News & Activities

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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.