Educational Problems Division 
Society for the Study of Social Problems
Summer 2020 Newsletter

A Letter from the Chair
Written by Linda M. Waldron, Ph.D.

If you are like me, 2020 has been a bit of a blur. Spring semester began like any other. I had the pleasure of taking a group of Christopher Newport University students to Budapest, Hungary for a Spring Break study abroad trip. When I left, the news of a possible new virus was just beginning to emerge. By the time we returned, we were in the midst of a global pandemic. 

Like many of you, I scrambled to change course for what I first though was going to just be a temporary retreat from campus, which then quickly became a permanent shutdown. My transition to virtual instruction was anything but seamless. I watched as the pressure of a quarantine started to wear on my students' health and well-being. My more economically disadvantaged students struggled with housing insecurity as they were asked to leave the dorms. Others witnessed family members become unemployed, forcing them to choose between finishing an assignment for me and getting a job to help their families survive. My first student reported his mother tested positive; then our first case on campus; then the first case in my neighborhood; then the first case in my family.

At home, I juggled online instruction with homeschooling my 2nd and 6th grader--feeling like a bit of a failure on both fronts. And the number of COVID-19 cases just kept rising.

As of today, there are almost 3 million known cases of coronavirus and more than 125,000 people have died from it. 

Somewhere in this middle of this chaos, a video emerged of Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man jogging through the coastal city of Brunswick, GA, being chased and eventually killed by two white residents. His death occurred on February 23rd--no arrest had yet been made as of the May 5th release of this video. As calls for justice in Mr. Arbery's case were just beginning, we witnessed the tragic murder of George Floyd on May 25th by four Minneapolis police officers. His death and the 8 minute, 46 second video of such a horrific tragedy propelled an already active Black Lives Movement into the spotlight. Calls to defund the police were heard in protests around the globe. On June 5th, what would have been the 25th birthday of Breonna Taylor, an online campaign #SayHerName goes viral, bringing attention to her killing by Louisville police during a 'no-knock' search on March 13th. The Black Lives Movement quickly becomes the largest social movement in American history.

To say that we have entered unprecedented times would be an understatement and the need for social justice organizations like SSSP could not be more apparent. 


VIRTUAL BUSINESS MEETING FOR OUR DIVISION
Please join us for our annual Business Meeting where we organize the Educational Problem division sessions for 2021 conference. Next yearÕs theme is:ÊRevolutionary Sociology: Truth, Healing, Reparations and Reconstruction.ÊIf you canÕt make this virtual meeting, please send me panel topics and ideas!  

Wednesday July 22nd at 6pm EST
https://meet.google.com/dzi-gicc-wns
Join by phone
?(US) +1 413-398-0070? PIN: ?977 382 396?#

Join us for 2020 SSSP Virtual Conference

Please join the half-day annual meeting on Friday August 7, 2020. 
Bringing the Hope Back In: Sociological Imagination and Dreaming Transformation.

For more information visit:
https://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/783/2020_Annual_Meeting/


Graduate Student Paper Award Recipient

Alma Nidia Garza, University of California, Irvine
"Cultural Sidelining: How Campus Cultures across UniversityÊContexts Shortchange Working-Class Hispanic Students"
Abstract: As universities strive to accommodate a rising number of underrepresented students, how do their campus cultures align with minority student cultures? Despite the socialization power inherent in routine campus exchanges, scant research considers how quotidian, class-based repertoires shape the experiences of students arguably least familiar with college cultureÑworking-class, racial-ethnic minorities. Using semi-structured interviews and participant observation, I compare how Hispanic students attending a moderately selective institution and their co-ethnic counterparts attending a regional university contend with cultural hierarchies that impact their growth and inclusion. I propose that universities engage in a practice of cultural sidelining. Students are unable to engage with or exercise elements of sidelined cultures depending on the set of behaviors endorsed on campus. Because Hispanic students are unable to fully engage an ethnic working class or mainstream middle-class culture depending on the university they attend, I argue that sidelining helps conceal ongoing forms of cultural exclusion.


