Graduate Student Achievements
We are proud of our hard-working graduate students! The department makes two annual awards to recognize our students' excellence in teaching and research.
The Adeline Gordon Levine Excellence in Teaching Award is a competitive award given to an outstanding graduate instructor of at least two undergraduate sociology courses.
Eligibility
To be eligible, a graduate student must be enrolled full-time (or its equivalent) in the program, have taught at least two North Campus classroom-based sociology courses (one of which must be a semester-long course, and at least one of which must have been taught since in the past two years), receive a nomination from an undergraduate student, and submit supporting materials.
Nomination Procedure
Eligible graduate students must be nominated by an undergraduate students. Undergraduate students should submit their nomination and a brief rationale for consideration to the Director of Undergraduate Studies. No self-nominations are accepted.
Award
Members of the Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Committees will evaluate the nominees based on evidence of excellence in teaching activities. The recipient will receive a student membership to ASA; a membership to the ASA Teaching & Learning Section; a subscription to Teaching Sociology, and a cash award bestowed by Adeline Gordon Levine. Please note: The awardee is expected to attend the department’s graduation ceremony in May to receive the award.
Previous Winners
- 2022: Julia Schoonover
- 2021: Srushti Upadhyay
- 2020: Zachary Evans
- 2019: Yaqi Sam Yuan
- 2018: Vinay Kumar
- 2017: Matthew McLeskey
- 2016: Jared Strohl
- 2015: Kiera Duckworth
- 2014: Daniel Nickolai
- 2013: Jessica MacNamara
The Nathalie Devine Howe Award is given annually to recognize outstanding work by master's- or doctoral-level sociology graduate students. This award was established in 2009 by Hon. Barbara Howe (Ret.), Ph.D., J.D. in honor of her late mother. Please read this profile for more details about Hon. Barbara Howe and the award.
Eligibility
- Submissions must have a title and abstract, follow ASA style, be double-spaced in 12 point font, and not exceed 35 pages (including tables, appendices, and references).
- Manuscripts must have been written while the author was a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at UB. Collaborative papers are eligible so long as all authors are current Sociology graduate students at UB.
- Manuscripts may have been submitted for publication, published during the current academic year, accepted for publication, or not submitted for publication. Manuscripts published before the current academic year are not eligible.
Submission Procedure
Submissions must be emailed as a Word or PDF file to the Director of Graduate Studies by 5 pm on the second Monday in April.
Award
All submissions will be evaluated by the Graduate Studies committee. The winner(s) is required to receive the award in person at the department’s graduation ceremony in May. The award includes a monetary grant toward travel expenses to attend a professional meeting.
Previous Winners
- 2022: Rachel Zhang, "Examining the Relationship between Gentrification and Crime in Buffalo from 2011 to 2019"
- 2021: Sara DiPasquale, "Sociology Faculty Perceptions on Inclusive Language Use"
- 2020: Yulin Yang, “Chronic Pain, Disability, and Friendship among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in the United States”
- 2019: Vinay Kumar, “When Heritage Meets Creativity: A Tale of Two Urban Development Strategies in Kampong Glam, Singapore”
- 2018: Paul Durlak, “Constructing Fairness and the Meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act”
- 2017: Jessica Hoffman, “‘Everybody Feels the Need to Offer You Advice When You’re Pregnant’: Evaluating the Character and Extent of Trust in Pregnancy Advice Among First-Time Moms”
- 2016: Aysegul Balta Ozgen, “Organizational Mediation of Immigrant Integration: Transnational Entrepreneurship and Integration with Difference”
- 2015: Ashley Kranjac, “The Moderating Effect of Self-Efficacy on Normal-Weight, Overweight, and Obese Children’s Math Achievement: A Longitudinal Analysis”
- 2014: Sibo Zhao, “Mental Health after Childbirth: Growth Trajectories in Depressive Symptoms over Time”
- 2013: Kiera Duckworth, “Moving Beyond the Racial Binary: Exploring the Racial Repesentations of Women in Sports Illustrated”
- 2012: Sarah H. Smith, “Scripting Sexual Desire: Cultural Scenarios of Teen Girls’ Sexual Desire in Popular Films, 2000-2009”
- 2011: Cassi Meyerhoffer, “‘I Would Be Like a Grain of Salt in a Pepper Shaker’: Exploring Neighborhood Preferences Among White, Blacks, and Hispanics”
- 2010: Jordan Willis, “Social Inequality and Attitudes Toward Euthanasia”
- 2009: Elizabeth Roby, “Marginalized Patients in Emergency Medical Service: Provider Perspectives”
This is a sampling of some of our students’ many other achievements.
