Department News

Dr. Bo Bernhard has recently been awarded a $220,000 grant by the State of Nevada Health and Human Services. He will serve as the principle investigator for a study evaluating the effectiveness of intervention in the lives of problem gamblers.

Dr. Christie Batson has joined our department as of the Fall of 2007. She comes to us from Ohio State University, and her areas of interest include immigration, population, inequality, and demography.

Kathryn Gilpatric is our most recent PhD recipient. Kael Goodwin, Crystal Jackson, and Brooke Wagner have all recently received their MAs.

Events & Notices

PAST EVENT: Dr. Simon Gottschalk

Simon Gottschalk presented "The Chemical Self: Prozac, Hypermodernism and Politics" on August 30, 2007 as one of our departmental research seminars. His presentation explored the commercialization of medicated mental health, and the presentation of the medicated self as the "true self". Dr. Gottschalk has been an editor of Symbolic Interaction, and is engaged in ongoing research surrounding psychotropic drugs, mental health, and the hypermodern world.

PAST EVENT: Dr. Frank D. Bean

Director of the Center for Research on Immigration, Population and Public Policy at University of California in Irvine, Dr. Frank D. Bean will present “Immigration, the Economy and U.S. Policy” onApril 16, 2007. Dr. Bean has been a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, and is the author of America's Newcomers And the Dynamics of Diversity. His research focuses on immigration policies and naturalization.

PAST EVENT: Dr. Andrea Fontana & Dr. Anastasia Prokos

Andy Fontana and Ana Prokos talked about their current research and forthcoming book titled Interviewing: From Formal to Postmodern on April 25, 2007 as the first of the Department of Sociology Research Seminar Series. Dr. Fontana is the author and editor of several books on aging and society, and postmodernism. He is also a former president of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and a former editor of the journal Symbolic Interaction. Dr. Prokos has had several research articles published on the sociology of work, and gender. She co-founded the UNLV chapter of Sociologists for Women in Society with Dr. Jennifer Keene, and recieved the William Morris Award for Excellence in Teaching.