Graduate Student Paper AwardÑHonorable Mention
Karylyn Gorski, University of Chicago
"In School for After School:Ê The Relationship between Extracurricular Participation and Student Engagement"
Abstract: School engagement predicts academic achievement and attainment yet remains under-theorized in the sociological literature. Psychologists describe three distinct but mutually reinforcing categories of engagement: behavioral, cognitive, and emotional. However, sociologists have largely neglected the domain of cognitive engagement. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews with two debate teams in Chicago Public Schools, I demonstrate that behavioral engagement in the form of debate team participation helps build cognitive and emotional engagement in school. StudentsÕ increase in engagement across all three domains can promote academic achievement and attainment. In this paper, show how behavioral engagement can produce cognitive and emotional school engagement. These changes help to establish debate as a space for deep learning. While existing sociological literature has used monolithic or dual (behavioral-emotional) frameworks of school engagement, I argue that cognitive engagement is a necessary addition to the discourse. For example, cognitive engagement helps to explain the positive academic impact of debate and other institutionally based identity projects.


Mai Thai, Indiana University, Bloomington
"The Racialized, Classed, and Gendered Logics of School-Based Criminal Justice Interventions"
Abstract: Much of the research on the criminal justice systemÕs contact with low-income youth of color has primarily focused on punitive interactions, which leads scholars to focus on how youth get criminalized as delinquent. However, this deviance-centered framework overlooks how these institutions define the ideal personhood expected of marginalized youth, which would be conceptually fruitful for understanding the logics behind state institutionsÕ interactions with young people. This paper flips the deviance-centered framework and examines junior police academies, school-police partnerships that aim to cultivate discipline and morality among its members, as a microcosm of contemporary youth interventions to understand what behaviors are valorized and the assumptions driving these approaches. Based on over 25 months of fieldwork on junior police academies, data show that strategies to produce good community citizens reflect racialized, classed, and gendered assumptions about vulnerable youth. Though junior police academies provide young people certain advantages in the short-term, the programsÕ attempts to correct perceived deficit behaviors also has implications for long-term structural inequalities.

Facing the Pandemic: Classes begin with Òif you are willing and ableÓ
By Irina Chukhray
PhD candidate, University of CA Davis

With the pandemic leaving almost no part of our lives untouched in some way, teaching to a class of black boxes on zoom has become one of the most strikingly visible challenges of teaching remotely. Are students there behind the boxes? Are they following along? 

Ability to turn on oneÕs camera is varied. Students with old device models and/or weak wireless signals cannot use the camera feature and still maintain a stable connection (some devices freeze or drop signal). 

Internet access, while still a luxury for many students, has swiftly morphed into an academic necessity. My students sit in restaurant and coffee shop parking lots trying to participate in the live zoom class session because the pre-recorded lecture, while available, is Òjust not the same.Ó 

Time appears to blur different parts of life into one long song. Is it time for class already? What day is it? 
These are common frustrations. Our bodies, conditioned to walk to class and move again between classes, yearn for this physical element and the social interaction with peers crossing the quad. We face a bland new world where the line between school and at-home mundaneness and distraction is difficult to draw.

Teaching a class on Social Problems seems very timely. Asking open-ended questions about how issues, such as diseases, become social problems initially leads to cricket responses. The silence and limited visual cues obscure critical student reactions that communicate understanding, confusion, interest, and brainstormingÉelements that inform my teaching.

I adopted a new teaching technique. I wait for a minute or two at the start of every class as each day I calmly, almost with a meditative feel, begin with, ÒHello Everyone. [pause]. As always, if you are willing [pause] and able [pause], I encourage you to turn on your camera [pause] so that I can see your wonderful [pause] faces.Ó I wait. Seconds later, one face after another begins to pop up on zoom where the boxes used to be revealing a mixture of tired, sleepy, and smiling faces with backdrops of purple or green walls, movie or sports team posters, sky and cloud painted ceilings, backyard trees, car seats, or slowly moving ceiling fans. Some faces I will never see. Instead a chat message contribution appearsÑfrom a new mom and main caretakerÑand another chat soon appears from a student who previously emailed about their WIFI instability. I wait, giving students time to type their contributions, which I immediately read out loud for the class to hear and wait for them to engage.  

I still ask open-ended questions. However, I now gently call on the faces or boxes (trying to keep it random with a printed list of student names on my desk) and wait 5-10 seconds or longer. Students, grown accustomed to my method, send their voices cautiously out of the dark or out of their unique spaces to brainstorm live and out loud, often leading to a deep discussion minutes later with other students joining in as I encourage to Òunmute and jump in.Ó I waitÉa student unmutes and shares her response as her younger brother playfully crawls into her lap. Embracing our reality, our discussion deep dives into the role of childrenÕs socialization in discussing norm reproduction, society impacting individuals, and individuals shaping society. 

