Sociology Department to Strengthen Data Analysis Instruction

The Department of Sociology has received funds from the American Sociological Association (ASA) to strengthen the development of new methods of introducing students to the use of data. The award supports a collaborative effort between the ASA and the Social Science Data Analysis Network, an organization at the University of Michigan that makes census data accessible to educators, policymakers, and the media. Ithaca College is one of six colleges and universities nationwide selected to participate in this program.

The funds will allow seven faculty members and one administrator to participate in four days of workshops at the University of Michigan in June. As a result of the College's participation in these workshops, the sociology department will design new courses and develop innovative methods of teaching students how to study data created by the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Justice, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other agencies.

The workshop participants will be gerontology faculty member Patricia Lynott; sociology faculty Liz Callahan, Julian Euell, Susanne Morgan, Jim Rothenberg, Sarah Rubenstein-Gillis, and Stephen Sweet; and Larry Hajime Shinagawa, director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity.

"The sociology department has a long tradition of involving stu-dents in social science research, using both qualitative and quantitative methods," says Rothen-berg, associate professor of sociology and department chair. "With ever greater access to data on the Internet, participating in this program will keep our department at the cutting edge of teaching methods essential to social science research."

Social Science Data Analysis Network activities have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

For more information, contact Stephen Sweet at 274-3910 or Larry Hajime Shinagawa at 274-1053.