UND Sociology Winter 2025 Newsletter

January 13, 2025

Published in: Sociology

Krista Lynn Minnotte

It is a delight to welcome you to another edition of the newsletter for the Department of Sociology at the University of North Dakota! It is rewarding to share with you the many successes of our students, alumni, and faculty members!

As you may recall, the Sociology MA program is back! The program will continue to enhance the skills of graduate students, facilitating their success across a range of twenty-first century careers. We have the program back in full swing, with Advanced Research Design being taught this spring. Last fall, Sociological Inquiry and a Seminar on Social Policy were taught. It feels great to be working with graduate students again! If you are interested in the program or know of someone who may be interested, please reach out!

We do hope to hear from you! Drop us a quick line to let us know what you are up to. We would love to hear all about where life has taken you!

I’m sending well wishes for a happy and prosperous year to each of you!

Best wishes,

Krista Lynn

	Welcome Dr. Daniel Bartholomay One of the most exciting pieces of news to share is that we are so fortunate to be welcoming a new faculty member – Dr. Daniel Bartholomay – to the Sociology department! Dr. Bartholomay’s scholarship centers on inequalities, health disparities, and family dynamics, particularly among LGBTQ+ communities. Dr. Bartholomay also does research on the scholarship of teaching and learning and brings cutting-edge pedagogical techniques to his classrooms. Welcome, Dr. Bartholomay!
	Research Highlight There have been many recent exciting events and achievements to highlight in this newsletter. You can read about the research that Teaching Assistant Professor, Dr. Joseph Jochman, has been conducting with two former students, Safia Amin, and Madeline Brazaz, on racial/ethnic differences in health-care perspectives.
	Undergraduate Student Feature You can also read about the current student, Molly Lamb, and the research she has been working on in the department on who has access to meaningful work.
	Alumni Features We also bring you news of two accomplished alumni, Tricia Berg and Professor Michael L. Rustad, who are both impacting the world in positive ways. The importance of global issues was highlighted in two recent sociology-related events. First, Drs. Daphne Pedersen and Joseph Jochman led a group of students on a field trip to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg this October. What a profound day for our students. Second, esteemed sociology alumnus and UND honorary degree recipient, Dr. Delore Zimmerman, gave a presentation as part of a UND series “Global State of Affairs” on becoming a global citizen.
	Alpha Kappa Delta The importance of global issues was also highlighted in a recent sociology-related event. Drs. Daphne Pedersen and Joseph Jochman led a group of students on a field trip to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg last October. What a profound day for our students.
	Spring 2024 Undergraduate Showcase Sociology capstone students presented their research at the Spring 2024 Undergraduate Showcase, exploring a range of fascinating and sociologically meaningful topics.
	Student Appreciation To close out the last academic year, we had our first Student Appreciation Week—there were refreshments available in the department throughout the week for students. We ended the week with a celebratory event in which we honored the incoming Alpha Kappa Delta members and the students who had recently received Sociology scholarships. It was fantastic to have a chance to celebrate our exceptional students!
	Faculty Updates We close the newsletter with a section highlighting recent updates from full-time Sociology faculty members. They’ve all been busy doing inspirational things.