Faculty News and Updates

May 26, 2016 Faculty News

Our faculty was once again busy in this academic year. Here are some of their highlights:

Steve Barkan

News

  • Professor Barkan became president of the Textbook and Academic Authors Association in July 2015 for a two-year term after serving as vice president for two years.
  • He presented a paper on obesity and perceived discrimination at the ASA annual meeting August 2015 in Chicago
  • He accompanied our two students to the ESS meeting in Boston in March 2016
  • His new textbook, Health, Illness, and Society: An Introduction to Medical Sociology, is scheduled to be published in August 2016
  • He will become interim chair of the sociology department in Fall 2016.

Books

  • Steven E. Barkan. Under contract. Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Steven E. Barkan. Forthcoming August 2016. Health, Illness, and Society: An Introduction to Medical Sociology. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

Anthology Articles

  • Steven E. Barkan. 2017. “U.S. Corrections Policy Since the 1970s.” Pp. 153-174 in Karim Ismaili (ed.), Criminal Justice Policy. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Amy Blackstone

After serving as chair of the sociology department for the past five years, Professor Blackstone will be on sabbatical during the 2016-17 year. She plans to complete a book based on her many years of research on adults without children.

Publications:

  • Blackstone, Amy and Mahala Stewart. Forthcoming. “’There’s more thinking to decide’: How the Childfree Decide Not to Parent.” The Family Journal.
  • “Harassment of Older Adults in the Workplace,” a chapter in the 2012 book Ageism and Mistreatment of Older Workers, is featured in the 2016 textbook Social Issues in the Workplace, 2nd edition

Presentations

  • May 2016, Constructing the Childfree Family, Amy Blackstone, 10th Annual International Conference on Sociology, Athens, Greece
  • October 2015, Who Are the NotMoms?, NotMom Summit, Cleveland, OH

Selected Media

  • “Love Filled & Guilt Free: Creating Epic Relationships for Wildly Successful and Childfree Couples” Summit hosted by Robyn D’Angelo, Expert participant interviewed on April 15, 2016
  • “Body Positivity Needs to Talk About Combatting the Harmful Effects of Fat Discrimination,” Bustle, March 25, 2016
  • “How Your Height and Weight Affect Your Pay,” Broadly, March 10, 2016
  • “The ‘NotMoms’ among us: charitable but unelectable,” Bangor Daily News, November 24, 2015
  • “The Brutal Truth About Being Childless at Work,” Fortune, November 7, 2015
  • Cleveland National Public Radio’s IdeaStream, Interview on “Not-Moms,” October 5, 2015
  • WERU Radio’s Maine Currents, Interview on childfree, September 16, 2015
  • Maine Public Broadcasting’s Maine Calling, Episode on childfree, August 17, 2015
  • “9 Things No One Tells You About Work-Life Balance,” Time, June 17, 2015
  • “Can a New Parent Remain a Good Friend?” Pacific Standard Magazine, June 5, 2015

Ann Leffler

Professor Leffler is retiring at the end of this year. She has been a wonderful addition to the UMaine sociology department. We will miss her and wish her all the best in her retirement!

Kyriacos Markides

Publications

Chapter in Book. “The Three-fold Way.” Re-Introducing Christianity: An Eastern Apologia for a Western Audience. By Dr. Amir Azarvan, ed. (Eugene Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, Spring 2016).

Lectures:

  • The Abbey. All-day workshop at Islesboro Island, Maine. Saturday, November 7, 2015
  • Maine Holistic Center. Bangor Maine. Two-year anniversary celebration. Guest speaker. Sunday    November 15, 2015.
  • New York Open Center. Three-hour lecture/ workshop. Friday, December 4, 2015.
  • Wilson Center, University of Maine. Luncheon/ lecture/ discussion on mysticism in contemporary   Society.  February 1, 2016.
  • All-day workshop, Saturday April 9, 2016 at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox community, Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Wilson Center, University of Maine. Dinner-lecture “Role of Spirituality in a Secular Age” April 20,    2016.
  • Hellenic College, Brookline, Mass. Keynote speaker at St. Photios yearly conference, March 5, 2016.
  • Inducted in Phi Kappa Phi, National Honor Society, Summer 2015.

 Karyn Sporer

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Karyn Sporer will be joining the UMaine sociology department in Fall 2016. She successfully defended her doctoral thesis in May 2016!