The wait, reflecting the weight of the pandemic we currently face, brings students out of our blurry new world and into a sociology telescope, where I am a guide in focusing their new-found sociological lens as we explore and face social problems in our society.  


Now is the Time
By Christine Melendez
Christine Melendez is a Chesterfield teacher, graduate of Longwood College and a member of Virginia Educators United. This article was first published in the Richmond Teachers for Social Justice website and will be featured in the next VEA Journal.

My experiences as a human have been altered by how others have perceived my value based on the color of my skin, the languages I speak, and my Puerto Rican ancestry. I will never forget the day I was called a "dirty Mexican" by the older brother of a friend in Arizona in 3rd grade. Or the time I showed up to a Longwood University basketball team party and nobody wanted to dance or talk to me because I did not look like them. Or the time I was driving with my windows down through Fredericksburg just 2 years ago on Cinco de Mayo and a truck rolled by rolling their r's and whooping like savages. Or the countless jobs I have applied to and have not even gotten an interview because of my last name or the fact that I proudly state the fact that I'm bilingual. Or feeling like I am always the token who ends up representing every Latinx person's voice in most spaces. These experiences are not the last of what has and will happen and in no way am I sharing these to lessen the experiences of the Black community at this time.

My own partner, a Black male second year law student with a PhD, was singled out by law enforcement and questioned about the disappearance of a bicycle in the park he chose to work out in that afternoon. There was a group of White teenagers sitting around a bicycle only 100 yards away, but the detective chose to only question the Black man. These and so many more are the experiences of not only our peers but of our students.

My experience as a teacher has been shaped by my studentsÕ stories and experiences as well as my own. As a Latinx educator, I have been subjected to racial insensitivity and intentional ignorance from colleagues and administrators that caused me to question the validity of my purpose and my position. The policy reforms and systemic changes I choose to fight for are meant to improve learning and living conditions for all people, but especially the marginalized. I have had the honor to teach in 3 districts in my 8 years of education: one rural, one somewhat urban, and one suburban setting. I am sad to report that the experiences of my students of color, particularly my Black students, do not vary much from one place to another. That is not to say that I have not found loving and caring people from all walks of life who are actively trying to challenge antiquated education systems and policies, but overall the problem boils down to one thing - the systematic defunding of public education. Those in power who have seen themselves superior to others because of their socioeconomic status or race continue to take money away from public schools and services and choose to fund only the programs and services that serve people that look and sound like them.

For far too long educators have stood by and watched their curriculums and standardized tests continue to focus on Eurocentric ideologies and histories. For far too long education workers have allowed oppressive administrators, school boards, and local and state government officials control every aspect of their lives from their working conditions to their pay. For far too long, education workers of color have been met with gatekeeping, from biased, state mandated tests to discrimination and bullying in the workplace. For far too long our education workers and students of color have spoken up with fear and trepidation about the traumas they experience and still do not receive proper mental health services and other supports to help them overcome what theyÕve been subjected to and help them rise up with resilience.

Now is the time for all educators to stand in the gap for those that have been silenced time and time again. Now is the time to call for fully funded schools. Now is the time to call for anti-racist professional development and curriculums. Now is the time to hold administrators, school boards, and local and state government officials accountable and push them to enact real policy change instead of releasing statements that are meant to pacify and otherwise distract educators and the public from the lack of action at every level.

Recent Publications of Division Members

Clonan-Roy, Katherine,ÊNora Gross, and Charlotte Jacobs. (2020). ÒSafe Rebellious Places: The Value of Informal Spaces in Schools to Counter the Emotional Silencing of Youth of Color.ÓÊInternational Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Abstract:
Drawing on qualitative research with adolescent youth of color, this paper imagines the power and potential of informal youth-driven spaces in schools as sites of emotional safety and rebellion. Calling upon HochshildÕs (1979) conceptualization of the social regulation of emotions, we examine the racialized and gendered feeling rules that govern the social worlds of adolescents of color, particularly within educational institutions. Additionally, we theorize how the presence of informal youth-driven spaces inside schools, but outside of the traditional classroom or club structure, provide a place where young people can safely express their emotions, experience emotional understanding from their peers, and freely critique the institutional and systemic injustices they experience.

