A monthly update on your
Social Sciences news and up-coming events


June Headlines

Dalton and Leonard receive campus-wide faculty mentorship award
Russell Dalton, political science professor and Karen Leonard, anthropology professor and director of the Center for Asian Studies, are recipients of the campus-wide UC Irvine Emeriti Association's Faculty Mentorship Award for 2007. Awarded annually to faculty members who provide outstanding mentoring services to other faculty, the honor recognizes Dalton and Leonard's dedication above and beyond that expected of a faculty member's normal teaching, research and service commitments.

2006-07 Political Science yearend student award winners announced
Congratulations to the following 2006-07 Department of Political Science yearend student award winners:

David Easton Award for Outstanding Qualifying Paper
- Amy Alexander (graduate)

Harry Eckstein Award for Distinguished Senior Honors Thesis
- Garric Nahapetian (undergraduate)

Harry Eckstein Scholar Award
- Saba Ozyurt (graduate)
- Daniel Wehrenfennig (graduate)

Pi Omnicron Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha Founders Award
- Renee Manorat (undergraduate)

School of Social Sciences Order of Merit Awards
Since 1983, the Order of Merit has been given annually to approximately 2% of the Social Sciences graduate and undergraduate students who best exemplify commitment to academic distinction, leadership, and service to the School, campus, and community.
This year, the School of Social Sciences is pleased to announce the following recipients:
Read on...

Race, not space, key to lower black male employment rate
A new study finds that in areas where low-skilled jobs are predominantly held by whites, black men who live nearby are less likely to get hired.

"The problem is not lack of jobs at appropriate skill levels where blacks live, but lack of jobs available to blacks," said UC Irvine economist David Neumark, co-author of the study.

For years, it's been widely accepted that space is a primary barrier to employment - meaning there are not enough low-skill jobs where less-skilled black workers live. But by analyzing the employment, education level and location of more than 533,000 black males across the United States, Neumark and his colleagues found that the issue is not simply whether jobs are available nearby, but whether they are available to one's own race. Read on...


UC Irvine Staff Service Awards
The School of Social Sciences is pleased to announce a number of staff members who will be recognized for their multiple years of service to UC Irvine at the campus-wide Staff Service Awards on Monday, June 18, 2007 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in Aldrich Park. Read on...

Read Receives Borchard Foundation Scholar-in-Residence Grant
Jen'nan Ghazal Read, sociology assistant professor, has won a scholar-in-residence grant from the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation that will send her to a castle in the French countryside for scholarly work. Read will spend fall 2007 completing publications about her research on Muslim-American political incorporation in the idyllic setting of Chateau de la Bretesche in Missillac, France. She is one of just two scholars selected annually for this prestigious program, which aims to give faculty a home base for completing research and writing for scholarly publications. Read spent last year as a Carnegie Scholar analyzing national data on Muslim-American political incorporation.

Garb receives grant to develop mediation and conflict resolution training
Paula Garb, Director of the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding and adjunct associate professor of anthropology, has received a grant to develop mediation and conflict resolution training and curriculum for use in high schools and communities across the nation suffering from gang-related violence.

Funded by the JAMS Foundation, a non-profit corporation who supports conflict resolution initiatives that have national impact, Garb's project, "A Model Curriculum and Training Manual for Mediation in Gang Intervention," will be one of the first in the nation to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques as an attempt to solve gang-related violence in urban areas. In addition, research obtained during curriculum development will help to identify new culture-and setting-specific approaches for conflict resolution where high levels of violence are involved.

Anthropology professors named co-book review editors for
American Ethnologist
Mei Zhan, assistant professor of anthropology, and Lara Deeb, assistant professor of women's studies and faculty associate in anthropology, have been named co-book review editors for the American Ethnologist. The journal of the American Ethnological Society (AES), a subunit of the American Anthropological Association, the American Ethnologist is considered one of the flagship journals in the subfield of sociocultural anthropology. Read on...

The Road to Peace Through Education
Student group raises over $145,000 in support of Middle East studies initiatives.

A long term goal of the Middle East Studies Student Initiative (MESSI) at UC Irvine is the establishment of a major in Middle Eastern studies on campus. On Sunday, May 27, roughly 100 businessmen and women, scholars, students and others - including actor Tony Shalhoub and comedians Maz Jobrani and Aron Kader of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour - gathered at MESSI's "Road to Peace Through Education" premier fundraiser to show their support, collectively raising over $145,000 in donations and pledges to help make MESSI's long-term goal a reality. Read on...

Amy Alexander awarded UC Berkeley Institute of European Studies Fellowship
Amy Alexander, political science graduate student, has received a University of California, Berkeley Institute of European Studies Predissertation Fellowship to fund her travel to Europe in support of her research, "Gender Differences in Legislative Attitudes and Behaviors: Testing Theory and Evidence Across Several Western Democracies." In her study, Alexander will use survey data and in-depth interviews to explore differences in legislators' perceptions of their representational roles, values, ideology, policy positions, and experiences, ultimately defining the effects of women legislative empowerment across several modern societies.

Boellstorff named American Anthropologist editor
Tom Boellstorff, associate professor of anthropology, has been named editor in chief of the journal American Anthropologist by the American Anthropological Association. Published for 109 years, American Anthropologist is the association's flagship journal, featuring academic articles, commentaries, and reviews related to the field. The journal is sent to all 12,000 members of the association and major research university libraries across the country.

International studies major takes top honors in 2007 UCI Ethics Fellow Awards
Jennifer Yanni, international studies major, has taken top honors in the 2007 UCI Ethics Fellow Awards for best student essay. Addressing this year's topic of fostering better relations among the diverse groups at UCI, Yanni's project entitled, "Hand in Hand: From Remote Groups to a United Alliance," will seek to develop greater cooperation at UC Irvine by enlisting student leaders to write a student charter, modeled on the UN Charter. Read on...

