Lakehead Sociology News - Lakehead University · Lakehead Sociology News 3 Graduate Student...

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1 Message from the Chair Welcome to the inaugural issue of Lakehead Sociology News. We hope to produce this newsletter twice a year as a way of keeping everyone up to date regarding our activities and plans. You can expect each issue to tell you about faculty and student research and other activities, as well as departmental events. We also hope to regularly feature thoughts about teaching. Other content will no doubt vary from issue to issue, and if there is anything in particular you would like to see, please contact us (see last page). The past year has been one of big changes for us in terms of faculty appointments. Some highlights are: Dr. Paul Carr joined us as of August 2010 to teach and develop our programming at the Orillia campus. He is our first tenured Sociology professor in Orillia, and we are delighted to have his expertise to rely upon. We said goodbye to several former members of the department. Dr. David Nock is now completely retired, although he plans to continue dropping in from time to time, so we can still look forward to the pleasure of his company at events. A second person who left us last year was Dr. Rachel Ariss, although Dr. Ariss remains involved with supervising graduate students from her new location in Toronto. Fortunately, we were able to temporarily replace Dr. Ariss with Dr. Jennifer Jarman, who took over the courses that Dr. Ariss had originally planned to teach, and who is also offering a course on the timely topic of Community Transitions. Dr. Randy Nelsen, meanwhile, is now in the second year of his graduated retirement, so he has been winding down his teaching and contributions to departmental affairs. Dr. Nelsen is planning to completely retire at the end of this academic year and move to be with family in Montreal. Enough said! Enjoy the rest of the issue! Sharon-dale Stone, Chair January 2011 Volume 1, Issue 1 Lakehead Sociology News Sociology Department Newsletter Lakehead University In this Issue: Message from the Chair 1 Of Special Note 2 Graduate Student Research Activities 3 Faculty Research and Community Service Activity 4 Teaching Notes: Courses We Love to Teach 11 Upcoming Events 12

Transcript of Lakehead Sociology News - Lakehead University · Lakehead Sociology News 3 Graduate Student...

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Message from the Chair

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Lakehead Sociology News. We hope to produce this newsletter twice a year as a way of keeping everyone up to date regarding our activities and plans. You can expect each issue to tell you about faculty and student research and other activities, as well as departmental events. We also hope to regularly feature thoughts about teaching. Other content will no doubt vary from issue to issue, and if there is anything in particular you would like to see, please contact us (see last page).

The past year has been one of big changes for us in terms of faculty appointments. Some highlights are:

Dr. Paul Carr joined us as of August 2010 to teach and develop our programming at the Orillia campus. He is our first tenured Sociology professor in Orillia, and we are delighted to have his expertise to rely upon.

We said goodbye to several former members of the department. Dr. David Nock is now completely retired, although he plans to continue dropping in from time to time, so we can still look forward to the pleasure of his company at events.

A second person who left us last year was Dr. Rachel Ariss, although Dr. Ariss remains involved with supervising graduate students from her new location in Toronto.

Fortunately, we were able to temporarily replace Dr. Ariss with Dr. Jennifer Jarman, who took over the courses that Dr. Ariss had originally planned to teach, and who is also offering a course on the timely topic of Community Transitions.

Dr. Randy Nelsen, meanwhile, is now in the second year of his graduated retirement, so he has been winding down his teaching and contributions to departmental affairs. Dr. Nelsen is planning to completely retire at the end of this academic year and move to be with family in Montreal.

Enough said! Enjoy the rest of the issue!

Sharon-dale Stone, Chair

January 2011

Volume 1, Issue 1

Lakehead Sociology News Sociology Department Newsletter Lakehead University

In this Issue:

Message from the Chair 1

Of Special Note 2 Graduate Student Research Activities 3

Faculty Research and Community Service Activity 4

Teaching Notes: Courses We Love to Teach 11

Upcoming Events 12

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Of Special Note:

New Faculty Books in 2010

Paul Carr’s book titled Does Your Vote Count? Democracy and Critical Pedagogy (NY: Peter Lang Publishing) just came out in December 2010. With Gina Thésée and Nicole Carignan he also recently co-edited a book titled Les faces cachées de la recherche interculturelle. Paris: L’Harmattan. With Brad Porfilio he co-edited Youth Culture, Education and Resistance: Subverting the Commercial Ordering of Life (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers).

