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Department of Sociology
Spring 2024 Newsletter
Greetings from the Chair's Office
I look forward to exciting new developments in the Department of Sociology in the coming year while reflecting on some important changes. Notably, during a period of financial retrenchment this year, our department was nonetheless able to secure three new faculty positions. I am thrilled to introduce Drs. Lindsay Bing and Daniel Konikoff who will play essential roles in shaping the future of our criminology stream. Welcome!
We are also currently recruiting a full-time Teaching Professor. As usual, our faculty members have undertaken a wide range of laudable and high-profile scholarly activities. Part of such work has routinely seen people prominently involved in assorted professional activities and disciplinary associations. This year, it is worth noting the considerable role of the Department of Sociology in the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA). Dr. Temitope Oriola is the President of the CSA, and Dr. ByatRizi serves on the board of directors.
Dr. Clèment is the managing editor of the CSA house journal, the Canadian Review of Sociology, with Drs. Maroto and Urbanik helping to co-edit that journal. It is great to see such prominent representation in our discipline’s national organization.
Our tenure began in a challenging time marked by government budget cutbacks, academic restructuring, and rising student concerns. We as a team were committed to pivoting to reengage students through academic and social events, as well as function as a support system to amplify their concerns to the relevant bodies.
The department’s graduate student association (SGSA) also had a busy year. As the President of the SGSA (Nazmul Arefin) notes below, much of their work this year focused on initiatives designed to build department culture and engage students, including the successful “Buddy Program” and the “Pizza in the Park” event. The newsletter introduces you to two of our
students, Olesya Kochkina and Nader Chehayeb. Still, there are many opportunities to get to know our students, including the “Brown Bag Series” of presentations organized by the SGSA.
As noted below, the department now has several opportunities for alums and friends of the department to provide financial assistance to our students and the wider department. As interim chair, I am continually thankful for the support from faculty members, previous chairs, and our great staff. I am excited by the prospect of working this coming year to support our department and celebrate our many achievements.
Call for Donations
The Department of Sociology has a number of current endowment opportunities:
Dr. Rosalind Sydie Memorial Scholarship Endowment
The interest from this endowment (goal of $50,000) will provide an annual scholarship to a graduate student in either Sociology or Women's and Gender Studies who is conducting research in gender and culture, feminist theory, and/or gender equity--areas that reflect the many contributions of Professor Emeritus Ros Sydie, who died in June 2019.
Charlene Marshall Award in Sociology: The interest from this endowment will provide deserving undergraduate students in the Department of Sociology the opportunity to pursue educational travel opportunities such as attending conferences and training seminars. Initiated in memory of Charlene Marshall, long-time undergraduate advisor in the department.
Endowed Sociology Account Endowment: The interest from this endowment (E0680) supports awards for graduate students in the form of departmental scholarships, fellowships, loans, bursaries or prizes.
Gordon Hirabayashi Graduate Scholarship Endowment in Sociology: The interest from this endowment (E0547) supports annual graduate student awards with research interests in one or more of human rights, race and ethnic relations, social inequality, and social justice.
Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award Endowment: The interest from this endowment (E5923) is directed to the teaching enterprise in Sociology (through an annual award to a faculty member or contract instructor) which includes but is not limited to the purchase of equipment, AV materials and the like.
Please consider donating to the Department! Your generosity goes a long way.
The Auntie is IN!
Assistant Professor Paulina Johnson launched Season 2 of The Auntie is In podcast on March 22, 2024! We're looking forward to seeing what's to come! To listen to past episodes, and to catch up on new, click the button below. ⬇️
Graduate Student Profiles
Graduate Student (MA): Nader Chehayeb
Nader Chehayeb is a first-year Master’s student in the course-based program. His areas of research interest include incarcerated individuals, people experiencing houselessness, and people who use drugs. His capstone project focuses on the perceptions of police among community members experiencing houselessness in Edmonton. Through his research and coursework, Nader aims to better understand the experiences of various marginalized groups. He hopes to apply this knowledge to the study of law in the fall of 2024, when he will commence his JD. In his free time, Nader loves to read, try new restaurants, go to the gym, spend time with his family, and play with his dog.
