Ohio State Sociology In the News

Research on the family implications of paternity leave by former OSU grad students Dr. Richard Petts and Dr. Daniel Carlson, in collaboration with Dr. Chris Knoester, was featured in a New York Times op-ed on the need for paid parental leave for all parents and how paternity leave affects men’s brains, even. Congrats Chris!

Assistant Professor Victor Espinosa’s book titled “Performances of Suffering in Latin American Migration: Heroes, Martyrs and Saints” was awarded the Barnard Hewitt Award from the American Society for Theatre Research. The Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History is awarded each year to the best book in "theatre history or cognate disciplines” published during the previous calendar year (2020).

Below is the Barnard Hewitt Award citation:

“Our prize this year is given to a work of collaborative scholarship: Ana Elena Puga and Victor Espinosa, Performances of Suffering in Latin American Migration: Heroes, Martyrs and Saints (Palgrave Macmillan). Methodologically innovative, their book combines theater and performance studies with lucid ethnographic research to produce a compelling and timely intervention into one of the most burning issues of our day: migration. Thinking carefully through the drama of migrant life, Puga and Espinosa provide much-needed critical insight into the tropes through which social actors shape our response to moral issues. The committee admires in particular their demonstration that theater scholarship can matter to civic life not in spite but because of our attention to aesthetic, symbolic, narrative, and dramaturgical form.” Congrats Victor!

Graduate Student News

Graduate students Coralia Balasca and Ashley Ostroot, were awarded Alumni Grants for Graduate Research. Coralia plans to apply this funding to her dissertation looking at how the relationship between social ties and health operates for immigrants in the US, and how this relationship may differ by race, SES, and location in the US. This is the second source of funding for this work. Ashley will apply her funding to support interviews for her research on race, social movements and immigrants. Congrats Coralia and Ashley!

Alumni News

Alumni Andrew Cognard-Black (OSU Sociology, 1994), was named a Fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida, last month. NCHC Fellows are a distinguished group of interdisciplinary scholars recognized for their achievements in research, leadership, and service in the advancement of outstanding teaching in higher education. Cognard-Black is the Pandion Haliaetus Professor of Sociology at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he has taught since 2003. Cognard-Black is the co-chair of the NCHC Research Committee, serves on the Publications Board for the Council, and just completed a three-year term on the NCHC Board of Directors. Congrats Andrew!