Undergraduate News
New Undergrad Publication Requests Submissions
December 31st, 2010 HABITUS, a new publication of undergraduate work in the social sciences, with a central focus on sociology, is currently seeking academic papers, essays, pieces on social theory, film and book reviews as well as images for their inaugural issue. For more details, or to submit, please click here, or email yalehabitus@gmail.com. Please submit by by JAN 28th for consideration.
Senior Conference and Dinner Image Gallery Online
May 18th, 2010 Visit the gallery by clicking this link.
Cara McClellan and Anna Jo Bodurtha Smith Win 2010 Mildred Priest Frank Prize
May 17th, 2010 Congratulations to Cara McClellan and Anna Jo Bodurtha Smith, this year's winners of the Mildred Priest Frank Prize. The Mildred Priest Frank Memorial Prize was established by Adam R. Rose, ’81, in honor of his maternal grandmother. It is awarded each year to the graduating senior whose work in the Department of Sociology reflects the standards of excellence and love of people that characterize Mildred Priest Frank.
Anna Jo's senior essay "Politics, Proximity, and the Adoption of Public Preschool from 1965-2005" uses sophisticated quantitative methods, in combination with qualitative material from archival sources, to show that conventional explanations that see adoption of preschool grounded in economic or governance interests fall short of accounting for the timing and pace of the process. Rather, these interests are strongly mediated by politics and social connections between political actors. Her research was supported by the Adam Rose '81 Fund for Undergraduate Research and by a Yale College Dean's Research Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences. Anna Jo has served as co-coordinator of the Dwight Hall Executive Committee, and works at All Our Kin, a non-profit devoted to improving access to and the quality of childcare in New Haven.
Cara McClellan's senior essay "Teacher/Police: How Inner-City Students Perceive the Connection between the Education System and the Criminal Justice System," based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork with disadvantaged youth in New Haven, argues that schools that deploy zero tolerance policies to enforce discipline create a school-to-prison pipeline. The code of the street that enables youth to survive in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty that are abandoned by the police leads schools and teacher to writing them off. Cara argues that rather than writing them off, schools should work to activate capacity for social control by fostering community among disadvantaged students. During her time at Yale, Cara taught poetry workshops and helped forge connections between New Haven high schools students and the Yale community. She is the Editor-in-chief of Sphere Magazine, a Peer Liaison and coordinates the campaign for Teach for America on campus. Cara also received support for her research from the Adam Rose ’81 Fund for Undergraduate Research.
Andrew Udelsman Wins 2010 Richard Hegel Senior Essay Prize
May 17th, 2010 Congratulations to sociology major Andrew Udelsman, winner of this year's Yale Club of New Haven Richard Hegel Senior Essay Prize for his senior essay "Surviving the Forest: Ethnography of New Haven's Tent City." Dick Hegel, whom the prize honors, is a past president of the YCNH and a longtime member and supporter of the Club. He is also New Haven's City Historian, and is a veritable trove of information about the City and its history, about Yale and about the Yale Club. Andrew's essay investigates a group of formerly homeless people that have taken up residence in one of New Haven's parks. He describes both how they ended up living in their present condition and the factors that prevent them from leaving. The essay concludes that while life in Tent City is not easy, its residents have legitimate reasons for living there and it would be a mistake to forcibly evict them. Having lived in the New Haven area for many years, Andrew has been active in the community as a student mentor, soccer coach, and medical interpreter.
Kayle Vinson and Isabel Jijon are recognized with Fellowship and Travel Grant Awards
April 29th, 2010 Sociology major Kayle Vinson holds a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship in support of her research. Sociology major Isabel Jijon received a summer travel grant from the Council for Latin American and Iberian Studies. Congratulations to both!
Thomas Meyer Awarded Yale Research Fellowship
April 28nd, 2010 Congratulation to sociology major Thomas Meyer, who is the a recipient of a 2010 Yale College Dean's Research Fellowship in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The fellowship will support his research project on code-switching among American soldiers engaged in counterinsurgent warfare.
Applicatons Open for the Justice Carlos R. Moreno Prize
April 22, 2010 Established in the fall of 2009, the Justice Carlos R. Moreno Prize will be awarded to the best senior essay on the Latino/a experience in the U.S. A faculty committee chaired by Professor Stephen Pitti will select the winner who will be announced during graduation ceremonies. To apply for the Prize, please download the application form: Word doc, or PDF and submit with two hard copies of your senior essay to Dean Rosalinda Garcia by Monday, May 3, 2010 at the Yale College Dean's Office. Only senior essays completed in the fall of 2009 and spring 2010 are eligible.
Header Photos Courtesy of Alondra Nelson