Graduate Student (PhD): Olesya Kochkina
Olesya Kochkina (she/her) is an international PhD student, who came back to academia after fifteen years of professional engagement in the international development sector. Her research interests include the intersectional analysis of social policies that affect how people with the most marginalized identities experience gender-based violence (GBV), including access to GBV services, housing, employment, healthcare, and childcare. Olesya is also interested in public health, particularly sexual and reproductive health, and the emergent One Health concept, which recognizes the interdependency of planetary, animal and human health. She uses feminist and social justice approaches in her work and is interested in praxis-oriented research that prioritizes community-based and participatory approaches to knowledge production. She finds non-Western ways of knowledge production very inspiring and enriching and tries to keep herself open to learning.
Olesya is balancing her PhD studies with being a full-time mom of a second-grader. Her favourite thing to do in her free time is to trek in the mountains with her family.
2023 - 24 Speaker Series
With a double Criminology hire over the Fall 2023 term, the number of speakers we hosted were limited this year. Still, we were very pleased to host Drs. Bill McCarthy, and Keith Hampton.
Welcome to our New Faculty Members
Dr. Lindsay Bing
...starts a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology on January 1, 2025. Dr. Bing completed their Ph.D. in sociology with a specialization in demography at the University of Texas at Austin in 2022 and is currently completing a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Columbia University Justice Lab in New York. While a graduate student at UT Austin, they co-founded and directed the Texas Prison Education Initiative, a program offering college courses to incarcerated teens and adults.
Prior to pursing their Ph.D., Dr. Bing completed a master’s degree in Middle East politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK, and a bachelor’s degree in political science at Portland State University in Oregon, US.
Dr. Bing’s research sits at the intersection of social demography, criminology, and inequality. They use quantitative research methods with "big data" to understand how practices and policies of criminal legal institutions reproduce and amplify racial and
socioeconomic inequality. Their work has received support from the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development.
When not working on research, Lindsay likes to play flag football and other team sports, and lose boardgames to their wife, Miranda. Lindsay is looking forward to exploring the boardgame cafes and social sport leagues in Edmonton!
Dr. Daniel Konikoff
...begins a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology on July 1, 2024. Daniel received his PhD from the University of Toronto, where he studied at the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies. His research focuses on the intersection of justice and technology. Daniel’s latest project involved examining the governance of police’s use of facial recognition technology in Canada. Previously, Daniel was the Director of the Privacy, Technology, and Surveillance program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, where he led advocacy efforts around Canada’s new legislation on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Daniel and his wife, Rebekah, are looking forward to moving to Edmonton, as are their extremely cute pets Meadow (3-year-old border collie/Australian shepherd mix) and Moon (16-year-old cat). When he’s not on campus, Daniel loves playing guitar, cooking, and going to the movies.
Upcoming Books in Sociology
We had a quartet of books submitted this year, in addition to numerous articles and other publications, with a memoir from Prof. Amy Kaler, and a trio of textbooks from Profs. Shirley Ann Tate, Lisa Strohschein & Frank Trovato.
Canadian Studies in Population at 50
Founded in 1974, the Canadian Population Society (CPS) will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024. The
University of Alberta has long played a significant role in the society. One of its founding members was Parameswara Krishnan, a professor in the department of Sociology at the U of A. Krishnan served as the first Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Studies in Population (CSiP), which will also celebrate its fiftieth
anniversary this year. Up until 2019, CSiP was based out of the Department of Sociology at the U of A. In 2020, the CPS entered into an agreement with SpringerNature to publish CSiP as a hybrid journal. In 2022, Lisa Strohschein became the Editor-in-Chief of CSiP, bringing the journal back to the department of Sociology at the U of A. More details on the journal can be found here.
