Editorial Staff:

Chris Adamski

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David Rohall

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Beate Wilson

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John Wozniak

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Two of our faculty members are

leading a new chapter of Phi Beta

Delta on campus. Founded in 1986

at California State University,

Long Beach, Phi Beta Delta’s

main mission is the promotion of

international education within and

outside academia. The meaning of

the symbols ΦΒΔ is as follows:

Phi (philomatheia) - love of

knowledge;

Beta (biotremmonia) - valuing

of human life;

Delta (diapheren) - achieving

excellence.

In 2009, the Eta Epsilon Chapter

was established at Western Illinois

University with the purpose of rec-

ognizing and encouraging high

professional, intellectual, aca-

demic, and personal achievements

in the field of international educa-

tion among an interdisciplinary

network of faculty, staff, students,

community members, and alumni

involved in international en-

deavors. Undergraduate student

members are required to have a

3.2 GPA, graduate students a

3.5 GPA. Faculty members may

also join. The four objectives of

Phi Beta Delta are: 1. To recog-

nize the scholarly achievement

of international students and

scholars, U.S. students who

have studied abroad, and faculty

and staff, who are involved in

international activities; 2. To

advance the development of

academic-based international

programming; 3. To provide a

network on each campus for

faculty, staff, and international

students involved in interna-

tional endeavors; and 4. To ex-

tend the network of members in

chapters worldwide. Contact

your colleagues Professor Davi-

son Bideshi (Vice President) or

Professor Beate Wilson

(Treasurer) if you would like

more information about the or-

ganization and its activities on

campus.

Western I l l ino is Univers i ty

WESTERN SOCIETY

FALL 2010

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

OF THE SOCIOLOGY &

ANTHROPOLOGY

DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT FACULTY LEAD

PHI BETA DELTA AT WIU

Many of us include quotes to the

end of our email messages. Can

you guess which member of our

department includes this tag on

to her/his emails?

"Scientists believe in proof with-

out certainty: most people be-

lieve in certainty without proof."

(Ashley Montagu)

Davison Bideshi and Beate Wilson

are among the many WIU leaders at

the inaugural ceremonies of Phi

Beta Delta.

ANOTHER YEAR IN PINK

The 10th annual Big Pink Vol-

leyball tournament was held in

the Donald S. Spencer Student

Recreation Center in October.

This is a fundraiser for breast

cancer research with proceeds

going to the Susan G. Komen

for the Cure Organization and

McDonough District Hospital’s

mammogram and other cancer

screening programs. Teams

were made up of students, fac-

ulty, and staff, with members of

our department creating Team

Mélange. “Mélange”, meaning a

blending or mixture of things,

seemed to be an appropriate

name to characterize our depart-

ment. This year’s theme was

"On the Road Again” (Around

the World), so members of the

team dressed in Hawaiian shirts,

which proved to be a popular

choice for other teams as well.

Continued on page 3

WHOSE TAG IS IT ANYWAY?

Page 2

Here are some examples of the

types of research that our faculty

and students have conducted in

the last year.

● Robert Hironimus-Wendt was

the recipient of the “H.O.P.E. -

Honoring Our Professors of Excel-

lence” Award by the University

Housing and Dining Ser-

vices. Western Illinois Univer-

sity. May 2010.

● Patrick McGinty served as Pre-

sider of the Peter M. Hall Lecture

at the 2010 Midwest Sociological

Society Meetings.

● David Rohall received the

“Outstanding Research/Scholarly

Activities Award” on May 7,

2010 from the College of Arts and

Sciences, Western Illinois Univer-

sity.

● David Rohall (with Morten G.

Ender and Michael D. Matthews)

published a chapter, “American

Undergraduate Attitudes Toward

the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Trends and Variations.” in The

Routledge Handbook of War and

Society: Iraq and Afghanistan in

the fall of 2010.

● Diane Sandage edited and con-

tributed to the annual report for

Social Research Group - DCFS

Grant: "An Evaluation of Stan-

dardized Testing of DCFS and

Private Agency Personnel” for the

Illinois Department of Children

and Family Services, FY2010

(with William Faulkner, Richard

Mathers, Patrick McGinty, Robert

Fecht, Holly Chason).

● Nancy Schaefer published a

book review, "Exploring Relig-

ion and the Sacred in a Media

Age" in the Journal of Contem-

porary Religion, May 2010.

● Erin Taylor (Political Science)

and Lora Ebert Wal-

lace presented a paper, “Feminist

Breastfeeding Advocacy and the

Problem of Guilt” at the 2010

Breastfeeding and Feminism

Symposium University of North

Carolina, Greensboro, NC.

● Craig Tollini and Beate Wil-

son published an article,

“Fraternity Members’ Views of

Negative Stereotypes” in the

Oracle: The Research Journal of

the Association of Fraternity/

Sorority Advisors in 2010.

● Craig Tollini also published an

article, “A Comparison of Fac-

ulty Members’ and Students’

Definitions of Political Bias in

the Classroom” in International

Journal of Sociology and An-

thropology in 2010.