Mar’a G. Rend—n. 2020. Stagnant Dreamers: How the Inner City Shapes the Integration of Second Generation Latinos (Russell Sage).

Professor Maria Rend—n was recently promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy at the University of California, Irvine

Read more about this book and ProfessorÊRend—n's work at https://dornsife.usc.edu/csii/blog-second-gen-latinos-rendon/

Or review Professor Rend—nÕs Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Daily News about this topic. 
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/02/20/for-latinos-a-college-degree-doesnt-guarantee-entrance-to-the-middle-class/#

Call for Papers
Christopher Newport UniversityÕs College of Arts and Humanities
seeks abstracts for the forthcomingÊ
Global Conference on Women and Gender
to be held at CNU, March 18-20, 2021

We have reserved the same theme from our postponed 2020 Conference:
Gender, Politics, and Everyday Life: Power, Resistance, and Representation

This interdisciplinary conference brings together participants from all academic fields to engage in wide-ranging conversations on gender and politics around the world. While formal politics loom large in 2020, we encourage an expansive understanding of political action and expression, inspired by Carol HanischÕs essay, ÒThe Personal is Political,Ó which sees all relationships of power as political and connects womenÕs experiences, self-expression, and values to their lives as political actors and subjects.Ê
Topics may include but are not limited to the past and/or present intersection of gender and politics in:

Suffrage Expansion, Feminism, Voting and Candidacy, Organizing and Activism, Media Representation, Artistic and Literary Expression, Motherhood and Family Life, Sexuality and Gender Identity, Reproductive Rights, Race and Racism, Disability Rights, Employment, Poverty, Education, Health, Violence, Religion, Law, Business and Management, Leadership, Social Media

Submissions from any academic discipline are welcome, including but not limited to art, history, philosophy, religious studies, sociology, psychology, environmental science, medicine, biomedical ethics, economics, political science, gender studies, communication studies and literature. We also invite professionals in nonacademic settings to submit proposals.

Both panel and individual paper proposals are welcome.ÊPlease submit a 350 to 500-word abstract by October 15th, 2020 athttp://cnu.edu/gcwg

Please include with your abstract: your full name and your academic or professional affiliation and rank (graduate student, professor, artist, etc.). Abstracts that greatly exceed the 500-word count may not be considered. We will also include a few competitively selected undergraduate panels in the 2021 conference. All submissions will be peer reviewed and those accepted will be notified no later than October 30th, 2020.Ê Paper presentations will ideally be 15-20 minutes in length and can be considered for our annual publication.  Please direct inquiries about the conference to gcwg@cnu.edu.Ê



Recognition of the SSSP 2020 Conference Papers

Below is the list of 2020 Division Panels for the conference that never was! From the looks of each of these sessions, it is clear that 2020 would have been an amazing conference! Thank you to all of the volunteer organizers, presiders, moderators, and presenters. I sincerely hope you consider submitting something to the Educational Problems Division for the SSSP 20201 Conference. Congratulations on this excellent work!

Session 011:	Educating in the 21st Century Context: Cultural Problems and Solutions 
Sponsor: Educational Problems 
Organizer: Taylor Devereaux, University of Central Florida
Presider: Linda M. Waldron, Christopher Newport University

 ÒÔI Feel Sorry for Anyone Who Has to Teach ThisÕ: Learning from Student Evaluations of a Race and Ethnicity Course,Ó Karyn McKinney, Penn State Altoona
ÒEducator Perceptions of Gendered Risks Related to Cyberbullying and Online Aggression,Ó Michael Adorjan, University of Calgary and Rosemary Ricciardelli, Memorial University of Newfoundland
ÒNo ChildrenÕs Play: Early Childhood Sexual Harassment,Ó Ayelet Giladi, Voice of Child Association
ÒRacialized Emotions and Resistance Ideologies: White Male StudentsÕ Perceptions of Microaggressions,Ó Holly Benton, Casey Strange and Maxine Thompson, North Carolina State University
ÒThe Role of Literature-related Extra Curricular Activities in Academic Achievement and Cultural Capital Accumulation,Ó William Velez and Antonio Paniagua Guzman, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Session 021:	Education, Activism, and Policy 
Sponsor: Educational Problems 
Organizer & Presider: A. Fiona F. Pearson, Central Connecticut State University
 