'As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the CPS is holding two special sessions, sponsored by the
Federation, on June 18th at Congress in Montreal. These sessions “Applied Demography in Canada” and
“CPS at 50 – Looking back” are open to all. More details on these sessions can be found here.
Anti-Racism Lab
For the 2023-2024 academic year, the Anti-Racism Lab has been hosting and organizing a series of webinars and workshops related to racism, antiracism, and decolonization. On November 29th, 2023, Dr. Magda Minguzzi from Nelson Mandela University gave a lecture and showed a documentary called “Origins: An Investigation into Khoi-San Heritage Sites” The Documentary is about a community engagement research project with the First Nations of South Africa.
To honor Black History Month, Dr. Andrea A. Davis from York University gave a talk on her recent book, Horizon, Sea, Sound: Caribbean and African Women's Cultural Critiques of Nation. In her recent book, Horizon, Sea, Sound: Caribbean and African Women's Cultural Critiques of Nation (Northwestern UP, 2022), she explores possibilities for collaboration among Indigenous, Black, and other racialized women and offers new reflections on the relationship between the Caribbean and Canada.
For the next few months, the Anti-Racism Lab is hosting the “Decolonization in Context” workshop series. These workshops are designed for people to learn more about racism, settler colonialism, and decolonization from global contexts. The first session was the USA
(February 6th), organized by Dr. Shaista Aziz Patel (UC San Diego) and the panelists were Dr. Theresa Jean Ambo (UC San Diego), Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly (Wayne State University), and Dr. Amanda Batarseh (UC San Diego). The second session was Canada (February 9th), organized by Dr. Shirley Anne Tate (University of Alberta, Canada Research Chair Tier 1 Feminism and Intersectionality), and the panelists included Dr. Verna St. Denis (University of Saskatchewan), Dr. Malinda Smith (University of Calgary), and Dr. Enakshi Dua (York University). The most recent session was Finland (March 13), organized by Dr. Suvi Keskinen (University of Helsinki), and the panelists were Dr. Rauna Kuokkanen (University of Lapland), Dr. Maïmouna
Matikainen-Soreau (University of Helsinki), and Dr. Patricia Scalco (University of Helsinki).
The next one is South Africa (April 17th: Time TBA), Brazil (May 8th: Time TBA), and Sweden (June: Time and Date TBA). For the Anti-Racism Lab webinar series, Dr. Tamari Kitossa from Brock University will give a talk on Black Masculinities (May 22nd 12pm Mountain Time). Dr. Isabel Altamirano-Jimenez from the Department of Political Science will be our guest speaker for the Anti-Racism Lab’s Indigenous History Month event in June.
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Dr. Michelle Maroto (left) and Dr. Jana Grekul (right) who have been promoted to full professor, effective July 1, 2024.
Congratulations to Dr. Nicole Denier who has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure as of July 1, 2024. Dr. Denier is pictured giving an invited presentation at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America in New Orleans.
2023 Sociology Graduate Student Association
The SGSA works with the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and other student bodies to advocate for students in our department. Our team strives to create a diverse, equitable, and advocacy-focused student community and aims to ensure that all students’ voices and needs are represented and addressed collaboratively.
Our tenure began in a challenging time marked by government budget cutbacks, academic restructuring, and rising student concerns. We as a team were committed to pivoting to reengage students through academic and social events, as well as function as a support system to amplify their concerns to the relevant bodies.
We started with the ‘Buddy Program’ for new graduate students followed by our inaugural ‘Pizza in the Park’ event. Then, we invited three brilliant students who graduated from our department—William Schultz, Laura Quinlan, and Yao Qu—to present their work at our first ‘Brown Bag’ event. We have also introduced various initiatives for graduate students over this past year, including ‘Coffee with the Chair’, “Linkee Lunch”, a potluck, and Movie Night.
