Healthy Outlook Division of Health, Health Policy and Health Services of the Society for the Study of Social Problems Fall 2011/Winter 2012 Inside this issue: Statement from Co-Chair Student Paper Competition 2011 Conference News of Note Member Publications Job Announcements Call for Nominations Statement from the Co-Chair Shannon Monnat Thank you for the opportunity to serve as the new co-chair of the Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division of SSSP. I am very excited to be taking on this role and am appreciative of the efforts of past Division co-chairs in building a strong membership and comprehensive division webpage. Elizabeth Gage has been extremely helpful in familiarizing me with the Division and my responsibilities, and for that I am very appreciative. IÕd also like to welcome our new newsletter Editor, Christina Barmon, and thank our outgoing Editor, Miranda Waggoner, for her dedication to the newsletter and our Division. I met both Christina and Miranda at our Division business meeting at the 2011 annual meeting in Las Vegas and can tell you that we are lucky to have them providing their services and expertise to our Division. I had the opportunity to meet some others division members at our events in Las Vegas and look forward to meeting more of you at the 2012 meeting taking place August 16-18 in Denver. Hotel reservation information is already posted on the SSSP website (link to: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/459/locationSectionId/0/2012_Annual_Meeting) While last yearÕs health care debate centered on issues of access and affordability to healthcare for all Americans, the debate during the current year has been one of the growing healthcare costs in the U.S. Access to quality healthcare, skyrocketing costs, and our social and physical environments all have multiple implications for social, economic, and environmental sustainability. One way to minimize healthcare costs is to get consumers engaged in their own health and healthcare and provide ample opportunities for individuals to practice healthy behaviors. All individuals, regardless of their income, education, racial/ethnic background, or residential context, should have opportunities to make choices that allow them to live long, healthy, and productive lives. In many ways, it is fitting that we will be in Colorado, a state that has the lowest diabetes, obesity, and stroke rates in the country and that ranks among the 5 best states on indicators of cancer mortality, heart disease, heart attack, high pressure, and physical activity. Yet, Denver ranks last in factors promoting good health among all Colorado counties by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is well below national benchmarks of health (link to http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/) largely due to high rates of adult smoking, alcohol consumption, and poverty, and low high school graduation rates and access to healthy foods. Our Division sessions for the 2012 annual meeting reflect the idea that health starts in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. There are multiple complex social factors outside of the healthcare system that contribute to making us healthy or unhealthy. Accordingly, for the 2012 annual meeting, our Division is sponsoring and co-sponsoring sessions on social determinants of health, health and place, health disparities, children and families, alcohol and drugs, nursing work, sustainability and ecological justice. We hope that you will submit your research for presentation at one of our ten division sessions. We also encourage graduate students and their mentors to submit papers to our annual Graduate Student Paper competition. You can read more about this below. Finally, we are soliciting nominations for candidates for Division co-chair for 2012-2014. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague by emailing me (Shannon.Monnat@unlv.edu) or Elizabeth (eagage@buffalo.edu). Graduate Student Paper Competition HEALTH, HEALTH POLICY, AND HEALTH SERVICES Deadline: 5/1/12 The Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division invites all graduate students to apply for this annual paper award competition. The paper should be related to the broad Division interest, including health and illness, health policy, and health services. The paper submission should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages and should be prepared for anonymous review (with the author specified on a title page but not referred to in other parts of the text). Current graduate students and recent graduates (who received their degrees after January 2011) may submit a paper if it was written while still a student. Papers based on theses or dissertations are acceptable. (Please do not submit the thesis or dissertation itself.) Co-authored papers are acceptable as long as all the listed authors were graduate students at the time the paper was written. Double submission to other SSSP award competitions will be disqualified. The award recipient will be required to present the winning paper at the 2012 SSSP Annual Meeting in Denver, CO. Thus it is strongly recommended that an abstract of the paper be submitted to any Health Division session organizer or the roundtable organizer by the January 31st deadline. The recipient will receive a monetary prize of $100, student membership to SSSP, SSSP conference registration, and a ticket to the SSSP awards banquet. Send an electronic copy of the paper (in Word format) and a cover letter identifying your graduate program to: Miranda Waggoner, PhD,waggoner@princeton.edu 2012 Conference Sessions Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division Society for the Study of Social Problems Proposed Sessions for the 2011 Annual Meeting Theme: The Art of Activism Denver, Colorado Division Sessions Health Services and Health Policy Organizer: Arthur Greil Social Determinants of Health Organizer: Elizabeth Gage Health and Place Organizer: Shannon Monnat Co-sponsored Sessions Children, Families, and Health (co-sponsored with Families) organizer: Laura E. Simon Health: Imagery, Metaphor and Representation - THEMATIC (co-sponsored with Disabilities) Organizers: Christina Barmon & Deborah L. Little Health Disparities (co-sponsored with Poverty, Class and Inequality) Organizer: Shannon Monnat Current Issues in Prescription Drug Misuse (co-sponsored with Drinking and Drugs) Organizer: Brian C. Kelly Nursing Work: a Peculiar Eclipsing (co-sponsored with Institutional Ethnography) Organizer: Janet Rankin Alcohol, Drugs, Offending and Rehabilitation (co-sponsored with Drinking and Drugs AND Crime and Juvenile Delinquency) Organizers: Matt Vogel & Tim J. Berard Sustainability, Ecological Justice and Socialization (co-sponsored with Global) Organizer: Jennifer