Sociology Newsletter -- Spring 2020

Alumni, what are you doing now? What is happening in your lives? We would love to hear from you and possibly feature you in future newsletters. Please email Linda Markowitz to connect!

Dr. Corey Stevens specializes in medical sociology and gender.  We are so excited that she is helping generate a sociological understanding of the health field.

Medical sociology is one of my favorite classes to teach. For one thing, I find the topic really interesting. But more importantly, I think that sociology provides a useful lens as we deal with health crises in our society such as the opioid epidemic, the looming Covid19 pandemic, and the debate over the future of our country’s fractured and inefficient health care system. In the Medicine, Health and Society class, we discuss how social factors – like social class, racism, stigma, etc. – don’t just influence health and illness, but are fundamental in determining who gets sick and who has the power and resources to stay healthy. READ MORE...

 

Tell us a little bit about your research and what excites you most about it right now.

 I’m currently involved in two projects. The first is an interdisciplinary project exploring the narratives of former slaves, which I’m working on with 4 wonderful URCA students. I really enjoy collaborating with students. It’s great to hear prospective from students and scholars in other disciplines. It gives me a whole new lens to view the same data and allows me to find things I would not have previous thought to look for.

 I’m also engaged in an interview-based project looking at the lives of bariatric (weight loss) surgery patients. I’m looking forward to connecting with my former research participants this summer and seeing how their lives have changed in the years since their surgery.

 You’re an Ohioan Native.  One of the state cuisines’ is Cincinnati Chili (chili over pasta with cinnamon/cocoa).   Do you miss it?  Or have you replaced it with a local cuisine from St. Louis – like fried ravioli, frozen, custard, Imo’s pizza, or gooey butter cake?

 Actually, my husband makes a mean, vegetarian version of Cincinnati style chili – so we’ve brought that Ohio tradition with us. We’ve really enjoyed trying all the cuisine St. Louis has to offer. My husband and I really like heading out the city and trying new things. I don’t think I will ever understand provel cheese though… I think you had to grow up here to enjoy that.

Rumor has it that you have 4 cats, and that you just got a dog.   There is lots of social pressure to be either a dog or a cat person.  For some people, there truly can be no middle ground.  What’s your thought on that debate?

 I actually have 5 cats and a new puppy – Goose. I love all my fur babies and I’m certainly an animal lover in general. I don’t think you have to pick – dogs and cats are both great. But if you pressed me, I’d have to say I’m more of a cat person than a dog person. It’s been great watching my little rescue puppy grow up. He’s smart, funny and he is learning lots of great tricks. But, for a busy new professor it’s a lot easier to care for 5 cats than one dog. That being said, Goose gets me up and moving more than the cats do. So, he is probably better for my long-term health than my cats -- who are totally happy to curl up and sleep in on Saturday.

Liz Stygar, Natalie Mette-Bory, and Kristen Kalz (as pictured), graduates of the SIUE MA of Sociology program, share many interests and a lasting friendship.  As members of the same graduate cohort, they first bonded in the Fall of 2006 while enrolled in Dr. Cobb’s (now Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs) graduate Survey of Theory course where they navigated challenging material and engaged in lively class discussions. The successes and struggles while in graduate school provided a foundation for lasting friendships.  These experiences were formative. Working hard while keeping a sense of humor carried them through.

They all received undergraduate degrees in different disciplines from SIUE, but all shared an interest in Sociology.  That interest persisted and led them down different paths. Today, Liz is so enthused about Sociology at SIUE, she’s still here as an Instructor. Natalie works as a Labor & Delivery nurse in Washington DC. Kristen is finishing her PhD in Sociology from University of Missouri- Columbia THIS YEAR!  They are each doing Sociology.    

The early connections that these friends made have lasted.  Thanks to Sociology at SIUE for creating a place for friendships to form and grow!    

During my first semester at SIUE, I took ​Race and Ethnic​ relations with Darci Schmidgall. ​After a few lectures, I was hooked! I declared a major in Sociology that same semester, and have enjoyed it ever since. I have always been intrigued by what influences the socialization of people. And viewing the world through sociological lens, I am much more aware of the socio-cultural construction of reality.
I am also a Theatre Performance major, and interestingly, I find that both majors intertwine quite well. How, you may ask? Well, Bertolt Brecht, a German playwright, was a Marxist and applied Marx’s theory of alienation to his work. He wanted his audience to think critically about the world that they lived in. Interesting, right? Regardless of your area of study, sociology gives an insight that is useful and applicable to all paths of life.
I became deeply passionate about social justice issues while taking Ezra Temko’s ​Creating Social Change​ class. His class led me to focus my research on gentrification, and how income inequality has played a role in the displacement of low income, marginalized groups within gentrified urban neighborhoods.
As a Senior, one of my favorite jobs is serving as a Sustained Dialogue Moderator. Students and I have dialogues pertaining to topics of race, gender, class, etc. Thanks to the sociological imagination, I am able to broaden my perspective on these subjects, and am able to educate people about implicit bias and the way we all have implicit bias against people who are different from our own social and cultural backgrounds.
I believe being a sociology major helped me develop a sense of compassion and understanding for diverse groups and ideas, preparing me for my future career path in social services.