Welcome from Social Sciences Dean Barbara Dosher
The fall quarter is now in full swing at UCI and nowhere is this more evident than in the School of Social Sciences. In September, we officially welcomed more than 1,300 new freshmen, transfer and graduate students, bringing our total student population to more than 7,000 - the largest on the UCI campus. We also welcomed four new faculty members whose interests in hearing, population studies, social networking, and economics in developing countries further expand the interdisciplinary research strengths for which the School of Social Sciences is widely known.
-Check out photos from Welcome Week
-Learn more about Social Sciences’ four new faculty members
Read the rest of Dean Dosher’s fall 2009 welcome message online...
UCI sociologist studies effects of social status on perceptions of race
Study is funded by recent $35,000 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation
In a study published in the December issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sociologists Andrew Penner, UCI, and Aliya Saperstein, University of Oregon, found that over time, changes in a person’s social status - such as income level, employment status and incarceration status - alter both the way people racially categorize themselves and others. Read their full report online.
With a recently awarded $35,000 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation, Penner and Saperstein are expanding the study to explore how thinking about race as changeable provides insight into inequality.
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UC researchers to use robotics to study brain processes involved in decision making
Study is funded by $1.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation
How we recognize and adapt to change will be the focus of a $1.6 million joint study between researchers at UC Irvine and UC San Diego. Findings will provide insight down to the neuron level about the specific areas of the brain responsible for decision making and attention, which could lead to a better understanding of human behavior as well as improvements in the design of robotic systems that can adapt to changes in the environment. “Little is known about the areas of the brain involved in making decisions when faced with uncertainty,” says Jeffrey Krichmar, a cognitive scientist in UCI's School of Social Sciences and one of the study's lead researchers. He specializes in neurorobotics, using real-life biological and neural data to program robots to simulate a thinking, moving being.
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UCI profs weigh in on growth of network analysis in special edition of Science
Papers appear in July 24 issue
In a special network analysis-focused issue of Science magazine, papers by UCI School of Social Sciences professors Carter Butts, sociologist, and Douglas White, anthropologist, highlight implications, applications and potential growth areas of this rapidly expanding field.
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Garcia receives Stirling Prize from Society for Psychological Anthropology
Honor recognizes drug addiction study as “best published work in psychological anthropology”
Angela Garcia, anthropology assistant professor, has been awarded the Stirling Prize for Best Published Work in Psychological Anthropology by the Society for Psychological Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association. The award recognizes her study, “The Elegiac Addict: History, Chronicity, and the Melancholic Subject,“ in which she took an in-depth look at drug addiction and its root causes in the rural New Mexican landscape. Her findings, based upon five years of interviews, surveys and anthropological research in the area, indicated a strong tie between elevated levels of heroin use and the local Hispanos’ lost connections to the land and historical culture. The study was published in the November 2008 issue of the society’s journal, Cultural Anthropology.
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Boellstorff’s Coming of Age in Second Life receives MEA book award
2009 Media Ecology Association’s Dorothy Lee Award recognizes outstanding scholarship in the ecology of culture
Tom Boellstorff, anthropology professor, has received the 2009 Dorothy Lee Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Culture from the Media Ecology Association for Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Published in 2008, the book is an anthropological exploration of the online virtual world “Second Life” in which Boellstorff “lived” for two years observing its residents to learn how commonly held ideas of identity and society are being reshaped. The book was also recently recognized with an Honorable Mention for the PROSE Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in Media and Cultural Studies from the Association of American Publishers.
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Standout scholar Dalar Abolian
Recipient of the 2009 Nicholas Aeberhard Award for Outstanding Freshman at UCI
Armineh “Dalar” Abolian, political science major, discusses why she chose UCI, her first year experiences as an Anteater freshman, and her recently received Outstanding Freshman honor.
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Kari Pestolesi named the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week
Pestolesi becomes first Anteater to receive weekly honor from AVCA
UC Irvine’s Kari Pestolesi, sociology major, was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week after leading the No. 22 Anteaters to a 3-0 start at the Nevada Courtyard Marriott/Fairfield Invitational last weekend. Pestolesi becomes the first Anteater to win the AVCA National Player of the Week honor.
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SPOTLIGHT EVENT - Health Care Forum: Making Sense of the Health Care Debate
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 @ 7:30-9:00 p.m. Social Science Plaza A, Room 2112
The UCI Interdisciplinary Center for the Scientific Study of Ethics and Morality presents a round table discussion on health care reform with C. Ronald Koons, Felicia G. Cohn, Senator Joseph Dunn, and Leslie Lindgren.
This lecture is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first come, first served basis. Public parking is available for $7 in the Social Science Parking Structure.
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SPOTLIGHT EVENT - California Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown to discuss future of the state in public talk at UCI
Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 2:00-3:20 p.m. Crystal Cove Auditorium, UC Irvine Student Center
Edmund “Jerry” Brown Jr., Attorney General and former two-term Governor of California (1975-83), will be the featured speaker at a public talk hosted by the School of Social Sciences' Center for the Study of Democracy. Brown will discuss his more than 40-year career in politics and address questions regarding the future of the state of California.
This lecture is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first come, first served basis. Public parking is available for $7 in the Student Center Parking Structure.
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