Honors

May, 2009—The department honored Jeffrey Bennett (far left),
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Religious Studies, with its
Excellence in Teaching Award. Winners of the Edward Tomich Award
were Andrea Clark (2nd from left) and Jessica Farmer (far right).
Winners of the Community Involvement and Leadership Award were Emily
Monroe (center) and Cynthia Tooley (2nd from right).

Rajan Pant was awarded his Ph.D. at the May 2009 commencement. His
coordinating discipline was Sociology and co-discipline was the
Social Science Consortium. He is pictured here with his advisor,
Professor Phil Olson.

May,
2008 – Gina Sanders, M.A. student in Sociology, won the Superior
Graduate Teaching Assistant Award. She is shown with Ron
MacQuarrie, Dean, School of Graduate Studies (left) and Professor
Phil Olson (right), one of her nominators.

Professor Burton Halpert was the recipient of the 2008 departmental
Excellence in Teaching Award (pictured here with his wife,
Barbara). He was recognized for his ability to inspire students and
to teach them to think critically through his courses on
introductory sociology, political sociology, the Holocaust, and the
sociology capstone.

Marta Waalen, a senior sociology major, was the recipient of this
year’s Tomich
Award. Her Senior Capstone professor, Burton Halpert,
described some of her special qualities that contributed to being
able to balance her academic life with her athletic activities as a
member of the UMKC women’s basketball team.
Professor Deborah Smith was the recipient of the Gerontological
Society of America’s 2007 Civic Engagement in an Older America Paper
Award at the Senior level. Her paper was titled “Examining the
Volunteer Patterns of Mid- and Later-Life American Couples” and was
presented at GSA’s conference in San Francisco in November.