The UConn Sociology Department has continued to thrive despite the uncertainties in the University
and worldwide with three new PhD graduates—all happily placed in tenure track or applied
research positions—eight MAs and a robust undergraduate cohort of 209 majors and 151 minors.
We have gained new financial commitments from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to rebuild
our graduate program and three new junior faculty to join us next academic year! We will miss our
departing colleague, Manisha Desai who retires from UConn in August—and takes on a new
leadership role at Stonybrook in the Fall.
In these difficult times, our faculty and students continue to bring evidence-based research to bear
on our most pressing social hopes and fears. From socio-historical reckonings of complex social
problems like Jane Pryma’s work on the opioid epidemic recently published in American Sociology
Review and David Embrick’s work with the AP African American Studies program on enduring racial
injustice to Mary Bernstein’s standout work with Connecticut Against Gun Violence that recently
culminated in an alliance with the City of New Haven to draft a Blueprint for their Office of Gun
Violence Prevention, our community has remained committed to forging a better future through
sociological work.
Christin Munsch’s recent research, which identified key gender, racial and ethnic inequalities built
into the Big Data demographic ascription tools, was featured in Nature Human Behavior. In
addition, Ruth Braunstein’s research on religious identification and radicalization within the
Religious Right was recently published in Sociology of Religion. Meanwhile, Simon Cheng’s research
on the unintended negative consequences of intensive parental involvement for child development
in elementary school published in Social Forces.
Locally, Laura Bunyan continues to expand the Husky Harvest food pantry that she developed with
undergraduate students in the Sociology of Food last year, garnering another donation from a
corporate donor this Spring. David Embrick’s collaboration between the Research on Resilient Cites,
Racism, and Equity (RRCRE) initiative and the Computer Science and Engineering Department was
recently awarded a $2.86M federal grant to support technology, internet access, and skill training
for underserved high school students in the Hartford area.
Meanwhile, our graduate students, Rianka Roy and Bryan Greene, faculty members, Manisha Desai,
Fumi Showers, and Phoebe Godfrey and Phoebe’s undergraduates have forged ties to the
international community through UNRISD, UN Commission on the Status of Women, COP27 and
elsewhere.
We have continued to grow and deepened the undergraduate major through initiatives such as the
undergraduate student club and undergraduate student journal, The Mirror. We have made the
shift towards institutionalizing research opportunities for undergraduates using the model of
undergraduate research labs. We currently run three research labs—the Meanings of Democracy
Lab (Ruth Braunstein), Life Purpose Lab (Brad Wright) and Health Equity Lab (Ryan Talbert) with
Andrew Deener and Jeremy Pais slated to open a fourth lab based on their research on urban
sociology and climate resilience in the Fall. We have also created social events like the annual ice
cream social and Sociology Spring Expo on internship and research opportunities—we welcome
alumni engagement in all areas, but especially in these professional development initiatives.
In the graduate program, we have recently launched a series of alumni-led workshops on
professional development. This Spring, we featured Ranita Ray (Associate Professor, University of
New Mexico), “From UConn Graduate Student to Tenured Professor” as well as Amy Lawton
(Research Director, Brandeis) and Sylvia Pu (Principal of Consulting Firm) on “Building a Career
Outside of the Academy.”
If you would be interested in joining us, please reach out—we would be delighted to welcome you
back!