THE BULLETIN

Click here to return to THE BULLETIN home page.

NCSA 2005 Membership Form is available as a PDF document.
Viewing this document requires Abode Acrobat Reader.

"Himes Award" for Outstanding Student Sociology Papers

Call for Papers: The NCSA seeks papers that represent excellence in sociological analysis from both undergraduate and graduate students. This competition comes with a monetary award ($150 for the winning undergraduate papers, $250 for the top graduate paper), and a certificate of recognition from the association. Three awards are available: one for graduate students, and one each for undergraduates at four-year institutions, and two-year institutions.

Award winners are recognized at the NCSA annual meeting and their papers are published on the official NCSA website. Faculty mentors are also recognized at the annual meeting, and department chairs and college deans are forwarded award information for contract and promotion purposes.

Eligibility requirements are simple: Any current student enrolled in a community college or university in North Carolina may submit a paper for consideration. Also, students who graduated in the previous Spring or Summer Sessions are eligible to submit a paper for consideration of awards that will be conferred in the following academic year.

1. Co-authored papers written by graduate students are eligible for the graduate paper award and co-authored papers written by undergraduates are eligible for the undergraduate award. Cash awards will be evenly split among authors of award winning papers.
2. Co-authored papers between students and faculty and between graduate students and undergraduate students are ineligible.
3. The same individual may be eligible to win the undergraduate award once and the graduate award once.

Judgment criteria include:
· accurate, focused, and thorough review of the pertinent sociological literature
· use of method related to topic
· appropriate use of evidence in drawing conclusions
· ability to use theoretical analysis and interpretation
· insight and creativity
· writing skill, clarity, and coherence and
· proper use of citations and documentation

Please send four (4) blind copies of papers with a cover letter describing the students year in school, institutional affiliation, & faculty mentor information to: Graham Spann, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Division of Business & Social Sciences, Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk, NC 28604-0128. The deadline for submission is February 15, 2005.

"The State of North Carolina: Our Laboratory for Teaching, Research, and Service"

Come to Durham for the 2005 annual meeting!

by Rebecca Bach
Duke University
NCSA President-Elect

Greetings North Carolina Sociological Association members and friends! As President-elect of NCSA, I invite you to attend our annual meeting at the Durham Hilton on February 17 and 18, 2005. The meeting will follow our usual format, with a welcoming reception on Thursday evening followed by a full day of stimulating sessions, our annual banquet and awards ceremony, exhibits, and more on Friday. We look forward to hosting you here in Durham, a location that is centrally located so that our friends and colleagues from both ends of the state won’t have too far to travel. (We hope our friends in the western part of the state will have recovered from the nasty blows suffered from a particularly active and unpredictable hurricane season.)

The theme for our 2005 meeting is: "The State of North Carolina: Our Laboratory for Teaching, Research, and Service". As citizens of North Carolina, our unique social context shapes our work as sociologists who teach, perform research, and provide service to our institutions and our communities. Many of us focus our efforts on social issues that pertain to North Carolina's increasingly diverse population, evolving economy and workforce, struggling systems of education, legal/political systems, changing families, etc. At our annual NCSA conference in February we will have an opportunity to share some of the insights gained from these efforts to examine our surrounding social landscape and to reflect on the current "state" of North Carolina.

Visit NCSA Journal, SOCIATION TODAY On-Line

     SOCIATION TODAY is the first web-based journal sponsored by a professional society. The goal of the journal is to publish electronically short articles with one or two tables which will be accessible to professionals, students, and the general population, said Robert Wortham, a member of the editorial board. Please feel free to submit articles to the editor and take time to browse the current issue: www.ncsociology.org/journal/

Sociation Today, Volume 2, Number 2 (Fall 2004) is in press. So far the issue will feature an article on the family by Charles Nam, in addition to a discussion of how the social sciences have been marginalized by the laboratory scientific establishment. Leslie Hosfeld will discuss poverty in eastern North Carolina. There will also be a review of an article on crowding and social behavior. Several other articles are under review for the issue.

