Graduate Highlights

March 2009:

Christian Bolden (PhD) was selected for the College of Sciences' 2009 Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching. This award recognizes students who have done a exceptional job serving as an instructor of record for an undergraduate course. With this recognition, he will be nominated for the university award by the same name.

October 2008:

Master’s alumni Mary Collins is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

October 2008:

Meagan C. Arrastia has been hired as a full-time research assistant for Cognitive Performance Group of Florida Inc. The Company specializes in cognitive and decision-making research using primarily qualitative methods. It also conducts program design and evaluation for groups, like the Department of Defense. Currently, Megan is working on a project wit the US Marines to evaluate cultural competency of recent soldiers that were deployed. With the help of methods learned during the MA program, Meagan is now collecting data from soldiers at different bases around the country and assisting in the analysis and reporting of the findings.

October 2008:

Master’s alumni Val Margarit stopped by our table at the recent graduate fair and let us know that she is currently the Department Head for the Law Studies Department at New Dimensions High School in Kissimmee. In addition to keeping up with all her students she also made time to complete the New York City Marathon in four hours and thirty minutes!

October 2008:

Master’s alumni Brian Gentry is currently pursuing a Ph.D.
at Utah State University.

July 2008:

The 2nd and 3rd Ph.D. in Sociology degrees were awarded this summer.

On June 30, Amy Donley successfully defended her dissertation.  She will be on a postdoc with the Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences at UCF next year.

On July 8, Michael Bachmann successfully defended his 
dissertation.  He will begin a tenure-track appointment as an 
Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Texas 
Christian University in fall 2008.

Drs. Donley and Bachmann join Dr. Monica Mendez who completed her work for the Ph,D. in Spring 2008 as the three students awarded the Ph.D. in the third year of our program.  Dr. Mendez will begin a tenure-track appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at East Carolina University in fall 2008.

We are very pleased with the number of doctorates awarded in the 
third year of our new program and with our students' employment 
successes.  Although prediction is always precarious, we believe 
that a minimum of three degrees will be awarded in 2008-09.

January 2008:

Michael Bachmann (Sociology PhD) is the program's first doctoral student to accept a job. Michael will complete his PhD this summer on the topic of cybercrime, and then he is moving to Texas to work at Texas Christian University.

April 2007:

Minna Grantham (Sociology PhD) was a co-winner for Best in Category for her Oral Presentation in the Social Sciences at the 2007 Graduate Research Forum for her presentation titled, "Ties That Bind: On Ethnic Culture Maintenance."

April 2007:

Melanie Carlson (Sociology PhD) recently had a paper accepted for publication by the Journal of Men's Studies titled, "I'd Rather Go Along and Be Considered a Man: Masculinity and Bystander Intervention."

April 2007:

Oneshia Herring (Applied Sociology MA) was recently selected for Who's Who Among Students at UCF.

October 2006: Delores Edelen (Sociology PhD, admitted fall 2005) received the prestigious American Sociological Association (ASA) Minority Fellowship. The ASA is the largest professional association for Sociology.

October 2006:

Monica Mendez (Sociology PhD, admitted fall 2005)received the Delores Auzenne Fellowship and recently co-authored an article in the Journal of Social Work Education titled "Social worker perceptions of the portrayal of the profession in the news and entertainment media: An exploratory study" with C. Zugazaga, R. Surette, M. Mendez, and C. Otto (COHPA faculty).

October 2006: Erin Nabors (Sociology PhD, admitted fall 2006)recently authored an article in Violence and Victims due in press in December titled "Domestic Violence Beliefs and Perceptions among College Students" with T. Dietz and J. Jasinski.

October 2006: Melissa Castora (Applied Sociology MA, graduated spring 2006) published an article in Care Management Journals: The Journal of Long Term Home Health Care titled "Americans’ Attitudes Toward Welfare State Spending for Old Age Programs: An Analysis of Period and Cohort Differences" with T. Deitz.

October 2006: Sara Neuenschwander (Applied Sociology MA, admitted fall 2006 ) received the graduate RAMP fellowship.

September 2006:

Doctoral student Monica Mendez has published an article in the Journal of Social Work Education. To read the article click here.

March 2006: Meggan Jordan (Applied Sociology MA, admitted spring 2005) was a co-winner for Best Poster Presentation in the Social Sciences category of UCF's 2006 Graduate Research Forum for her presentation titled "It's a Major Choice! Gender Representation in College Majors at the University of Central Florida".

March 2006:

Meggan Jordan (Applied Sociology MA, admitted spring 2005) was a co-winner for Best Poster Presentation in the Social Sciences category of UCF's 2006 Graduate Research Forum for her presentation titled "It's a Major Choice! Gender Representation in College Majors at the University of Central Florida".

September 2005: Delores Edelen (Sociology Ph.D., admitted fall 2005) was recently awarded the 2005 Student Practitioner Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Sociological Practice. She was presented with this award at the annual meetings of the ASA which were held in August in Philadelphia.

September 2005:

Delores Edelen (Sociology Ph.D., admitted fall 2005) was recently awarded the 2005 Student Practitioner Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Sociological Practice. She was presented with this award at the annual meetings of the ASA which were held in August in Philadelphia.

March 2005:

Christine Bevc (completed Applied Sociology MA in Spring 2004) was selected by the College of Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorable Mention for Outstanding Master's Thesis.

January 2004:

Dolores Edelen, a student in the MA in Applied Sociology Program, received a first place for best paper in the student problem competition given by the Society of Applied Sociology.