The  Associated Press, in an article titled “SPIN METER: ‘Middle Class’ turns fuzzy in politics,” quoted Professor of Sociology Dennis Gilbert, author of The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. Appearing in hundreds of news outlets in print and online on July 18 and 19, the article addressed how politicians use the term “middle class” and how their definitions vary.

Associate Professor of Sociology Yvonne Zylan presented a paper at this year’s Law and Society Association’s annual meetings held in Honolulu, Hawai’i, June 5-8.  The theme of the conference was “Sociolegal Conversations across a Sea of Islands.”

The New York Times “The Choice” blog featured a column by Dan Chambliss, the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology, titled “College Basics for High School Juniors” on June 25.  He recommended that students look for  “small classes, good teachers, exciting lectures, fellow students who really want to learn ... .”

Associate Professor of Sociology Stephen Ellingson along with Veronon Woodley (Eastern Illinois University) and Anthony Paik (University of Iowa) published “The Structure of Religious Environmentalism: Movement Organizations, Interorganizational Networks, and Collective Action” in the June 2012 issue of Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 

The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization focused on producing in-depth education journalism, published an interview with Daniel Chambliss, the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology, on May 17.  “Q&A with Dan Chambliss: A successful college education can come down to a single conversation” focused on the Mellon Foundation-funded longitudinal study initiated by Chambliss in 2001. The article reviewed some of the study results, which will be included in a forthcoming book titled How College Works, and what implications the results might have for U.S. higher education.

Six members of the Hamilton faculty were recognized for their research and creative successes with the Dean’s Scholarly Achievement Awards, presented by Dean of Faculty Patrick Reynolds at Class & Charter Day on Friday, May 4. The Awards recognize individual accomplishments, but reflect a richness and depth of scholarship and creative activity across the entire faculty.  The awards were made in three categories: Career Achievement, Early Career Achievement and Notable Year Achievement.

"Can Colleges Manufacture Motivation?," an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, opened with comments by Daniel Chambliss, The Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology. “‘Motivation is an outcome of college. … It energizes people to want to learn more and go out in the world and grab it by the throat,’” began Chambliss, who is completing a book with Christopher Takacs ’05 titled How College Works (Harvard University Press).

Elly Field '13 presented a paper with Professor George Hobor of Colgate University at the annual conference of the Southern Sociological Society in New Orleans on March 22. The paper was co-authored with sociology students Amy Dow '12 and David Schwartz '13 and details the results of the group's summer research on the social and economic integration of Utica's Karen and Bantu refugee population.

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio in Albany will feature a reading by Professor of Sociology Dennis Gilbert on Monday, March 5, as part of the public radio station’s Academic Minute. During his reading, Gilbert examines exactly who is considered middle class, pointing out that there are many definitions.

The fourth edition of Daniel Chambliss' book, Making Sense of the Social World: Methods of Investigation, co-authored with Russell Schutt, has just been published by Sage Publishers. Chambliss is the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology.