Kristie Houck ’22, psychology and sociology, was featured in a recent article on The Neighborhood Advocate, “YAP’s Wraparound Services Help Pennsylvania Girls Gain Confidence Through Acting.” Houck, who has been an advocate at Youth Advocate Program (YAP) in Lebanon for two years, served an internship at YAP this semester to complete her psychology major requirements. She inspired two girls to add acting as a hobby, with the duo later performing as cast members in “The Pony Expresso,” a melodrama produced by The St. James Players.  

Dr. Barbara Prince, assistant professor of sociology, announced that 19 criminal justice and sociology majors, many of whom have second majors, presented their yearlong scholarly research projects at the Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Social Research Conference. More than 60 undergraduates from 18 regional colleges and universities participated in the conference. The LVC student names and presentation titles were:

• Living in a Social World: The Effects of Social Connectedness and Work Type on General Happiness by Courtney Metz ’23, sociology
• Looking Deeper in the Mind: The Effects of Social Connectedness and Satisfaction with Social Life on Mental Health by Katie Fair ’23, sociology
• Shining a Light on Policing: The Effects of Race and Political Ideology on Policing Attitudes by Dylan Ruhl ’22, criminal justice and history
• Understanding Police Use of Force: The Effects of Race and Sex on Views of Police Use of Force by Hunter LeRoux ’23, criminal justice
• A Crisis, a Natural Event, or a Hoax?: The Effects of Political Views and Religiosity on Environmental Attitudes by Amber Arnold ’22, criminal justice and Spanish
• Getting High on Racism: The Effects of Racial Prejudice on Views on Marijuana Legalization by Bryan Gower ’23, criminal justice and psychology
• Suffering from Weight Change and Mental Strain? Maybe COVID is to Blame: The Effects of Health, Sex, and Views of the Seriousness of COVID19 by Ryan Stroh ’22, sociology
• Law and Order: The Effects of The Media and Race on Perceptions of Policing by Jake Abruzzese ’23, criminal justice
• Thought Police: The Effects of Race and Political Ideology on Views of Police Use of Force by Benjamin Tressler ’23, criminal justice
• The Grass That Broke the Country’s Back: The Effects of Ideal Number of Children and Attitudes Toward Government Spending on Drug Rehabilitation on Views of Legalization of Marijuana by Amanda Keller ’23 criminal justice
• There is No Planet B: The Effects of Age, Sex, and Environmental Effects on Neighborhoods on Attitudes Towards the Environment by Kylie Beagell ’22, sociology
• An Eye for an Eye: The Effects of Political Ideology, Sex and Educational Attainment on Views of the Death Penalty as a Punishment for Murder by Emma Conradi ’23, criminal justice
• Till Death Do Us Part: The Effects of Ideal Number of Children and Education on Marital Happiness by Jade Julius ’23, sociology
• Let’s Talk About Sex: The Effects of Age and Views of Sex Education on Views of Teen Sex by Paige Vennie ’22, business administration and sociology
• Staying Safe: The Effects of Sexual Orientation and Political Views on Views of Sex Education in Public Schools by Sidney Wike ’23, criminal justice
• Guns Under Fire: The Effects of Political Ideology and Sex on Views of Gun Control by Tim Convery ’23, criminal justice
• The Ultimate Punishment: The Effects of Sex and Political Views on Views of the Death Penalty by Abigail Radcliffe ’23, criminal justice
• Gun Control Based on Worldview: The Effects of Religious Affiliation, Religiosity, and Spirituality on Views of Gun Control by Colin Krieg ’23, criminal justice
• Shadow of Death: The Effects of Religiosity and Spirituality on Views of the Death Penalty by Hannah McCurdy ’22, criminal justice

Dr. Barbara Prince, assistant professor of sociology, and Courtney Metz ’23, sociology, co-presented a workshop titled “Demystifying the Publishing Process at Teaching Sociology” with two colleagues from Elizabethtown College at the 2022 Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting in Boston, Mass., on March 13. 

Courtney Metz ’23, sociology, presented her poster, “Living in a Social World: The Effects of Social Connectedness and Work Type on General Happiness,” at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting in Boston, Mass., on March 13. 

Sydney Petrasic ’21 (neuroscience) presented “Intellectual Humility: Connections to Reasoning, Cognitive Attitudes, and Irrational Beliefs” at the 2022 Eastern Psychological Association Conference in New York City. Petrasic’s presentation was the result of student-faculty research with Dr. Lou Manza, chair and professor of psychology, and psychology majors Margaret Mailey ’24, Jordan Stum ’23, Molly Faron ’23 (psychology and sociology), Sydney Fitzgerald, and Ashley Dotey ’21. The researchers found that “Conspirational beliefs were correlated with being overconfident in one’s intellectual skills—but not with logical reasoning ability.”

Dr. Barbara Prince, assistant professor of sociology, will serve as director of CETL and Faculty Professional Development in 2021–22. Dr. Michelle Rasmussen, assistant professor of chemistry, will assume the role as director of Constellation for 2021–22. And, Terri Rosenberg, assistant professor of English, will oversee the First-Year Experience as director for 2021–22.

Dr. Barbara Prince, assistant professor of sociology, led a pair of workshop sessions, “Using Twitter to Increase Student Engagement,” and “Taking Inventory: Using Clifton StrengthsFinder and Rubin’s Four Tendencies in the Classroom,” at the Eastern Sociology Society Annual Meeting in Philadelphia at the end of February. Prince, president-elect of the Pennsylvania Sociological Society, also participated in a panel, “Turning Scholarly Teaching into Professional Activity: Publishing in Teaching Sociology and TRAILS,” and co-facilitated a workshop, “Approaching the Academic and Non-Academic Job Markets.” Finally, she judged some of the undergraduate student poster competitions.

Dr. Barbara Prince, assistant professor of sociology, was recently elected president of the Pennsylvania Sociological Society (PSS). She will serve as president-elect in 2019–20 then president in 2020–21. PSS provides a forum for communication for sociologists working in diverse settings with a goal of increasing understanding of the interplay of sociological knowledge and social research.

Dr. Kathryn M. Whiteley, associate professor of criminal justice and sociology, wrote an article regarding her relationship with Marjorie Diehl Armstrong that was picked up by several international outlets, including ABC in Australia and MSN in New Zealand. Whiteley, who is a criminologist and Pennsylvania Prison Society Official Visitor, visits women serving long or life sentences, wrote about Armstrong, who “identified herself as the ‘Pizza Bomber’ who’d been wrongly accused over a botched robbery in Erie, Pennsylvania in 2003 that ended in the death of a pizza delivery man who was wearing a bomb around his neck.”

Rachel Duong ’18, English and Spanish, and Shaquel Marshall ’18, global studies and sociology, won prizes at “The Examined Life: An Undergraduate Conference in the Liberal Arts,” at St. Francis University. Duong won Best Paper in Media Theory for “Social Protests in the Age of the #Hashtag,” and Marshall won honorable mention in Media Theory for “From the Black Panthers to Black Lives Matter: Social Media and Social Movements.”