at USF to make SSSP’s 67th An-
nual Meeting in Montreal a success. She
enlisted Dr. Sara Crawley to serve as Co-
Chair of the 2017 Program Committee, and
they together with Dr. Maggie Kusen-
bach organized and
lead a day-long
workshop, spon-
sored by USF’s De-
partment of Sociolo-
gy, on “Qualitative
Research Practice”
at the beginning of
the meeting.
The workshop was
divided into two
sections, one deal-
ing with the episte-
mological and meth-
odological founda-
tions of qualitative
research, and the
other with practical
issues involved in
the research pro-
cess. Dr. Crawley
spoke on “The Epis-
temological Base of
Faculty Receive National Grants & Awards
Dr. John Skvoretz Dr. Elizabeth Aranda Dr. David Jacobson Dr. Maralee Mayberry Dr. Will Tyson
(Continued from page 4)
USF Sociology was Integral Part of 2017 SSSP Meeting
Martinez, Christina Partin, Dr. Erica
Toothman, Edlin Veras, and Melissa
Welch.
Panic in the U.S.,” which appeared in
Information Communication & Society.
Doctoral student Silpa Satheesh pub-
lished an article “Development as Re-
colonization: the Political Ecology of
the Endosulphan Disaster in Kasargod,
India” in the journal Critical Asian
Studies.
Doctoral student Rodrigo Serrao
published a book review in the Review
of Religious Research.
Doctoral student Melissa Welch pub-
lished a chapter “Back to the Future:
Irving K. Zola’s Contributions to the
Sociology of Disability” in Sociology
Looking at Disability: What Did We
Know and When Did We Know It?, Vol-
ume 9 of the Research in Social Science
and Disability book series (Green, S., &
Barnartt, S., Eds). Emerald Group
Publishing Limited. 2017.
Doctoral student Erik Withers pub-
lished an article “Whiteness and Cul-
ture” in the journal Sociology Compass.
Other Grants & Awards
Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman re-
ceived a Proposal Enhancement Grant
from USF Research & Innovation for
her research on Human Trafficking
and an Internal Pilot Project Grant
from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Drs. Laurel Graham and Jennifer
Friedman worked with Becky Zarger
(USF Anthropology) and the Tampa
Heights Junior Civic Association to
complete the community engaged re-
search for which they received a
$25,000 grant from the Aetna Founda-
tion. This project assesses food, gar-
dening, and entrepreneurship
knowledge and skills among youth.
Dr. Erica Toothman will receive a
USF 2017/18 Outstanding Undergrad-
uate Teaching Award in Nov., 2017.
Nine of our graduate students received
Travel Grants from either USF’s Office
of Graduate Studies or the Student
Government to present their research
at conferences.
Congratulations to the following faculty
and graduate students for their recent
scholarly contributions.
Dr. Elizabeth Aranda co-authored
“Puerto Rican Families in Central
Florida: Prejudice, Discrimination,
and Their Implications for Successful
Integration,” which appeared in Wom-
en, Gender, and Families of Color
In addition to their books (featured on
p. 4), Drs. Sara Green and Shawn
Bingham published a chapter “I could
have so easily been excluded: Explor-
ing narratives of inclusion and exclu-
sion in the lives of professional per-
formers with disabilities” in Scorgie,
K., & Sobsie, R. (Eds.) Working with
Families for Inclusive Education: Nav-
igating Identity, Opportunity and Be-
longing, International Perspectives on
Inclusive Education, Volume 10. Em-
erald Group Publishing Limited. 2017.
Dr. Sara Crawley had her article
“Heteronormativity made me lesbian:
Femme, butch and the production of
sexual embodiment projects” pub-
lished in the journal Sexualities.
In addition to her co-edited book
(featured on p. 4), Dr. Elizabeth
Hordge-Freeman co-authored an
article “Between Power and Marginali-
ty: Gaining Access and Navigating the
Field in Multiethnic Settings,” which
appeared in Qualitative Research.
Dr. Margarethe Kusenbach co-
edited (with Gaby Christmann) a spe-
cial issue of the International Journal
of Mass Emergencies and Disasters in
which she also has an article “It’s Not
Where I’d be Running Like an Idiot for
a Small One:” Hurricane Perceptions
and Evacuation Decision Making
Among Florida Mobile Home Resi-
dents.”
Dr. Donileen Loseke published two
articles -- “Seeing the Light: Qualita-
tive Research, Culture, and Cognition”
in Qualitative Sociology, and
“Symbolic Interaction and Narrative
Productions of Meaning in Public
Spaces” in Studies in Symbolic Inter-
action, an edited annual.
Dr. John Skvoretz and graduate
student Jasmon Bailey published
an article “‘Red, White, Yellow, Blue,
All Out but You’: Status Effects on
Team Formation, an Expectation
States Theory” in Social Psychology
Quarterly. Dr. Skvoretz also pub-
lished an article “All for one and one
for all: Theoretical models, sociologi-
cal theory, and mathematical sociolo-
gy” in The Journal of Mathematical
Sociology.