● Bridget Welch (with Anna

Kosloski) presented two papers

at the 2010 American Sociologi-

cal Association Meetings

(Atlanta, GA): "The Racializa-

tion of Latino/a Groups as Sym-

bolic Interaction" and "Toward a

Shared Identity Theory of Race

and Ethnicity: Structure and

Agency in Identity Creation."

● John F. Wozniak presented the

paper, "Prisons as a Peaceful

Community: Confronting Suffer-

ing in the Society of Captives" at

the 2010 Annual Meeting of the

Justice Studies Association in

Knoxville, TN.

FACULTY RESEARCH AND AWARDS

TEACHING CORNER

As a faculty member, I have a love

-hate relationship with the new

generation of

classroom re-

sponse sys-

tems, other-

wise known in

casual par-

lance as

"clickers."

Clickers are

small, cell-

phone sized devices with a key pad

that are designed to allow students

to respond to questions raised in

class through a radio receiver that

is easily plugged into any class-

room computer. After using them

for several semesters, I am not sure

if it is time to cut my losses and

end my relationship. Clickers are

one way that we can receive some

amount of input from our students.

I have several embedded questions

that are throughout most of my

PowerPoint presentations that “pop

up” during lecture to quiz students

on their comprehension of course

material. I also use the clickers to

Continued on page 3

Professor Jess White

Page 3

Team Melange continued from

page 1

For those who may be unfamil-

iar with “Big Pink Volleyball”,

it is similar to a normal game

except for one huge difference;

this game is played with a giant

pink ball. This big difference

requires modification in the

rules and adds a whole new di-

mension to the skill set needed to

play the game. It also adds a lot

to the enjoyment.

While Team Mélange was

pleased to have two wins, par-

ticipants were most happy to

help in raising over $15,000 for

the cause.

The Sociology & Anthropology

Department would like to wel-

come two new colleagues to the

department: Gordon Chang and

Jane May.

Dr. Chang comes to WIU by

way of Hong Kong where he

spent the

first 15

years of

his life

before

moving to

California

with his

family.

There he

attended Alameda High School

and later the University of Cali-

fornia, San Diego.

Sociology was not Dr. Chang’s

first field of study when he ini-

tially started his academic ca-

reer. His early interest was in

education, but as luck would

have it there was no major in

Education at UC San Diego

where he first attended college.

There was, however, a professor

who taught a course on the Soci-

ology of Education, Dr. Hugh

M. Mehan, who sparked Dr.

Chang’s interest in the field.

Still seeking a degree in educa-

tion, Dr. Chang went to UCLA

to pursue that goal, but was

drawn back to UCSD and soci-

ology.

Team members and fans: Chris Adamski, Beate Wilson, Gordon Chang, Robert

Hironimus-Wendt, Patrick McGinty, David Rohall, Oswald Warner, and Davison

Bideshi. Ken Mietus (Emeritus) is the photographer.

WELCOME NEW FACULTY

AND STAFF

Clickers continued from page 2

“take” attendance. Unfortunately, the system is not necessarily user-

friendly. I often get quite frustrated in the switching from program

interfaces (the clicker system, for example, is not an add-in to inte-

grate with PowerPoint - you must use their version of PowerPoint

program ). Synchronization is not necessarily intuitive. In the end, I

am left with a mix of feelings - disappointment, frustration, and res-

ignation among them. I do, however, continue to like the idea of the

clickers and feel that with vast improvement on the software side and

company support, it may be workable. But, will I continue to adopt

them for my large classes? In their present state…no.

THE 2010 DEPARTMENT CROSSWORD PUZZLE

staff. She says: “I came to West-

ern in 1989 because it offers the

best work environment in the

Macomb area. I am originally

from Indiana, but have been liv-

ing in Macomb for the past 25

years. I have two children and

one grandson living in the

Welcome continued from page 3

The department also welcomes

Jane May who is an Office Sup-

port Specialist. She began work-

ing for the department in August

2010, but has been employed at

Western for 21 years as support

Macomb area. My hobbies are

my three cats and ballroom and

social dance.”

Please take a moment to wel-

come the new members of the

department!

ACROSS 3 Wrote “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”

6 His Third Law of Three Stages was Positivism

10 Coined the term “Cultural Lag”

12 Coined the term “ Group Think”

13 Discussed Social Darwinism

15 Said a role can have manifest and latent functions

16 Saw Class Conflict between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat

17 Founded the organization that became the NAACP

18 Discussed Total Institutions as places to be re-socialized

19 Translated the works of Comte

20 Founded Hull House

DOWN

1 “I and the Me”

2 Compliance Model

4 Wrote The McDonaldization of Society

5 Defined Anomic suicide

7 “Looking Glass Self”

8 “Risky Shift”

9 Concerned that the “power elite” would con-

trol society

11 Defined the Degradation ceremony

14 Coined the term “Ageism”

Submit your completed crossword in the main of-

fice by Friday, December 17 for a chance to win a

cool soc/anth-related gift!