Chris Southcott recently co-edited Globalization and the Circumpolar North (University of Alaska Press) with Lassi Heininen of the University of Lapland, and co-edited Migration in the Circumpolar North with Lee Huskey of the University of Alaska Anchorage (CCI Press). In addition, he co-authored North of Superior: An Illustrated History of Northwestern Ontario (Lorimer) with Michel Beaulieu of Lakehead’s Department of History.

Congratulations to Paul and Chris!!

Graduating MA Students, Fall 2010 Rebecca Collins-Nelsen “Retooling Gender? A Constructivist Analysis of Tomboy Tools” Rebecca is now studying for her PhD in Sociology at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON. Stephanie Schutte “Trust and Surveillance” Stephanie is working as a research analyst at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, ON.

Graduate Student External Award Winners Congratulations to Sandrine Badio, Heather Cameron, and Vanessa Lucky for winning Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) awards to support their MA research. These are highly competitive awards from the Social

Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, valued at $17,500.

Sandrine Badio is studying maternal health in Eritrea as impacted by the U.N.’s Millennium goals. Heather Cameron is researching

the practice of unassisted childbirth. Vanessa Lucky is reviewing the results of prostitution studies to examine the effect of different regulatory policies on workers’ safety and wellbeing.

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Graduate Student Research Activities We are fortunate to have top rate graduate students in our program here at Lakehead. Students are working on theses and research papers on a range of topics: • maternal health in

developing countries (Sandrine Badio);

• the implementation of nutritional policy in public schools (Max Bernosky);

• home childbirth (Heather Cameron);

• The issue of high school completion among Rainy River First Nations students (Robert Horton)

• reinforcement of death taboos in the media (Kristyn Lovato);

• regulatory aspects of prostitution (Vanessa Lucky);

• moral discourse on pornography (Diane Prairie);

• male reproductive health (Karl Reimer);

• sex trafficking (Katrin Roots); and

• international development (Lauren Watson)

As well, recent or forthcoming publications and conference activities include:

Vanessa Lucky presented her research on the social construction of the Israel-Palestine conflict at the 2010 Qualitative Analysis Conference last May in Brantford Ontario. Vanessa will present her preliminary study, “Bridging the Knowledge Gap: The Dynamics of Prostitution According to Those Who Live It,” at the upcoming 2011 Qualitative Analysis Conference in May. Vanessa also gave an interview with CBC radio on September 30, 2010 in response to the Superior Court's decision to legalize brothels in Ontario. Vanessa has also recently written a review of Michel Dorais and Patrice Corriveau’s (2009) Gangs and Girls: Understanding Juvenile Prostitution, which is forthcoming in the Canadian Review of Sociology.

Karl Reimer’s paper titled "What Other Kids Have: The Fight for a New School in Attawapiskat," has been published in the journal Native Studies Review 19(1): 119-136, 2010. This article explores two main theses based on a case study of the J.R. Nakogee Elementary School in Attawapiskat. First, it provides a critique of First Nation's

education at a structural level, historic and contemporary. Second, it is a study of grassroots activist Shannen Koostachin, and her advocacy for better schooling in her home community.

Katrin Roots reviewed Robin Goodwin's book “Changing Relations: Achieving Intimacy in Time of Social Transition,” which will be appearing soon in the Canadian Sociological Association list of book reviews. Katrin will present her paper, “Sex Trafficking in Canada: Assessing the Problem and the Existing Solutions,” at the upcoming Qualitative Analysis Conference, May, 2011, in Brantford, Ontario.

