Department of Sociology & Crime, Law and Justice
Department of Sociology & Crime, Law and Justice
211 Oswald Tower
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: 814-865-2527
Fax: 814-863-7216
Welcome
Welcome to the Department of Sociology at The Pennsylvania State University. At this website you will find everything you need to know about the Sociology and the Crime, Law, and Justice (CLJ) programs offered in our Department. These pages describe how to apply to the graduate program in Sociology or CLJ, how to complete the requirements for an undergraduate degree in Sociology or CLJ, how to contact a faculty member of the department, and how to locate us on the Penn State campus. You also can read about the teaching and research interests of our faculty, recent books written by our faculty, the interests and accomplishments of our graduate students who are on the job market (curriculum vitae are provided), and the faculty positions that we are seeking to fill in our department. We are ranked in the top 20 Sociology Departments in the country. We are a department committed to theoretically-informed empirical research that meets the highest standards of scientific rigor. We have particular faculty strengths in the areas of criminology/CLJ, demography, family studies, social stratification/inequality, and statistical methods. We also offer training in sociology of education, aging and the life course, sociology of religion, social movements, and theory.
John D. McCarthy
Professor and Head
In the Spotlight....
Dr. Michelle Frisco Named BIRCWH Scholar
Michelle Frisco, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography, has been named one of the first four Penn State BIRCWH Scholars (Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health). The goal of the BIRCWH program is to increase the number and skills of investigators in women’s health through a mentored research and career development experience. The Penn State BIRCWH program is supported by a 5-year K12 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant provides funds for junior faculty BIRCWH scholars to receive mentored research career development in interdisciplinary research on women’s health or on sex/gender differences related to biology, health, or disease. To learn more about Penn States BIRCWH program visit http://www.psu.edu/dept/bircwh/index.html. To learn more about Dr. Frisco’s research visit http://www.sociology.psu.edu/people/faculty/frisco.shtml.
Jacob Hibel Wins American Education Research Association's (AERA) Dissertation Research Grant
Jacob Hibel, a doctoral student, received the AERA Dissertation Research Grant for his project entitled, "Effects of performance-based organizational differentiation on the educational productivity and equality of American elementary schools". The grant is one of approximately 15 awarded each year through the American Education Research Association's Dissertation Research Grants Program. The program offers Dissertation Grants for advanced doctoral students (at the dissertation writing stage) who conduct studies of education policy or practice using quantiative methods. The dissertation research must include the analysis of data from at least one of the large-scale, national or international data sets supported by NCES or NSF. Other Penn State sociology students who were awarded these grants in the past include Katerina Bodovski, Rachel Durham, Jacob Cheadle, and Megan Kurlychek. To learn more about Jacob's project and the AERA program visit http://www.aera.net/grantsprogram/abstract_list/Abstracts/Abs-DG-00033338.html.
Staff Wins NICHD Mentored Research Scientist Development Award
Jeremy Staff, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology received the Mentored Research Scientist Development Award in Population Research from the National Institute of Child Health and Development. Jeremy's research interests are criminology, life course and stratification. The award supports his project entitled Early Work Experiences and the Transition to Adulthood. In addition to this honor, he has two forthcoming articles. Work and Occupations will publish "Tracing the Timing of 'Career' Acquisition in a Contemporary Youth Cohort" by Jeylan T. Mormer, Michael Vuolo, Jeremy Staff, Sara Wakefield and Wanling Xie. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development will soon publish "Social Class Background and the 'School to Work' Transition" by Jeremy Staff and Jeylan T. Mortimer.
Cassie Dorius Named AAPSS Graduate Fellow
At the American Academy of Political and Social Science eighth induction ceremony in Washington, DC, in April, forty-one graduate fellows were announced. ASPSS Graduate Fellowships recognize students with an outstanding grasp of their discipline, enthusiasm for understanding social issues, and the promise of making substantial contributions to the social sciences in the future. Leading U.S. social science departments are invited to designate one graduate student who has fulfilled requirements for PhD candidacy. Cassie was one of two sociology graduates receiving this honor.
Wayne Osgood Receives the Howard B. Palmer Faculty Mentoring Award
For his effective mentoring through guiding and nurturing the collegial and professional development of junior faculty and graduate students, Wayne Osgood, Professor of Criminology and Sociology, received the Howard B. Palmer Faculty Mentoring Award. Wayne is one of the most visible scholars in the field of criminology today. He was recently named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.
Darrell Steffensmeier Awarded Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Social Sciences
Darrell, a professor of sociology and criminology, is one of the most influential scholars in criminology and a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology. His book, The Fence, won the 1987 Cooley Award (for best book) given by the Society for the Study of Social Problems. His recent book, Confessions of a Dying Thief (with Jeffrey Ulmer), won the 2006 Michael J. Hindelang Award for the most outstanding contribution to research in criminology by the American Society of Criminology.