Over this past year, it has been a privilege and honour to collaborate with the enthusiastic and dedicated SGSA Executive team:
Department Liaison: Celine Beaulieu
Treasurer: Kaitlyn Budgell
Academic Events Coordinators: Luke Wonneck and Alexandra Hélène Gagnon
GSA Councillor: Yan Xue
Cheers,
Md. Nazmul Arefin
President, SGSA
Alberta Criminology at the ASC!
This year the Grad student and Faculty complement included Brittney Schwehr, Luca Berardi, Justin Tetrault, Sandra Bucerius, Alysha McDonald, Emily Stewart, Rebekah McNeilly, Natasha Martino & Celine Beaulieu.
Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Wei-Jun Yeung
Professor Wei-Jun Jean Yeung graduated with her PhD from the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta in 1991. Her supervisory committee consisted of Professors John Gartrell, Harvey Krahn, and Frank Trovato.
Professor Yeung began her career as a research scientist at the University of Michigan, where she was Co-PI on the well-known Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Since 2008, Professor Yeung has been at the National University of Singapore (NUS), serving as Provost’s Chair Professor in the Department of Sociology from 2008-2023. Currently, she is Professor of the NUS Department of Paediatrics in the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Over the course of her career, Professor Yeung has become a leading expert in social demography and family studies. In 2014, she founded the Center for Family and Population Research at NUS and still serves as its director. She is also Director of Social Sciences at the Singapore Institute of Clinical Science at A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research). She is the inaugural President of the Population Association of Singapore and President of the International Chinese Sociological Association. As Principal Investigator of the Singapore Longitudinal Early Development Study (SG-LEADS), Professor Yeung leads an innovative research team that is providing policy-relevant insights into the factors that promote child well-being and development in the Singaporean context.
Interested in being featured in a future ‘Spotlight on Alumni’? Get in touch with Cristeen Whalen (socea@ualberta.ca).
2023 Undergraduate Awards
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2023 Sociology Undergraduate Essay and Theory Essay Award Competition. These are awarded to students who have submitted outstanding papers in fulfillment of the requirements for an undergraduate sociology course.
1st Place: Kesia Muthuthotatil -
BA in Criminology
"Shifting Correctional Interventions to Cultural Interventions" SOC 499: Advanced Field Placement in Criminology
2nd Place: Kelly Lau - BA Honors in Sociology
"Migrant Sex Work: Policy Brief on PCEPA and Related Policies" SOC 402: Topics in Sociology - Migration and Public Policy
3rd Place: Melissa Uwagboe - BA in Sociology and Psychology
"What is Black Masculinity?" SOC 402: Topics in Sociology - Race, Gender and Culture
1st Place: Kesia Muthuthotatil
BA Criminology
Theory Undergraduate Essay Award
Anahi Palomec McKenna - BA in English with a Sociology Minor and Native Studies Minor
"Edmonton's Public Secret: Examining "Invisibilization' and Indigeneity Through Edmonton's Urban Iconography" SOC 445: Cities and Suburbia
Charlene Marshall Award Winner 2023
Mylo Sakhuja
Mylo is incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to study abroad this summer. She studied US Foreign Policy along with a joint internship in Washington, D.C., and also studied a course on the Sociology of Human Rights while in France.
Particularly for sociology students, navigating new social dynamics offers an invaluable learning experience. From the embedded history in Grenoble to the political culture in Washington, D.C., Mylo was continually challenged to think critically in cross-cultural contexts and foster a deeper understanding of global issues. This immersive educational experience encouraged her to further incorporate reflexivity into her understanding of sociology, enhancing her research skills and preparing Mylo to embrace the full potential of her upcoming undergraduate thesis. She found that the heights of her abroad experiences became her new baseline, serving as the foundation for immense growth in confidence and learning. Despite initially being daunted by the prospect of studying abroad, Mylo was surprised to find the world outside of Edmonton to be truly accessible, and she's excited to continue exploring it!
Congratulations Retirees!
We hope you enjoy your retirements, and wish you all the best on your next adventures!
Dr. Stephen Kent, Dr. Herb Northcott, Frank Trovato, and Dr. Alison Dunwoody!