Lakehead University Campus

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Faculty Research and Community Service Activity

In addition to his books mentioned on p. 2, Paul Carr has a number of articles published in 2010 or forthcoming: With Darren Lund, “Exposing Privilege and Racism in The Great White North: Tackling Whiteness and Identity Issues in Canadian Education,” forthcoming in Multicultural Perspectives. “Re-thinking Normative Democracy and the Political Economy of Education,” Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies, 8(1). “L’interculturel et la race blanche : La face cachée des relations de pouvoir inéquitable,” in Thésée, G., Carignan, N. et Carr, P. (dir.), Les faces cachées de la recherche interculturelle. Paris: L’Harmattan. With Brad Porfolio, “The Neoliberal social order, youth and resistance,” in Youth Culture, Education and Resistance (see p. 1). With Gina Thésée, “Challenging political (il)literacy within neoliberal education,” in Youth Culture, Education and Resistance (see p. 1).

He has also been very active at international research conferences, speaking twice in Montreal, Quebec, once in Rosario, Argentina, and three times in Denver Colorado, on the topics of democracy and education, media and political literacy, and social justice.

Walid Chahal’s paper titled “Liberal Multiculturalism and the New Anxiety: A Critique of Kymlicka,” is posted on the website for Lakehead University’s Advanced Institute for Globalization & Culture (aig+c). With Katia Maki, he has been developing powerpoint and study guide files for the new edition of John Steckley and Guy Kirby Letts’ Elements of Sociology, forthcoming with Oxford University Press. As co-chair of Diversity Thunder Bay, he hosted Nora Angeles at the 4th Annual Breakfast of Diversity Thunder Bay, to speak about combating racial discrimination, which was attended by 250 people at the Italian Cultural Centre. Walid has also been active

as the Vice-President and board member of the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, and has participated as a member of the Lakehead Social History Institute Advisory Committee, and the Lakehead Social Planning Council. With Taina Maki Chahal, he organized a presentation for the Human Rights Education group, featuring Yves Engler (author and activist) to speak on the Palestinian struggle in a talk titled “Past and Present Relations of Canada and Israel,” on April 8, 2010, at Lakehead University. Finally, Walid has been working on the “Welcoming Communities Initiative,” involving seventeen universities and a large number of community organizations across Ontario, which was awarded a “Community University Research Alliance” (CURA) award in 2009.

Curtis Fogel completed a three-year research project titled "Gridiron Deviance" which examined violence, hazing, and performance-enhancing drug-use in Canadian

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football. He is currently revising a book manuscript on the study. Curtis presented two papers at the British Criminological Association Annual Meeting in England. One paper examined tolerable deviance in Canadian football, the other (written with Geraint Osborne and Trudi Lorenz) questioned the effectiveness of Canada’s illicit drug strategies. He also presented a paper on the ethical issues of conducting archival research (written with Andrea Quinlan, Elizabeth Quinlan, and Quinru She) at the Innovations in Qualitative Research Conference at the University of Saskatchewan. This paper was subsequently published in the journal Research Ethics Review. In 2010, Curtis published papers in Canadian Women’s Studies (with Andrea Quinlan and Elizabeth Quinlan) on the use of DNA in cases of sexual assault and The Qualitative Report on methodological issues of studying deviance in sport. In March of 2011, Curtis will be presenting two papers at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting. One

paper, titled “Toward a Criminology of Sport,” examines the need for heightened research on crime in Canadian sport. The other paper, titled “Athletes on Trial” (with Andrea Quinlan), examines the difficulties in prosecuting male athletes charged with sexual violence against women. In April of 2011, Curtis will be presenting a paper titled “Imaginative Inquiry” at the British Sociological Association Annual Conference in London, England.

Laurie Forbes reviewed two books. The first book is Explorations in Media and Society: A Canadian Focus, First Edition (working title), which is an Indigenous Learning Book Proposal to be published under Pearson Education Canada.

The second book is titled Family Patterns, Gender Relations, third edition, authored by Bonnie Fox, and published by the Oxford University Press.