Student Spotlight: Ismael Diaz Herrera
The son of Mexican immigrants, Ismael Diaz Herrera could count the number of times he had been out of the San Joaquin Valley on one hand before arriving at UC Irvine his freshman year.

"I wasn't what you might call college material," says Ismael Diaz Herrera, reflecting on his life growing up in "the Valley." "I got into quite a bit of trouble as a kid."

As a teenager, Herrera spent a great deal of time in detention for his behavior and grades at school. When his older sister, one of his biggest mentors, enrolled in college courses at a nearby school, she began taking Herrera - who was then in high school - to classes with her, exposing him to the study of Chicano/Latino culture. "My curiosity was piqued and I wanted to learn more," says Herrera. Cleaning up his act - and his grades - Herrera came to UC Irvine where he felt he "wasn't just another number," referring to the small class atmosphere and Aldrich Park as major selling points of the campus. Read on...

Shahrzad Radbod awarded Elena B. and William R. Schonfeld Scholarship
Shahrzad Radbod, third-year political science major and biological sciences and philosophy minor, has been selected as the 2007 recipient of the Elena B. and William R. Schonfeld Scholarship. Read on...

Ouyang awarded fellowship from American Economics Association
Min Ouyang, assistant professor of economics, recently received a fellowship sponsored by the American Economics Association and the National Science Foundation. Designed to increase the participation and advancement of women and underrepresented minorities in economics, the fellowship will allow Ouyang to spend Summer 2007 at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. While there, she will participate as a member of the research department and continue work on two of her research projects, "The Virtues of Bad Times Revisited: Theory and Evidence on Cyclical Innovation" and "Labor Reallocation, Business Cycles, and Labor Market Institutions."

Rodriguez wins neuroscience competition
Paul Rodriguez, associate research specialist in cognitive science who is also supported by the Research Imaging Center, won the 2007 Pittsburgh Brain Activity Interpretation Competition Neuroscience Award. The $5,000 award honored Rodriguez for his project "Combining Ridge and/or Partial Least Squares Regression," which analyzed fMRI data toexplore how general states of arousal in the brain can heighten the experience of reward.

Luce receives honorary doctorate
from University of Waterloo
R. Duncan Luce, Distinguished Professor
of Cognitive Sciences, received an
honorary doctorate of mathematics
from the University of Waterloo, Canada,
on June 15. Luce, a pioneer in mathematical
behavioral sciences and
National Medal of Science winner,
was recently honored with the UC Irvine
Alumni Association's Extraordinarius award
at the 37th annual Lauds & Laurels ceremony.


Social Sciences in the News

Congress splits over plan to consolidate intelligence research
Mark Steyvers, cognitive science professor, is quoted in Science Magazine on June 22, 2007. Read on...

Colombia's para-political crisis
Raul Fernandez, Chicano/Latino studies professor, was interviewed live on CBS' "On the Map" with Avi Lewis on June 18, 2007. Read on...

Few Michoacanos have registered to vote
Louis DeSipio, Chicano/Latino studies professor and department chair, is quoted in The Fresno Bee on June 25, 2007. Read on...

Waiting on the world to change...
Russell Dalton, political science professor, was interviewed on Federal News Radio's "Daily Debrief" with Amy Morris on June 21, 2007. Read on...

In a democracy, knowledge is power
Russell Dalton, political science professor, was interviewed on The Jim Bohannon Show on June 18, 2007. Read on...

Immigration and Integration
Ruben Rumbaut, sociology professor, was interviewed by Warren Olney live on To the Point, a one-hour daily national news program co-produced by KCRW and Public Radio International. Read on...

Governor to Immigrants - Turn off Telemundo
Louis DeSipio, professor and chair of Chicano/Latino studies, was interviewed on the KPCC Pat Morrison public affairs radio show on Thursday, June 14, 2007. Read on...

Mr. Prez: You're not in Albania anymore
Matthew Beckman, political science professor, is quoted in the Associated Press on June 14, 2007. Read on...

Do steroids really matter in home-run totals?
Art De Vany, professor emeritus of economics, is quoted in The Grand Rapids Press (Mich.) on June 14, 2007. Read on...

McCain takes his turn in Newport Beach
Mark Petracca, political science professor and department chair, is quoted in the Daily Pilot on June 12, 2007. Read on...

Religion takes hold in Second Life's cyber universe
Tom Boellstorff, anthropology professor, is quoted in the Religion News Service article of the week on June 7, 2007. Read on...

Migrant reform is uncertain
Louis DiSipio, Chicano/Latino studies professor and department chair, was quoted in The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) on June 10, 2007. Read on...

East Meets Mex
Making Ethnic Choices: California's Punjabi Mexican Americans, a book authored by Karen Leonard, anthropology professor, was referenced in the LA Weekly on May 30, 2007. Read on...

Despite so few immigrants here, legal or illegal, opposition is fierce
A study by Ruben Rumbaut, sociology professor, is referenced in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 3, 2007. Read on...

Wage hike could cut entry-level jobs
David Neumark, economics professor, is quoted in the Baltimore Examiner on June 4, 2007. Read on...

Citizenship drives stir Latinos to act
Louis DeSipio, Chicano/Latino studies professor and department chair, is quoted in The Fresno Bee on June 2, 2007. Read on...

China riots rooted in child policy, financial woes
Susan Greenhalgh, anthropology professor, was quoted in Reuters on June 1, 2007. Read on...

If you have a good idea for a feature story or would like to post a news item to the School of Social Sciences website, please contact your department manager or Heather Wuebker, hwuebker@uci.edu.