ÒExplaining Asian American Attitudes towards Affirmative Action,Ó Shelley Rao, Indiana University Bloomington
ÒThe Neoliberalist Takeover: Privatizing Education,Ó Taylor Devereaux, University of Central Florida and Andrew Baird, Christopher Newport University
ÒThe Promise and Limitations of the 2018-2019 U.S. Teacher Strikes,Ó Johanna S. Quinn, William Paterson University
ÒThe Role of Social Movements in Legal Endogeneity: Case Study of Local Anti-rape Activism,Ó Nona Maria Gronert, University of Wisconsin-Madison
ÒWinners and Losers in Collegiate Athletics,Ó Elizabeth Gunawan, Peking University

Session 030:	Education: Futures and Imaginaries in the Global Context 
Sponsors: Educational Problems and Global Problems
Organizer: Lydia Hou, University of Illinois at Chicago

 ÒConsolidating and Cultivating Networks of Useful Knowledge in University Life,Ó Kriti Budhiraja, University of Minnesota
ÒReconceptualizing Belonging: Identity and Social Location in Early Childhood Education and Care,Ó Zuhra Abawi, Niagara University and Rachel Berman, Ryerson University
ÒThe Empathy Gap in Graduate Supervision: Faculty Trauma and the Problem of ÔBack in My DayÕ in Reimagining Graduate Education,Ó Lily Ivanova, University of British Columbia
ÒTrust in Education and Policy Preferences in Changing Societies: Evidence from South Caucasus,Ó Abbas Abbasov and Oren Pizmony-Levy, Teachers College, Columbia University

Session 040:	Education, Politics, and Policy: Higher Education 
Sponsor: Educational Problems 
Organizer: A. Fiona F. Pearson, Central Connecticut State University

 ÒCivic, Professional, and Personal Skills of First-year Learning Community College Students,Ó Chastity L. Blankenship and Lisa M. Carter, Florida Southern College
ÒCollege Transitions and Summer Melt: Who is Getting Left Behind?Ó Josalie C. Condon and Jonathan Cox, University of Central Florida
ÒMetrics for Community College Student Success: Austerity, Accountability and the New Edu-philanthropists,Ó Robin G. Isserles, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY
ÒNations Apart?: Variations in Canadian and American College Student Mental Health Problems and Service-use,Ó Nicole Malette, The University of British Columbia
ÒShifting Rhetoric, Broken Promises, and 45 Years of Diminishing Confidence in the Institution of Education,Ó Michael A. Miner, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Session 050:	Building Pathways for Social Justice: Investigations into Educational Institutions 
Sponsors:  Educational Problems and Institutional Ethnography 
Organizers: Alison Fisher, York University and LaNysha T. Adams, Edlinguist Solutions
Presider & Discussant: LaNysha T. Adams, Edlinguist Solutions
 
ÒÔThe Institution Does Not Serve Me, I Serve the InstitutionÕ: A Qualitative Analysis of Latino/a Student Experiences at a Research One Hispanic Serving Institution,Ó Marilyn Garcia, University of California, Irvine
ÒRace Matters: Student-Teacher Trust in New York City Middle Schools,Ó Brittany N. Fox-Williams, Columbia University
ÒThe Social Darwinism of Diversity Initiatives: Tracing the Troubled Lineage from Eugenics to the Neoliberal University,Ó Rachel Roberson and Juliet Kunkel, University of California, Berkeley
ÒIn LaÕKech from the Ivory Tower to the Prison Tower: Connecting Latina ÔDisposablesÕ to Latina ÔExceptionalsÕ across Neoliberal Institutions,Ó Marisa D. Salinas, University of California, Santa Barbara

Session 055:	CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Outsider Voices Transforming Education 
Sponsors: Educational Problems, and Racial and Ethnic Minorities 
Organizer: Katherine E. Entigar, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Presider/Discussant:	Alma Nidia Garza, Purdue University

 ÒA Vision of Justice for All: USCPR as Critical Intersectional Praxis,Ó Emily R. Hughes, American University
ÒCounter-narrative of Seeing (In)Equalities: One African American CommunityÕ and its YouthÕs Stories of Educational Attainment,Ó Sheron Fraser-Burgess, Ball State University, Elena Polush, Iowa State University and Camea Davis, Georgia State University
ÒCultural Sidelining: How Campus Cultures across University Contexts Shortchange Working-class, Hispanic Students,Ó Alma Nidia Garza, Purdue University
ÒDeveloping a Theory of Place-based Exceptionalism: How Campus Communities Make Sense of Problematic Events and Behavior,Ó Hannah Liebreich, University of HawaiÕi at M?noa
ÒImmigration and School Threat?: Exploring the Significance of the Border,Ó Anthony A. Peguero, Virginia Tech, Ruby Bafu, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Kay Sarai Varela and Miner P. ÓTreyÓ Marchbanks III, Texas A&M University, John M. Eason, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Jamilia Blake, Texas A&M University
ÒUndocumented Immigrant StudentsÕ Support Seeking Behaviors in College,Ó Jaein Josefina Lee, Harvard University