Gary Genosko, Canada Research Chair in Technoculture, enjoyed an appointment as a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Information for the Fall 2010 term.

Gary recently spoke at the Canada Research Chairs 10th Anniversary Research Conference. He discussed his research on the surveillance practices of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, based on his 2009 book (co-authored with Scott Thompson) Punched Drunk: Alcohol, Surveillance and the LCBO, 1927-1975. Winnipeg/Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. This book was listed by The Hill Times Online among its Best 100 Books of the year.

Gary Genosko with Scott Thompson at the Canada Research Chairs Conference in Toronto

Gary’s interview at the CRC Celebration with Jessica Hume appeared as an article titled “Our personal privacy is slipping away,” in The Toronto Star (Nov. 21, 2010): M4. He also spoke on the "Informatics of Subjugation and Liberation," which was a Thematic Breakout Session Presentation on

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Art, Technology and Society, Canada Research Chairs: Thinking Ahead for a Strong Future (Ontario Region), Toronto, November 24-25, 2010. Gary was recently awarded the 2010 Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) Annual Award for Design and Installation for the Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Fashion and Mimicry show at Rodman Hall. A new book project is forthcoming on Franco 'Bifo' Berardi, titled After the Future, co-edited and introduced, with an interview, in collaboration with Nick Thoburn, Oakland: AK Press, 2011 (Spring list). Also, be sure to look for the March 2011 issue of University Affairs, where they will be profiling Gary’s research!

Reg Horne has recently written an article titled “Orillia’s Got Talent: Economic Development via Cultural Tourism,” soon to appear in the Journal of Rural and Community Development. With Todd Stubbs, he presented “Orillia’s Golden Age of Industry,” to the Canadian Association of Geographers, in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Reg has also been active with the Orillia Historical Society, the Simcoe County Historical Society, the Orillia Planning Advisory Committee, and the Orillia Sign By-Law subcommittee.

Jennifer Jarman joined the Department of Sociology in August 2010. Her program of research is focused on the interactions among social and economic development, labour market policies and legislation, and social and economic equity. This year Jennifer contributed two articles to the new edition of the Encyclopaedia of Globalization (Blackwell Press) edited by George Ritzer. The first is a sociological analysis of the concepts of “Labor and Work.” The second article, “the International Labour Organization,” examines the development of one of the world’s oldest and most important institutions attempting to build consensus for, and compliance to, international labour standards. Her chapter, “Gender Inequality, Modernization and Development in South and Southeast Asia,” was accepted for a book titled

Social Stratification: Trends and Processes (Ashgate Press). The chapter is based on a research project which is one of the first to attempt to understand gender trends in four Asian countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Viet Nam and Thailand. Jennifer also reviewed a book for Women's Studies International Forum: Agnew, Vijay (ed.) 2009. Racialized Migrant Women in Canada, Essays in Health, Violence and Equity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Two papers have been accepted at international conferences for 2011. One is a joint paper for the British Sociological Association conference, “60 Years of Sociology,” and the other is a single-authored paper at the 2011 Joint Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) & International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS).

Jianye Liu has published two peer-reviewed articles and one research report: With Don Kerr and Roderic Beaujot, he co-authored two chapters, titled “Children and Youth,” (pp 253-274) and “Low Income Status by Population

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Groups, 1961-2001,” (pp 99-117) in The Changing Canadian Population edited by Eric Fong and Barry Edmonston. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. With Danielle McLean and Chris Southcott, he co-authored a report titled “Social Capital and the Social Economy in the Canadian North: A Preliminary Analysis,” for the Social Economic Research Network of Northern Canada. During the 2010 summer, with the support of SSHRC, Jianye began his fieldwork on the topic of health insurance policies in China.

Bruce Minore and his colleagues at the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research continued to implement their program of research on Aboriginal health, supported by grants from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Ontario Stroke System. In partnership with the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada they commenced a study of cultural safety in nursing practice at ten health centres across Ontario that have

substantial Aboriginal client case loads. Bruce and his team also completed the first phase of a study on First Nation peoples’ access to care for respiratory conditions in urban, rural and remote settings for the Ministry. As well, a film based on his team’s findings on stroke awareness received its national launch at the Canadian Stroke Congress last June in Quebec City.

