Mary Virnoche

What's Wrong Is Right: A Response to the State of the Discipline

In the June issue ofSociological Forum, several authors addressed the question, “Whats Wrong with Sociology.” Answers included increased fragmentation of the discipline, and the lack of an identifiable cumulative core of sociological knowledge. This paper examines many of the claims made by the contributors to the June 1994Sociological Forum, reframes their arguments, and by placing debates regarding the problems in sociology in a broader perspective, identifies many of the recent advances made by the discipline. Focusing on such notable contributions to the field as feminist and postmodern scholarship, we locate the positive side of multiple perspective research.

Special session — "Stereotype threat" and my students: What can I do about it?

Stereotype threat occurs when one is at risk of confirming a negative stereotype about a social group that one belongs to. In the academic setting, research has shown that stereotype threat contributes to the achievement gap noted in underrepresented students in engineering classrooms. Participants in this FIE special session define and discuss stereotype threat, explore interventions that research has found to successfully reduce stereotype threat, and identify one strategy to try in the classroom. Key resources are identified including research literature, websites and videos, and recommendations for intervention strategies. In addition to the literature, participants will have access to strategies developed by other participants that can be used by instructors to mitigate stereotype threats.

Work in progress — Reporting S-STEM retention: New diversity vs. Supporting existing diversity

The Scientific Leadership Scholars (SLS) Program is an NSF S-STEM sponsored scholarship for financially and academically eligible students in Computer Science, Environmental Resources Engineering and Mathematics at Humboldt State University. The scholarship has sponsored 57 students in these majors over the past 4 years. Of these students, 54% were underrepresented minorities and 70% were underrepresented in STEM. The first group (Group 1) of students recruited to the program brought additional diversity to the three academic programs. To fill the spots vacated by SLS students who no longer met the requirements of the SLS program after their first or second years, additional SLS students were recruited from existing CS, ERE and Math majors. This second group (Group 2) drew from existing diversity in the three SLS programs. The retention outcomes of these two groups are quite different due to the nature of the populations. As far as the authors know, no other work has operationalized the concept of supporting existing diversity in this way.

Race, gender and first generation status in Computing Science, Engineering and Math persistence

The NSF sponsored Scientific Leadership Scholars (SLS) program at Humboldt State University (HSU) provides scholarships to a diverse cohort of students in Computing Science, Environmental Resources Engineering or Mathematics. The program targeted financially eligible Native American and first generation students. The SLS group persisting into year three remained more diverse than earlier corresponding major cohorts: 22 (59%) were either women and/or underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM. In the 2007–08 academic year, 36 Cohort 1 students entered the program. Of the Cohort 1 freshmen, 23 (66%) persisted into their second year and 12 (33%) persisted into their third year as SLS majors. White and Asian Cohort 1 students were more likely to persist than STEM URM students (47%, n= 8 compared to 21%, n=4). In 2008–09, 15 additional SLS students were added. Of these students, 12 (80%) persisted into their third year as an SLS major. While all white students (6) in Cohort 2 persisted, 67% (6) of the underrepresented students persisted. All 4 women in Cohort 2 persisted. There was no significant difference in the persistence based on gender or first generation status. Recommendations are included.

Work in progress — Retention and FIGS: Institutional versus engineering major efficacy

In an attempt to retain students, institutions have implemented programs focused on “the first year experience”. Many institutions link their first-year programs to specific disciplines, calling these programs freshmen interest groups or “FIGs.” In this research we explore the extent to which this FIG model, found in other research to be effective for improving general institutional retention, can be extended to improve major specific retention in Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) at Humboldt State University. Analysis from institutional and departmental sources on three cohorts of freshmen ERE majors in FIG (n=29) and Non-FIG (n=15) groups, as well as other non-ERE FIGS groups indicates that ERE freshmen enrolled in FIGs continued to their sophomore year at HSU at the same average rate as students in other FIGs (76%) and at a significantly higher rate than all Non-FIG freshmen (72%). However, FIG participation did not affect retention in the engineering major itself. Our study suggests that the FIG model best addresses the instabilities of transition into college and that major retention in science and engineering is a more complex phenomenon that the current FIGs model does not address. Data for two additional cohorts of freshmen (n=65) will be added to this analysis and the combined results will be reported at the conference.

Book review: The internet edge: social, technical, and legal challenges for a networked world by Mark Stefik

In this book, written for a general audience, the author explores a range of Internet-related technologies and the technical, social, and legal challenges they present. In some cases, the types of technology in question were very specific. Such was the case in the author’s analysis of portable computing devices: Processing speeds, battery power, and bandwidth were discussed. In other cases, the author addressed the Internet in general and considered how issues such as privacy were affecting its development. In each case, he turned to the concept of an “edge” and asked, “What is pulling the technology forward, and what is pushing it back?” The edge is an idea borrowed from psychological theory. In the process of change, individuals may become stuck at a point of resistance or an edge. Some say they experience an identity crisis. “The Internet edge is our response to changes occurring in our lives as the world becomes more closely connected through the Net” (p. 3). Acknowledging the power of technology to effect social change, the author points to the importance of culture and social life in shaping the development of technology. “Culture and dreams drive technology. They also shape the pushback from the Internet edge” (p. 16). In illustrating the relationship between technology and social life, the author often considers the Internet against a social history of other “technologies of connection.” Whether the technology was the railroad or the Internet, he suggests that the edges for connecting technologies have often been a strain between local and global values. In chapter 2, the author focuses on the state of portable computer technology and the social demands that are driving it. He breaks the technical challenges into three main categories: display technology, power, and bandwidth. The social demands facing portable computing technology in part come from our society’s heavy use of and affinity for paper. The pushback from the edge, he suggests, is a collision between our collective identities and our personal identity and needs for quiet reflective time. In chapter 3, he addresses the development of trusted systems, a term borrowed from the military in regards to the protection of and access to secret information. Stefik provided an interesting metaphor in his use of an “arms race” in trusted systems. With each move in developing secure systems, an “other” is developing a means to beat the system. He framed the problem at the trusted systems’edge in terms of the market and the availability of appropriate computing platforms. Most household and even office computers have not been designed to run trusted systems. This large base of computers that were not designed to run high-security trusted systems limits digital publishing and electronic commerce. In chapter 4, the author takes a closer look at digital publishing. He suggests that in the print world, both market and legal forces have helped to balance the relationship between publishers and consumers. Economics in some ways tempered mass copyright violation. It was more expensive to mass copy a book than to purchase copies from legitimate publishers. Digital publishing is changing the market and forcing redefinitions in the legal world. Some think that the publishers are now in a weaker position in regards to intellectual assets. It is