Session 084:	Education and Disability 
Sponsors: Disability and Educational Problems 
Organizers: Dara Shifrer, Portland State University and Rachel Elizabeth Fish, New York University
Presider: Dara Shifrer, Portland State University

 ÒAcademic Interventions and the Transition to Adulthood for Youth with Disabilities Who Age Out of Foster Care,Ó Erin J. McCauley, Cornell University
ÒSeeking Answers: Does Compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Reproduce Preexisting Inequalities, Magnify Them, or Help Reduce Inequality?Ó Catherine M. Voulgarides, Hunter College, CUNY
ÒSocial Contributors to Differences by Disability Status in High School Math Course Attainment,Ó Dara Shifrer and Daniel Mackin Freeman, Portland State University and Angela Frederick, The University of Texas at El Paso
ÒTeachersÕ Racialized and Gendered Suspicion of Disability: ÔInvisibleÕ Disabilities?Ó Rachel Elizabeth Fish, New York University
ÒThe Complex Embodiment of Blind Blues Musicians,Ó Jonathan S. Lower, University at Buffalo, SUNY

Session 095:	Educating in the 21st Century Context: Structural Problems and Solutions 
Sponsors: Educational Problems and Labor Studies 
Organizers: Andrew Baird, Christopher Newport University and Taylor Devereaux, University of Central Florida
Presider: Taylor Devereaux, University of Central Florida

 ÒÔI Feel Totally Precarious All the TimeÕ: The Sources and Consequences of Job Insecurity among Contingent Faculty,Ó Elizabeth Klainot-Hess, The Ohio State University
ÒIntegrating Lived Experiences and Identities in the Classroom,Ó Marisa V. Cervantes and Alana R. Inlow, Washington State University
ÒInternational Students as Precarious Labor: The Role of Higher Education in Supporting Future Global Workers,Ó Lydia Hou, University of Illinois at Chicago
ÒIt is All about an Experience: A Critical Discourse Analysis into Higher Education Marketing Materials,Ó SE Jenkins, University of South Florida
ÒUniversity Presidents Framing Support for Undocumented Students: A Feminist Analysis of How Family is Constructed in Public Letters Supporting DACA,Ó Cassaundra Rodriguez, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Session 109:	Building Pathways for Social Justice: Investigations into Educational Institutions II 
Sponsors:	Educational Problems & Institutional Ethnography 
Organizers:	Alison Fisher, York University and LaNysha T. Adams, Edlinguist Solutions
Presider:	LaNysha T. Adams, Edlinguist Solutions

 ÒÔAn Attack on One of Us is an Attack on All of UsÕ: Intersectional Coalition Building and the Influence of Political Opportunity Structures in Student Organizing,Ó Maggie Leon-Corwin and Tamara L. Mix, Oklahoma State University
ÒDistinguishing the Impacts of Empowerment and Institutional Agents on the Academic Trajectory of First-year First-generation Students of Color,Ó Diego Enrique Aleman, University of California, Irvine
ÒFrom Policy to Practice: How History and Social Studies Courses Help to Maintain Inequality,Ó Beth Merenstein, Central Connecticut State University
ÒIndividualized Education Plans and Social Relations of Learning Disabilities: The Everyday Supporting, Accommodating and Modifying the Work of Care Givers.,Ó Elizabeth L. BrulŽ, Queen's University and Sobia S. Shaikh, Memorial University
ÒThe Institutional Maze: The Challenges of Navigating Institutional Control,Ó Sanna King, Mississippi State University

Session 121:	Education, Politics, and Policy: K-12 Education 
Sponsor: Educational Problems 
Organizer: A. Fiona F. Pearson, Central Connecticut State University

