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Welcome to the August 2012 issue of the Social Sciences
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Olympic anteater update

Strong starts for anteaters in men's and women's volleyball and water polo

Updated July 31 @ 1:30 p.m. - UC Irvine anteaters are showing what they zot at the 2012 Olympic games, helping Team USA rack up wins in preliminary rounds of men's and women's water polo and volleyball. UCI is represented well by alumni Ryan Bailey, social science '06; Tim Hutten, political science '08; and Jeff Powers, political science '03, who are among the returning members of the men's water polo team looking to follow up their silver finish in Beijing's 2008 games with a gold in London. They defeated Montenegro 8-7 on July 29, Romania on July 31 with a score of 10-8, and they're set to take on Great Britain August 2. In men's volleyball, Brian Thornton, sociology '08, and David Smith, engineering '07, marked their first Olympic appearance with a 3-0 match win over Serbia July 29 and a 3-0 win over Germany July 31. The USA men's volleyball team will advance to play Brazil August 2.

On the women's side, UCI coach Dan Klatt, social science alumnus '01, led women's water polo to a 14-13 win over Hungary while UCI coaches Jamie Morrison and Paula Weishoff and the women's volleyball team celebrated a 3-1 match win against Brazil July 30. Both USA women's teams will play again August 1 with water polo taking on Spain and volleyball facing China. UCI graduate alumnus Amber Neben, biology, competed July 29 in the women's cycling road race and finished 36th.

Gang Intervention Certificate Program celebrates first class of graduates

15-week program launched in March provides training for practitioners and academics working with gang-involved youth

Veteran law enforcement officer and UCI social sciences lecturer Al Valdez was the keynote speaker at UCI's inaugural Gang Intervention Certificate Program graduation, held June 29 at UCI. The event wrapped up the 15-week program completed by 39 participants including students, academics and practitioners who work with gang-involved or at-risk youth in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas.

Interested? Learn more about the Gang Intervention Certificate Program online.

Understanding social movement emergence, media coverage and public sway

Sociology professor Edwin Amenta receives two-year NSF grant to study social movement organizations

Edwin Amenta, sociology professor, has received a $143,494 grant from the National Science Foundation to create a comprehensive database on the collective actions, media coverage and characteristics of social movement organizations from 1960-95. The project, Amenta says, represents one of the largest such efforts to track multi-organizational social movement activity.

Read more...

Does the ballot placement of Gov. Brown's tax measure give him an unfair advantage?

Carole Uhlaner, political science associate professor, on 89.3 KPCC July 12, 2012

Many election experts believe that appearing higher on a paper ballot can increase a candidate's or law's chance of passing as fickle voters lose interest and their eyes move farther down the ballot. Carole Uhlaner, associate professor of political science at UC Irvine, said she does not believe the order of ballot proposals on the voting ticket matters.

Listen in...

Is the minimum wage too low?

David Neumark, economics Chancellor's professor and Center for Economics & Public Policy director, on Minnesota Public Radio July 12, 2012

In an attempt to balance the city budget, Scranton, Pa. cut all city worker pay last week to minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. The news came as wages around the country appear to be falling. In a time of economic uncertainty, would raising the minimum wage provide a better quality of life for many hourly workers, or would it lead to larger deficits and keep employers from hiring? David Neumark, director of the Center for Economics and Public Policy at University of California, Irvine, weighs in.

Listen in...

Islam and Temporal Powers

New book by social sciences lecturer Bojan Petrovic

In his new book, Islam and Temporal Power, social sciences lecturer Bojan Petrovic seeks to define the relationship between Islamic religion and state powers in predominantly Muslim countries. Dating as far back as the seventh century, he provides a historical review of the greatly varied role religion has played in administrative and judicial governance. He explains that social, economic and political conditions largely dictate how closely - if at all - religion and state powers are linked, leaving room for the prospect of representative forms of government in a majority-Muslim state.

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SPOTLIGHT EVENT: Olive Tree Initiative Annual Send-Off

August 26, 6:00-9:00 p.m., The Center Club, 650 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

UCI's Olive Tree Initiative (OTI) is hosting its annual Bon Voyage Celebration on Sunday, August 26 to raise money for, and bid farewell to, its fifth group of student ambassadors who will be leaving for the Middle East in September. The evening celebration will be held at The Center Club in Costa Mesa and will feature one of Hollywood's most talented magicians and magic consultants, David Kwong. Ticket prices for the event are $150 per person or $1,500 per table and may be purchased by contacting Rosemarie Swatez, 949-824-2511 or rswatez@uci.edu.