Randle W. Nelsen has published (with Antony Puddephatt) “The Promise of a Sociology Degree in Higher Education,” The Canadian Review of Sociology, 47(4): 405-430. His chapter, “The Community College Con: Change your Life through Learning,” is being reprinted in a second edition of The Professionalization of Work, edited by Jacobs and Bosanac (deSitter). Randy is currently working on a paper on the cultural identity theory and global postmodernism of Reuel Denney, and continues his research into higher education and popular culture.

David Nock began his status as "fully retired" after a formal three-year

period of phased retirement. However, his commitment to the academic world continues as an active Professor Emeritus. His newest publication is "Religion's Changing Face in a Multicultural Canada," pp 77-86 in the book Canadian Society: Global Perspectives, 2010, edited by Timothy P. McCauley and Janice Hill, Whitby, ON: deSitter Publications. His research into the Chicago School continues with an invited lecture here at Lakehead in November on "Chicago's Proclivity to Qualitative Sociology: Myth or Reality?" This is already in submission to a book project emanating from the Qualitative Analysis conference held at the University of New Brunswick. In addition, David is an invited panelist at a special session on the Chicago School to be held next August at the Society for the Study of Social Problems in Chicago. Finally, he has decided to polish up his book manuscript titled Knowledge Wars in Sociology: From Positivism to Postmodernism in the Twentieth Century. He hopes that these and other projects will help to stop him from 'twiddling

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his thumbs' too much during his retirement!

Antony Puddephatt presented a paper on the contrasts between Chomsky and Mead’s theory of mind at the 27th annual Qualitative Analysis Conference in Brantford, Ontario. This paper is forthcoming as an article titled “Language and Mind in the Thought of G.H. Mead: Challenges from Chomsky’s Linguistics,” which will appear in Studies in Symbolic Interaction. He is in the process of revising a chapter (written with Gary Alan Fine), titled “Chess as Art, Science and Sport,” to appear in B. Carrington and D. Andrews (eds.) Blackwell Companion to Sport. Tony is also revising a chapter titled “Finding G.H. Mead’s Social Ontology Through his Engagement with Key Intellectual Influences” for G. Bowden and J. Low (eds.) The Chicago School Diaspora: Epistemology and Substance. McGill-Queens University Press. His review of Filipe Carreira da Silva’s Mead and Modernity: Science, Selfhood and Democratic Politics, appeared in the Canadian Journal of Sociology, 35(2): 330-334.

In Pisa, Italy, Tony presented a paper (with A. Moula), titled “A Neuro-pragmatist view of the Mind: A Model of the Intelligent Method used by Iranian Single Mothers,” at the International Symposium on the Present and Future of Symbolic Interactionism. Tony returns as the program coordinator for the 2011 Qualitative Analysis Conference, and is guest editor (with C. Sanders) for a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, which showcases the top papers from the 2010 QAC.

Chris Southcott returned from a year in France where he was a guest researcher at a CNRS research laboratory, and has had three books come out this year (see page 2). His other publications over the past year include an article in the Canadian Review of Sociology and a chapter in UNESCO’s special edition on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in the Arctic. Chris was invited to give several guest lectures over the past year including at Cambridge University’s Scott Polar Centre, the IPY Science

Conference in Oslo, Norway and at Canada’s Northern Development Minister’s Forum.

Chris Southcott with Prince Albert II of Monaco at the Oslo IPY Science Conference

In addition to his continuing research projects, Chris received $86,000 from the ArcticNet Network of Centres of Excellence to study the impacts of transience in Inuvik, NWT and $20,000 from SSHRC after having his Letter of Intent application for an MCRI grant accepted. His work as University of the Arctic Strategic Area Lead for Knowledge and Dialogue included successfully negotiating a partnership agreement between the University of the Arctic and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

Sharon Dale Stone has been publishing on aging and disability, and under a joint SSHRC funded CURA grant, researching workplace injury.