 ÒAnalyzing Elementary School Gender Inclusive Curriculum Development in California Public School Districts,Ó Lori B. Baralt, California State University, Long Beach
ÒDeconstructing Citizenship and Belonging: Refugee Student Integration in Ontario Schools,Ó Zuhra Abawi, Niagara University
ÒPlaying to Succeed: The Impact of Extracurricular Activity Participation on Academic Achievement for Youth Involved with the Child Welfare System,Ó Sarah E. Connelly, University of Oklahoma
ÒSchool to STEM Corporate Pipeline: Examining Middle School StudentsÕ Racialized Experience of a Computer Science Intervention,Ó Noemi Linares-Ramirez, University of California, Irvine
ÒWhere Students Learn and Community Health Outcomes: The Relationship between County-level School Segregation and Population Health,Ó Calley Fisk, University of South Carolina

Session 133:	Hope and Radical Transformation in Higher Education 
Sponsor: Educational Problems 
Organizer & Presider: Patricia Morency, University of Arkansas

 ÒBuilding Better Scholars: A Sociological Approach to Mentorship and Graduate Teacher Training,Ó Christina M. Partin and Erica L. Toothman, University of South Florida
ÒConfronting Ideological & Emotional Barriers in Equity-focused Teacher Training,Ó Melissa Archer AlvarŽ, Monmouth University
ÒNavigating HawaiÕiÕs Contentious Higher Education Environment: Are We Indigenizing?Ó Marina Karides and Yolisa Duley, University of Hawaii at Hilo
ÒOutliers Imagining Otherwise in and for Canadian Higher Education,Ó Elaine J. Laberge, University of Victoria
ÒRadically Rethinking Student Success Discourse about Queer and Trans Students in Higher Education,Ó Kristopher A. Oliveira, University of South Florida

Session 142:	Representation and Intersectionality in the College Classroom 
Sponsors: Educational Problems, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and Teaching Social Problems 
Organizers: Amanda J. Brockman, Vanderbilt University and Asia Ivey, University of California, Davis
Presider: Amanda J. Brockman, Vanderbilt University

 ÒExamining Institutional Belonging among Muslim Students and the Role of Race and Religion,Ó Saugher Nojan, University of California, Santa Cruz
ÒExpanding the Sociological Imagination: Translating Queer Ethnic Studies for Teaching Sociology,Ó Mario V. Espinoza-Kulick and Alex T. G. Espinoza-Kulick, University of California, Santa Barbara
ÒFinding Alice Piper: Connecting the Past to the Present,Ó Marisela Martinez-Cola, Christina Morgan and Ketzel Morales, Utah State University
ÒRetaining and Inspiring Students in Science and Engineering: Using Scholarship Program to Increase the Number of Underrepresented Students in STEM Disciplines,Ó Melissa Villarreal, Jerry L. Johnson and Elise Piersma, Grand Valley State University
ÒWhat Makes Diverse Undergraduates Care about What Their Professors Think of Them?Ó Ashley Rockwell, Georgia State University and Chris M. Vidmar, University of West Georgia and Georgia State University

Session 153:	How Technology is Transforming Education 
Sponsor: Educational Problems 
Organizer &Presider:	 Michael A. Miner, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

 ÒConflict Mediation in Human-machine Teaming,Ó Justin Waligora, The George Washington University, Kerstin Haring, University of Denver and Jessica Tobias, United States Air Force Academy
ÒDigital Disengagement: Technology Use in a 1:1 High School,Ó Karlyn J. Gorski, University of Chicago
ÒDiversity in the Online Learner Experience: How Do Background Characteristics Shape Approaches, Expectations, and Success?Ó Mary Scherer, Sam Houston State University
ÒGirls, Gadgets, and Gatekeepers: Gendered Modes of Mobile Phone Access and Use among Indian Adolescents,Ó Isha Bhallamudi, University of California, Irvine
ÒWhoÕs the Expert? Parental Narratives of Expertise in Secondary STEM Education among Texas Homeschooling Families,Ó Bethany A. Lewis, Rice University


Thanks again to all of the organizers, presiders, moderators and would-be presenters for helping to create an amazing 2020 Conference!

Please consider emailing me with your ideas for 2021 panels! And join us for our Virtual Division Business Meeting to discuss this!
Wednesday, July 22nd at 6pm EST
https://meet.google.com/dzi-gicc-wns

Please address any questions, concerns or corrections for this newsletter to Dr. Linda M. Waldron, lwaldron@cnu.edu