SOCIOLOGY - Dwight and Sylvia Lang married just two years after they began dating and then pursued higher education together as first-generation, low-income students. In 1983, they graduated from the University of Oregon, each earning a PhD in sociology. “We’re Ducks,” Sylvia says. “So this is another way of saying ‘thank you, Oregon.’ What happened in Eugene between 1977 and 1985 was very significant for us. It shaped who we are in many ways.” 

SOCIOLOGY - It’s one thing to rebuild homes after a wildfire. Rebuilding communities is a different matter, discovered sociology graduate student Haisu Huang. Graduate student Haisu Huang spent three years interviewing survivors, establishing relationships with them and conducting check-ins to create holistic snapshots of their experiences of evacuations, recovery and rebuilding home. Those she interviewed ranged from people who lived in houses to those who lived in mobile RV homes.

SOCIOLOGY - When Burks arrived at the UO in 1992, he had no idea what to study, but an introductory sociology class grabbed his attention. “It appealed to my curiosity about what makes people tick,” he says. Burks would go on to have a career filled with danger and intrigue as a special agent for the US government, protecting international dignitaries and overseeing security at embassies around the world.

GLOBAL STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY - Japan's energy shift after the Fukushima disaster saw a surge in fossil fuel use. How does this impact their long-term sustainability goals? Recent research by Yvonne Braun of global studies and Michael Dreiling of sociology is featured.

SOCIOLOGY - Department of Sociology Professor Claire Herbert and Sociology graduate employee Amanda Ricketts’ collaboration was accepted at Social Problems peer-reviewed journal. This research was funded by a Marquina Award from the Department of Sociology and a research grant from the Center for the Study of Women in Society.

SOCIOLOGY - Jamie Yang (Wenyi), a sociology PhD student, has been recommended for the CSWS Jane Grant Award for "A Queer Quantitative Inquiry: Sexual Injustices and Social Contexts." The prestigious Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship, honoring Jane Grant—early feminist and wife of CSWS’s benefactor William Harris—is given annually to an outstanding scholar writing a dissertation on women and gender.