Sociology - John Carroll University

SPRING 2009

Dr. Richard Clark continues to travel with students participating in international immersion experiences as he joined the group traveling to Kingston, Jamaica in May, 2008. The group participated in volunteer work and met with local community leaders to learn about the culture and challenges facing the people of Jamaica today.
Dr. Ernest DeZolt is the co-coordinator of the Criminology track, and is responsible for supervising internships that include Federal, State, and Local opportunities associated with the Criminal Justice System.
Dr. Kenneth N. Eslinger contributed to the revision of the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences published by Macmillan Reference this year.
Dr. Phyllis Braudy Harris received the 2009 Distinguished Faculty Award. The award was presented at the Commencement ceremony on May 17, 2009. This award is given annually to a faculty member who has exemplified a quality classroom performance and a balanced contribution to scholarship, community service and to the spirit of Jesuit education. A photo of Dr. Harris being presented with the award may be viewed at: http://www.jcu.edu/events/distinguishedfaculty.htm. Ohio Magazine also recognized Dr. Harris' outstanding educational achievements both within and outside of the classroom in the December 2008 as part of the "Excellence in Education Program". Dr. Harris attended the annual meeting for Philosophy and Mental Health in October, 2008 where she was a panelist and presented a paper titled "The resilience of the human spirit: Coping with Alzheimer's disease".
Dr. Susan Long completed a Grauel Fellowship last spring to analyze the data from a collaborative research project on elder care in Japan under the new public long term care insurance system. She also co-led the Pop Culture in Japan Study Tour in May. Dr. Long published a chapter in a book on elder care titled "Someone's Old, Something's New, Someone's Borrowed, Someone's Blue" through SUNY Press Imagined Families, Lived Families: Culture and Kinshi in Contemporary Japan by Akiko Hashimoto and John Traphagen. Dr. Long has also been named the chair of the Research Committee of the American Advisory Committee of the Japan Foundation due to nomination by colleagues at the ACC and recommendation by the NY Foundation staff.
Dr. Donna K. Rumenik led a two-week summer research workshop at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies in July 2009 entitled:"Bringing the past into the present: Missing narratives of the Holocaust in Ukraine.” The international group of scholars presented their research findings to the public on July 31, 2009. In June 2008 Dr. Rumenik was a selected participant in the Silberman seminar, "Teaching the Legacy of the Holocaust: Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania." This seminar was sponsored by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. She also was one of 16 international scholars exploring and conducting research at the WWII International Tracing Center archives in Bad Arolsen, Germany in June, 2008. . Dr. Rumenik was also a Fulbright Scholar in 2007 teaching and conducting research in Ukraine. Recently she had a publication in Psychology and Sociology, Vol. 2(1) titled "A different view on prostitution: The world’s oldest trade or a story of women like you and me.”
Dr. Gloria Vaquera was awarded a fellowship to attend the the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Institute on Equity Research Methods and Critical Policy Analysis, Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 25-28, 2008, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. As one of seven junior faculty, she presented a working paper on doctoral student experiences. This manuscript is currently being revised for submission to a higher education journal. In an effort to translate research to action, she returned to the University of New Mexico October 13, 2008 to give a talk on doctoral student persistence and facilitate the creation of a survey on graduate student climate sponored by the Raza Graduate Student Association. Results from the survey will be used to improve retention among all graduate students. Dr. Vaquera has been awarded a Grauel Fellowship for fall, 2009 to examine the social capital acquisition of Latino families with a parish/college partnership program, especially for middle-school children.
Dr. Wendy Wiedenhoft is currently the coordinator of the Environmental Studies Concentration and faculty advisor of the student environmental group, Generation Green. She is also involved in an on-going summer program on peace building and conflict transformation in Northern Ireland. As a member of the Peace, War and Conflict group of the American Sociological Association, Dr. Wiedenhoft presented a paper "K(no)w Surrender: Cultural Entrepreneurs and the Ulster-Scots Movement" in New York City in late August. She also presented a paper "Touring the Troubles in West Belfast: Building Peace or Reproducing Conflict?" in Galway Ireland at the Political Studies Association in October, 2008. She had an article, "An Analytical Framework for Studying the Politics of Consumption: The Case of the National Consumers' League", published in the December, 2008 Social Movement Studies.
Dan Winterich co-wrote "How to Build a Superglue Fuming Chamber for a Vehicle" published in the recent edition of Evidence Technology Magazine. This chamber expands the use of technology used to process evidence for fingerprints using cyanoacrylate, aka superglue. In the October-November 2009 issue of Forensics Magazine (www.forensicmag.com)another article "Documenting Bloodstain Patterns through Roadmapping" was published.