According to a recently published list from Wall Street Journal, Sociology (and Statistician) rank among the top 25 jobs for 2011 according to: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress. This data was gathered by CareerCast.com. Read about the methodology.

You can read about the criteria for this study on CareerCast.com and the Wall Street Journal.

Three Department of Sociology Faculty were awarded research grants in the past semester to help them pursue their works. 

Dr. Kyong Hee Chee recently obtained a Library Research Grant of $1,321.32. The grant will fund the acquisition of 19 library books. Dr. Chee will use these books for her research project on aging in Asia.

Dr. David Dietrich recieved a research grant from Texas State to continue his project titled: "Rebellious Conservatives: Understanding the Tea Party."

Dr. Gloria Martinez-Ramos recieved an Alkek Library Grant for her project titled.“From Selena Quintanilla-Perez to Selena Gomez: The Evolution and Celebration of Latino/a Popular Music." The results of her project are ongoing but pictures of the event are further down on this p

Congratulations to Dr. Kyong Hee Chee, Dr. David Dietrich, and Dr. Gloria Martinez-Ramos!

Dr. Bob Price was recently interviewed by National Public Radio for a piece on clocks. Below is where he was mentioned. The article can be found here: It's Time: The Wristwatch Makes A Comeback

Time's Cultural Importance

The wristwatch led to a society that works and lives around the strictures of a clock, says Bob Price, a sociology professor at Texas State University where he teaches a course called "Technology and Society." One of the course’s topics is on the evolution of the clock.

"I often start [the course] by saying, 'OK, examine your physical person. What machines have you strapped to your body?' The clock is the only device so culturally central that we treat it that way — that we strap it onto our wrist," Price says.

He says the cultural importance of time is why time-telling functions are now embedded into almost every machine.

"I walk into the kitchen, and there's a clock in the oven and the microwave. They're everywhere," Price says. "I get into the car, and there's a clock. I'm listening to NPR on my way in, and they're telling me the time repeatedly. You can’t get away from it."

The Center for Social Inquiry 

* Poster for Event in PDF Format  *

The Alpha Chapter of Sigma Delta Lambda Sorority, Inc. is hosting this event.

GUEST SPEAKERS INCLUDED:

Dr. Deborah Paredez is the Director of Mexican American Studies Program and an Associate Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at UT Austin.  She is the author of Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory (Duke University Press 2009), winner of the 2010 Latino Studies Book Award Honorable Mention sponsored by the Latin American Studies Association.  Bio of speaker attached.  Paredez’s research has focused describing the multiple forms of social, political and cultural events and manifestations that transpired after the Selena’s death and coined the term “Selenidad”.

Selena Quintanilla is one of Tejano music’s biggest stars. She began singing at a very early age as part of a family band her father put together.  In 1987 Selena won “Best Female Vocalist of the Year” at the Tejano Music Awards and matched it for the next seven years.  In 1989 José Behar, the former head of the Sony Latin Music Division, signed her to Capitol/EMI, believing she had “crossover” potential. He worked with her to build support among Tejanos and Mexicans before getting into the English language market. Just before the release of her first album in English, Dreaming of You, she was murdered.

In the 1990s Latinos were mobilized by Selena, in her book she states,

“Just as Selena moved Latina/os, Selenidad moved latinidad -the process of Latina/os identity making-in new directions.  Selenidad operated as a hinge connecting and facilitating the physical movements enacted by Latina/o bodies and the affective movements created by Latinas/os and other invested in latinidad.  As such, Selenidad makes clear the relationship between emotional and political economic structures that support national, racial, and gendered identification.  In particular, Selena commemoration reveals how, through the collective expression of grief, Latinas/os assembled themselves as a political and cultural constituency in the United States at the close of the twentieth century” (Paredez 2009, preface xiii)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Ofrenda viewing
Reception and book signing
Performance by Salsa del Rio with a tribute to Selena’s music

CONTACT

Gloria P. Martinez-Ramos, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
gm21@txstate.edu

Joseph A. Kotarba, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Director, Center for Social Inquiry
Jk54@txstate.edu