J. Reed News of Note! Miranda Waggoner started a new position as NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the Office of Population Research, Princeton University. Alexis Bender started a qualitative research postdoctoral fellowship with the U.S. Army Institute of Public Health in the Behavioral and Social Health Outcomes Program. This program is exploring the social and behavioral links to suicide, accidental death, violence, and other acts of aggression among active duty Soldiers. Member Publications Laurie CluneÕs doctoral dissertation, When the Injured Nurse Returns to Work: An Institutional Ethnography is now available on line at https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/29519 Division member Frank Young authored ÒCommunity Types and Mortality in Georgia CountiesÓ in Social Indicators Research: Using an Òecological regional analysisÓ methodology for defining types of communities and their associated mortality rates, this study of GeorgiaÕs 159 counties finds that the suburban and town centered counties have low mortality while the city-centered type predicts low mortality for the whites. The military-centered counties do not predict. The rates for circulatory disease deaths show the same pattern. These findings are interpreted with the help of a new version of social ecology grounded in the ratio of the countyÕs problem-solving capacity to the threats it faces. Division member Eric Mykhalovskiy authored ÒThe problem of Ôsignificant riskÕ: Exploring the public health impact of criminalizing HIV non-disclosureÓ in Social Science & Medicine Division member Wornie Reed co edited Handbook of African American Health: Social and Behavioral Interventions with Anthony Lemelle and Sandra Taylor. Job Announcements Sociology. Assistant Professor: The Department of Sociology at American University (Washington, D.C.), College of Arts and Sciences, invites applications for a tenure line appointment beginning in August 2012 for an Assistant Professor. The department seeks candidates with a primary area of specialization in demography and/or social geography. Highest priority will be given to candidates whose focus within the specialization(s) is on health, to contribute to the departmentÕs developing concentration in the social dimensions of health and the expanding Center on Health, Risk and Society based in the department. Other areas of focus within the specialization that will be considered include: development and globalization, migration, urban communities, and social inequality. Candidates must also have an interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. Successful candidates will demonstrate considerable potential for a strong record of publication, excellence in teaching, and receipt of external funding. ABD applicants must demonstrate strong likelihood of receiving the degree by June 2012. Duties will include maintaining an active research program in the area of specialization, and teaching two courses per semester with one course each academic year at the graduate level in the area of specialization and at least one undergraduate course in the general education program. Send curriculum vitae; letter describing interests, research and teaching experience; writing sample and/or (p)reprints; if available, teaching evaluations; and three letters of reference to: Search Committee Chair, Department of Sociology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016. Review of applications will begin by October 17, 2011 and will continue until the position is filled. American University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse faculty, staff, and student body. Women and minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. American University offers employee benefits to same-sex domestic partners of employees and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation/preference and gender identity/expression. Sociology. Associate Professor: The Department of Sociology at American University (Washington, D.C.), College of Arts and Sciences, invites applications for a tenure line appointment beginning in August 2012 for an Associate Professor. In conjunction with the development of an area of concentration in health and the newly established Center on Health, Risk and Society, the department seeks candidates with a primary area of specialization in the social dimensions of health and illness. Areas of specialization to complement teaching and research on health, as well as the strengths of the department include: globalization, migration, social inequality and health disparities, and/or urban communities. While all areas of health will be considered, particular health foci in the department and at the Center include HIV/AIDS, food/obesity, environment, maternal and child health, and substance use/abuse. To be appointed with tenure, candidates must have achieved national or international professional recognition based on a strong record of publications and be able to demonstrate excellence in teaching. Successful candidates also will have experience as the Principal Investigator (preferred) or Co-Investigator on externally Call for Division Nominations We are currently soliciting nominations for the position of Co-Chair for the Health, Health Services and Health Policy Division. Co?Chairs serve overlapping two year terms, and are jointly responsible for: developing the Division program (identifying sessions and organizers) for the annual meeting; running the Division business meeting at the annual meeting; working with the newsletter editor to assure publication of the annual newsletter; and other Division business. Tenure begins at the annual meeting in summer 2012. If you are interested in learning more or in nominating yourself or another individual for this rewarding position, please contact Elizabeth Gage at eagage@buffalo.edu for further information. Chairpersons are elected for two years. No Division chairperson can serve for more than three consecutive years. Self nominations are acceptable. If you are nominated, the Executive Office will contact you to request your biographical information and statement prior to the elections. Names of nominees must be submitted to the Executive Office no later than June 1, so please contact us soon if you wish to nominate someone, or to nominate yourself. The election process is handled by the Executive Office. Election procedures will insure to all members of the Division an opportunity to vote in the election. A majority of votes cast will be necessary to elect any Division Officer. If there are more nominees for an office and there is not a clear majority, a run-off election will be held between the two candidates receiving the most votes. The same election procedures described above will be followed for the run-?off election.