Spring 2005 will be a special issue on W.E.B. DuBois which Robert Wortham is coordinating. Three articles are in hand. We are look for a fourth article on W.E.B. DuBois. If any sociologist is working on W.E.B. DuBois, we would be interested in looking at your work as a possible fourth article for the Spring 2005 issue.

nilknocgeo@earthlink.net

NCSA Award for Contributions to Sociology

Each year the NCSA presents an Award for Contributions to Sociology. This award recognizes excellence in teaching, service, research, and/or other activity. It is open to members of the NCSA in academic, research, or applied positions.

An individual other than the nominee, an academic department, government agency, or employer may make nominations. The nomination should include a summary of appropriate evidence, including information about items such as:

• teaching evaluations by students, peers, and administrators
• developing and improving teaching techniques
• advising and supervising students and serving as a mentor
• developing, administering, evaluating, and marketing courses and programs
• fostering improved teaching through research, publications, conferences, and workshops
• outstanding scholarly contributions through books, articles, or other publications
• service to the academic community or one's place of employment
• service to the profession of Sociology through work with either state, regional, national, or international associations
• community service at the local, state, regional or national level (This could include work with both nonprofit and profit organizations where the outcome demonstrated a significant contribution to Sociology or to bettering society.)
• the application of sociological knowledge to a critical societal problem and its solution.

The winner is recognized at the annual meeting in February, and receives a plaque acknowledging the award as well as a lifetime membership to NCSA.

Previous winners of this award include Joseph Himes, Isabelle Powell, Alfred Denton, Odell Uzzell, Ben Judkins, Ella Keller, Lee Dodson, George Conklin, Dick and Ida Simpson, David Pratto, John Shelton Reed, Pat Wyatt, Catherine Harris, Mike Wise, Virginia Foxx,  Ken Land, and Ron Wimberley.

Nominations for the Contributions to Sociology Award should be sent with all supporting materials to: Graham Spann, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Division of Business & Social Sciences, Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk, NC 28604-0128. The deadline for submission of these nominations is December 15, 2004.

2004-2005 NCSA Committees

The Bulletin: Lee Dodson

NCCCSPA Will Meet in Asheville Nov. 17-19

The annual conference of the North Carolina Community College Sociology/Psychology Association (NCCCSPA), sister organization to the NCSA, will be held November 17-19 in Asheville, NC. Conference attendees will meet at the Doubletree Biltmore Hotel. A block of rooms is reserved for participants. Reservations need to be made by October 13 to get the special state rate.

Keynote speaker is Steve Smith, a favorite leader from the "Great Teacher Retreat." Other sessions include "Making Your Point With Music," "Problem Solving with Hats," and "Beyond the Borders of the Classroom." Tai Chi as a stress management tool was so popular at last year’s conference that it will be offered again this year. Networking time and time to enjoy the beautiful mountain environment of Biltmore will also be prioritized.

We welcome all faculty who are interested in our organization. If you are a community college Sociology or Psychology instructor, this may just be your niche!

Please go to www.nccspa.org for a complete schedule and conference registration information.

For more information about the organization or its annual meeting, please contact Caroline Whitehead at Craven Community College (252-638-7305).

Contact Information:

The editor of THE BULLETIN is Lee Dodson, Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at Rockingham Community College, P.O. Box 38, Wentworth, NC 27375-0038
336-342-4261, ext. 2155

dodsonl@rockinghamcc.edu

  The secretary/treasurer of the NCSA is Sue Pauley, Professor of Sociology at Wingate University, Campus Box 5007, Wingate, NC 28174. Questions about membership should be directed to Dr. Pauley.

supaul@wingate.edu

Let Us Know!

Members of the NCSA are encouraged to contact any member of the NCSA Executive Council to suggest state sociological issues they would like the organization to address. Contact Cathy Zimmer, NCSA president.