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With Rebecca Casey, she co-authored “Aging with Long-Term Physical Impairments: The Significance of Social Support” in the Canadian Journal on Aging 29 (3): 349– 359. Sharon also contributed a chapter “Health, Disability and Aging,” pp. 51-62 in Canadian Society: Global Perspectives, edited by Timothy P. McCauley and Janice Hill, Whitby, ON: deSitter Publications, and her article “Must Disability Always Be Visible? The Meaning of Disability for Women” was reprinted in Diane Driedger (ed.), Living the Edges: A Disabled Women’s Reader. Toronto: Inanna Publications and Education Inc. She also has a number of papers forthcoming. These include: “Problem-Focused Coping Strategies Used by Canadian Academics with Multiple Sclerosis to Enable University Teaching,” which will appear in the Feb 2011 issue of the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy (co-authors Valorie A. Crooks and Michelle Owen); and "The Situated Nature of Disability," which is forthcoming in Rethinking Occupation: Transactional

Perspectives on Doing, edited by Malcolm Cutchin and Virginia Dickie (NY: Springer). Sharon’s review of Contesting Aging and Loss, edited by Janice E. Graham and Peter H. Stephenson, will appear in the March 2011 issue of Canadian Journal on Aging. She presented her paper “Going through the Back Door: Experiences of Disabled Academics who Need Workplace Accommodations," (co-authors Valorie A. Crooks and Michelle Owen) at the 27th Qualitative Analysis Conference in Brantford, ON. Sharon plans to present at the Aging, Old Age, Memory, and Aesthetics conference at University of Toronto in 2011, as well as the 2011 Qualitative Analysis Conference, at the Wilfred Laurier University Brantford Campus.

David Verbeeten is completing his doctoral thesis for the University of Cambridge, UK, in political history. His doctoral research focuses on the political orientation and activities of three generations of eastern European Jews in the United States in the twentieth century. He is

currently lecturing in social theory at the Orillia campus of Lakehead University for the winter term of 2011.

Pamela Wakewich was co-investigator for a SSHRC funded photovoice project (B. Leipert, UWO, P.I.), culminating in a chapter “Rural Women’s Health Promotion Needs and Resources: A Photovoice Perspective” in J. Kulig and A. Williams, eds. Rural Health: A Canadian Perspective (UBC Press, 2011) and a poster presentation at the CIHR Innovations in Gender, Sex and Health Research Conference in Toronto on gender and seniors’ use of photovoice methodology. Pam also presented papers from her ongoing research program on gender, body and health over the life course at the ISA World Congress of Sociology in Goteborg, Sweden and the Second Bilingual Conference of the Canadian Society for the Sociology of Health meetings in Ottawa.

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A few final edits before arriving in Goteborg!

With her colleague Dr. Helen Smith, Pam co-authored a paper for the Canadian Historical Society meetings on the negotiation of inclusion and exclusion in oral history narratives about women’s wartime work. Additionally they co-wrote two articles -- “Regulating Body Boundaries and Health during Wartime” for the journal Gender & History; and “Trans/forming the Citizen Body in Wartime” for P. Gentile and J. Nicholas’s edited collection, Contests and Contestations: Bodies and Nation in Canadian History which is under

review with the University of Toronto Press.