Dr. Erica Toothman co-authored
an article “Explaining Age Differ-
ences in Women’s Emotional Well-
being: The Role of Subjective Experi-
ences of Aging” in the Journal of
Women & Aging, which attracted
media coverage by both the Tampa
Bay Times and The Washington Post.
Dr. Will Tyson co-authored an arti-
cle “How Schools Structure Oppor-
tunity: The Role of Curriculum and
Placement in Math Attainment” that
was published in Research in Social
Stratification and Mobility.
Doctoral student Patrick Casey
published an article “Stigmatized
Identities: Too Muslim to Be Ameri-
can, Too American to Be Muslim” in
the journal Symbolic Interaction.
Doctoral student Justine Egner
published a chapter: “A Messy Tra-
jectory: From Medical Sociology to
Crip Theory” in Sociology Looking at
Disability: What Did We Know and
When Did We Know It?, Volume 9 of
the Research in Social Science and
Disability book series (Green, S., &
Barnartt, S., Eds). Emerald Group
Publishing Limited. 2017.
Doctoral student Hadi Khoshneviss
published an article “Accountability
in a State of Liminality: Iranian Stu-
dents’ Experiences in American Air-
ports” in the journal Mobilities.
Doctoral student Girsea Martinez
co-authored “#WakeUpAmerica,
#IllegalsAreCriminals: The Role of
the Cyber Public Sphere in the Per-
petuation of the Latino Cyber-Moral
Other Recent Publications of Faculty & Students
SocioFeed Page 6
Page 7
In 2016-17, the recipients of our Outstanding
Senior Awards in Sociology and ISS, respec-
tively, were Ricky Scheiber-Camaretty
and Kathryn Barkley. The recipients of
our Wallace Scholarships were: Victoria
Adesso, Tatyana Bazard, Flandra Ismaj-
li, and Denzal Williams.
Although many people promote the success of
our undergraduate students, key players are
our program directors, our academic advisors
Brandon Kroll and Shani Garza, and fac-
ulty who direct honors thesis projects. Last
year, Dr. Michael Kleiman directed eight
honors theses, and Dr. Chris Ponticelli
directed three, one of whom — Flandra Ismajli — won the LGBT Special Col-
lections Research Award to study safe spaces offered by gay retirement com-
munities, the results of which she presented in spring, 2017.
Undergraduate Student Success
Interested in Supporting our Student Success Movement?
You can support the Department of Sociology’s student scholarships, study abroad initiatives, faculty-led research
projects, and programmatic needs by making a donation to the USF Foundation targeted to one of these areas.
Simply visit http://sociology.usf.edu, click on “Make A Gift,” and select which fund you would like to
contribute to. You can also mail a check, made out to the USF Foundation with Fund #420066 in the memo line,
to the Office of Development, College of Arts and Sciences, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, CPR 107, Tampa, FL 33620.
Thank you in advance for your support!
Alumni Corner
Flandra Ismajli and Dr. Ponticelli
...and Service The Sociology/ISS Club, under the leadership of Club President Xamil Vega
and faculty advisor Dr. Jennifer Friedman, spearheaded a Food and Supply
Drive, to assist the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico during Septem-
ber and October. On Friday, October 27, the students gathered to help load
hundreds of items on trucks for shipment to Puerto Rico.
Newest Master’s Alumni/ae: During the
2016-2017 academic year, six of our MA
students graduated with their master’s
degrees — Diamond Briggs, Elizabeth Joy
Fuller, Olivia Johnson, Toria Kwan, Azka
Tanveer Mahmood, and Manuel Ramirez.
Doctoral alumna Dr. Maggie Cobb, Assis-
tant Professor at University of Tampa, re-
cently published in the Journal of Contem-
porary Ethnography.
An alumna of our MA program, Dr. Na-
talie Delia Deckard, Assistant Professor
at Davidson College, recently published
articles in Social Currents, Sociological
Quarterly, and Sociology Compass.
MA alumnus Dr. Marc Settembrino, As-
sistant Professor at Southeastern Louisi-
ana University, recently published an arti-
cle in IJMED and a co-authored article in
Teaching Sociology.
MA alumna Morgan Sanchez and Doctor-
al alumna Dr. Loren Wilbers each recent-
ly published a chapter in the edited volume
Sociology Looking at Disability.
An alumnus of our bachelor’s program in
Sociology, Austin Stevens, is now Director
of Video Engagement Strategy at
TruScribe: Science in Moving Messages, a
company that supplies new learning tech-
nologies to colleges and universities.
Sociology UG honors grad Brianna Vice
recently published an article with Sara
Green.
In April, 2017, an alumnus of our ISS pro-
gram, Joe Zuniga, a nationally recognized
singer and author, returned to campus for a
book signing of his book Debra Lafave- A
Crown of Beauty for Ashes, which is a story
about second chances. His newest song
titled “Familias Unidas” (United Families)
can be watched on Youtube.
4202 E. Fowler Ave., CPR 107
Tampa, FL 33620-6455
Phone: (813) 974-2893
Fax: (813) 974-6455
E-mail: [email protected]
Sociology.usf.edu
Page 8
Help Us Celebrate our Success
Consider joining us for our Expo & Banquet on Wednesday, April 11, 2018