The SUNY Oswego sociology department hosted the 63rd annual New York State Sociological Association conference Oct. 2 and 3. All of the events, including session panels and keynote speakers, were held in the Marano Campus Center. NYSSA is the longest continuously running state sociological association conference in the United States. Tim Delaney, professor and chair of sociology, was the president of NYSSA for the 2014-15 year but everyone in the sociology department helped to contribute to its success, he said. A number of professors and students from Oswego participated in the conference by presenting their research papers in various session panels: Darci Herrick (“Monsters Don’t Live Under the Bed: They Live Down the Hall”) and Michelle Winkelman (“The Emergence of the Transgender Community”) presented their papers in the “Issues in Gender Studies” panel, with Winkelman winning the award for “Best Undergraduate Student Paper.” Lindsay Bell of the anthropology faculty led a group of Oswego students in the panel “Teaching Ethnography on the Run: Introducing Undergraduates to Ethnographic Sensibilities.” Panelists included Shauna Anderson (“Same Page?: Authoritative and Cooperative Talk Amongst Female Synchronized Skaters at SUNY Oswego”), Steven Belles (“Mixing Crew: Redefining Collegiate Athletics”), Sarah Swarthout (“Out on the Country Campus: LGBT Experiences of Home/School Transitions”), Alexa Lucera (“It Just Felt Right: Bipolar Women’s Experiences of Therapeutic Alliance and Disconnect”) and Kailli Morris (“The Long Drive Home: First Encounters with Immersion Ethnography”). Omara Rivera-Vazquez of public justice and Zachary Miner of sociology presented their respective papers (“Examining the Relationship Between Political Ideology and Willingness to Convict Among Potential Jurors” and “The Gunner Down Under: Was Australia’s National Firearms Agreement Effective?”) in the “Analysis of Criminal Justice Procedures” panel. Kevin White, director of Native American studies, presented his paper “The 1% of New York Students” in the “Active Engagement in the Field” session panel. William Rose of the sociology faculty led a panel of Oswego students in the “Student Activism and Public Sociology” panel, with Oswego panelists also including Kriszina Arseneau (“Volunteerism as Student Activism”); Chantel Diamond (“Social Media as Student Activism”) and Krystal Rondan (“Blogging as Student Activism”). Evelyn Benavides Clark of the sociology faculty led a panel of Oswego students in the “Topics in Globalization” session panel: Ryan Peters (“Globalization’s Ugly Hand in Protracting Inequality: From Modernization to Neoliberalism”), Samantha Chesnut (“Criminalization of Pregnancy Outcomes”), Shunia Williams (“Globalization and Poverty”) and Jackie Clemens (“Liberalism Evolved: Cultural Transformations in the Political Economy in the Imperialist and Globalization Eras”). Chris Mack of the history faculty and Kelly Cullinan, Tyler Box Office manager, presented their respective papers “Class and Nationalism at the Dawn of American Golf” and “The Social Impact of Jack Nicklaus” in the “Topics in Sport and Society” session. Pictured from left are presenters and/or students volunteers Jackie McCarthy, Arseneau, Delaney, Rondan, Winkelman and Clemens.
The Astronomical Journal has accepted for publication a paper co-authored by Shashi Kanbur, professor and chair of physics. Anupam Bhardwaj of the University of Delhi is the lead author of “Large Magellanic Cloud Near-Infrared Synoptic Survey. II. The Wesenheit Relations and Their Application to the Distance Scale.” Co-authors in addition to Kanbur include Lucas Macri of Texas A&M University, H.P. Singh of the University of Delhi, Chow-Choong Ngeow of Taiwan’s National Central University, and Rachel A Wagner-Kaiser and Ata Sarajedini of the University of Florida. Also, Kanbur, Cleane Medeiros of the biological sciences faculty and Provost Lorrie Clemo are authors of a “research vignette” on SUNY Oswego’s Global Laboratory that appears on the website of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Oswego is one of six institutions from around the country featured on the page for programs that grow research opportunities for students.
John F. Lalande II, professor and chair of the modern languages and literatures department, and Jacqueline Cappello, a 2007 graduate of Oswego, delivered a joint presentation on the celebration of Munich’s Oktoberfest to members of Access Central New York on Sept. 24 in Cicero.
K. Brad Wray, professor of philosophy, was an invited speaker,pictured, at the second International Conference on Socially Extended Knowledge at the University of Edinburgh, sponsored by Eideyn, The Edinburgh Centre for Epistemology, Mind and Normativity. His paper was titled “How Far Can Extended Knowledge Be Extended?: The Asymmetry Between Research Teams and Artifacts.”
In Memoriam
Frank Mazzoli, 83, former assistant vice president of the physical plant, died Oct. 18 at his home in Oswego.