Kevin Willison has been working on a new research initiative to study the health and social needs of residents of Orillia who are aged 55 and over, funded by the Community Policing Advisory Group of Ontario. With T. Palos, he has published an article titled “Enhancing Interprofessional Collaboration and Community-based Participatory Research through Technology,” in The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, 6(4):1-12. Kevin’s recent conference presentations/invited lectures include: “Approaches to Research in Elder Abuse and Neglect,” for the organization known as Seniors and Law

Enforcement Together, in Orillia, Ontario (June 24); “The Finnish Health Care System: Lessons for Canada?” at the Finn Forum IX. Finland and the World: Past, Present and Future, in Thunder Bay; “Inviting the Social Sciences to Partake in Interprofessional Collaboration,” The Northern Interprofessional Collaborators Conference, North Bay; “Building Interprofessional Education Strategies and Collaborations within the Social Sciences,” Opportunities and New Directions: A Research Conference on Teaching and Learning, University of Waterloo; and “Enhancing the Validity of Multidisciplinary Learning Assessment Tools,” at Reaching Potential: Assessment as a Transformative Process, Wilfrid Laurier University.

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Teaching Notes: Courses We Love to Teach In each issue we hope to give you brief comments from one or two professors about their passion for undergraduate teaching. We start here with the thoughts of Dr. Laurie Forbes. Dr. Forbes has been teaching Introduction to Sociology for many years, as well as courses such as Sociology of Women, and Sociology of Aging. Dr. Laurie Forbes on “Introduction to Sociology” At the beginning of a new semester, I see a room full of students who are embarking on a new journey in their lives. As they learn to navigate the “ivory towers” they are challenged to learn to be university students. The classroom is full of anticipation for what is to come, concerns over being able to adjust to university life, anxiety and hope about fulfilling their personal goals and dreams. As an Instructor, it is a rewarding and humbling experience.

During the first semester, teaching students to think critically is exciting and sometimes daunting. The process is like the proverbial light bulb turning on, as they develop their sociological imagination. It is an amazing process to watch and I am delighted to be a part of that. These students are great fun to work with: they are full of energy, are aware of the social world in which they live, have grown up with technological advancements that have opened the world to them, and want to learn.

My challenge is to have them see the world through sociological eyes. When I mark final examinations and know they understand false consciousness, anomie, and verstehen, I breathe a sigh of relief and take a moment to reflect on what a wonderful experience it is to be a part of their university journey.

Sociology Speakers Series in 2010 Our annual Sociology Speakers Series got off to a great start in the Fall, with Dr. Chris Southcott’s talk on October 29, “Footprints in the Snow: New Migration Patterns in the Canadian North.” Then on November 26, Dr. David Nock gave a talk titled “Chicago’s Proclivity to Qualitative Society: Myth or Reality?” (Speakers for winter of 2011 continued over the page!)

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Upcoming Events For the winter term our speakers will be:

January 17, 2:30:January 17, 2:30: Dr. Donald Clairmont, Atlantic Institute of Criminology,Dr. Donald Clairmont, Atlantic Institute of Criminology, Dalhousie Dalhousie

University:University:

CrCreating Space: The Healing to Wellness Court Comes to Elsipogtog New eating Space: The Healing to Wellness Court Comes to Elsipogtog New

BrunswickBrunswick

February 14, 2:30:February 14, 2:30: Dr. Jennifer Jarman, Department of Sociology, Lakehead University:Dr. Jennifer Jarman, Department of Sociology, Lakehead University:

Career Mobility of Teleservice ProfessionalsCareer Mobility of Teleservice Professionals

March 14, 2:30:March 14, 2:30: Dr. Roderic Beaujot, DepartmentDr. Roderic Beaujot, Department of Sociology, University of Western of Sociology, University of Western

Ontario:Ontario:

Change in Earning and Caring: Implications for Family Diversity and InequalityChange in Earning and Caring: Implications for Family Diversity and Inequality

All talks take place in Thunder Bay and are videoconferenced to Orillia.

Lakehead Sociology News is published by the Department of Sociology, Lakehead University. This edition was created by Tony Puddephatt, with assistance from Sharon-dale Stone and Laurie Forbes.

All inquiries, submissions and suggestions should be directed to: Karen Woychyshyn The Department of Sociology Lakehead University 955 Oliver Road Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1 Telephone: (807) 343-8477 Fax: (807) 346-7831 Email: [email protected]    

For program information, resources, and more department news please visit the Sociology web site:   http://sociology.lakeheadu.ca/