Jump To:
2021
- Yu-An Chen published “Multi‐scalar and Multi‐dimensional Conceptions of Social Capital and Mental Health Impacts After Disaster: The case of Hurricane Harvey” in Disasters with collaborators Kevin Smiley, Lauren Clay, and Ashley Ross.
- J Coley published “Gentrification in the ‘City of Good Neighbors’: Race, Class, and Neighborhoods in Buffalo” in Sociological Inquiry with collaborator Robert Adelman.
- Jennifer Schweitzer published “Designing an exercise intervention for adult survivors of childhood cancers” in BMC Cancer with collaborators Denise Rokitka, Jennifer Heffler, Michael Zevon, Caleb Kitcho, Elisa Rodriguez, and Martin Mahoney.
- Srushti Upadhyay published “Sugaring: Understanding the World of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies” in the Journal of Sex Research.
- J Coley was awarded a dissertation fellowship from the Humanities Institute for the upcoming year. J also got a grant from the Mark Diamond Research Fund.
- Shiyue Cui was awarded a UB Southeast Asian Summer Language grant and a tuition scholarship from the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute at the University of Wisconsin to study Burmese this summer. Shiyue also just completed a Humanities Institute fellowship she was awarded this year.
- Zaque Evans won the 2021 Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award from the UB Graduate School. This is a very competitive award given to instructors who go above and beyond UB's already-high standards and truly demonstrate excellence in every aspect of teaching. Fewer than 1% of graduate student instructors receive this award!
- Matthew McLeskey was awarded the Best Scientific Abstract Award for a submission to the 11th International Conference on Stigma, a conference aimed at practitioner education and advocacy.
- Shiyue Cui served on the Action Grant Review Committee for Humanities New York.
- Matt McLeskey served on the Michael Harrington Award Committee for the SSSP Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division. Matt is also a member of the Membership and Graduate Student Concerns committees of the Teaching & Learning section of ASA.
- Srushti Upadhyay was interviewed for and quoted in a Buzzfeed News article about sugaring relationships.
2020
- Chris Bosley published a book review of Bandage, Sort and Hustle: Ambulance Crews on the Front Lines of Urban Suffering for BMJ Blogs: Medical Humanities.
- Hsiao-Wen Chiang published an article, “Employment for Indigenous People in Taiwan: Reflections from Macro to Micro,” with collaborators Yi-Ti Tung and Dawa Panay Iling in Community Development Journal Quarterly.
- J Coley published an article, “Gentrification in the ‘City of Good Neighbors’: Race, Class, and Neighborhoods in Buffalo,” with Robert Adelman in Sociological Inquiry.
- Byung Soo Lee published a chapter, “Gender Roles of Married Women in Korean Immigrant Families in the United States,” in Korean Families Yesterday and Today: Perspectives on Contemporary Korea, edited by Hyunjoon Park and Hyeyoung Woo.
- Matthew McLesky a book review of Manufactured Insecurity: Mobile Home Parks and Americans’ Tenuous Right to Place by Esther Sullivan in City: Critical Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action.
- Julia Schoonover published two articles: “Barriers and Facilitators to Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Lower-Income Families: Matching Preferences with Stakeholder Resources,” with Christina M. Kasprzak, Halle A. Sauer, Margaret M. Lapp, and Lucia Leone, forthcoming in Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, and “Double Up Food Bucks: A Qualitative Evaluation of Usage, Impact, Barriers, and Facilitators,” with Jaclyn Masci, Leah N. Vermont, Christina M. Kasprzak, Lisa French, and Lucia Leone, forthcoming in Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. She also published an essay, “Rights Under Siege: A Graduate Student Perspective” in the Winter 2020 newsletter of the ASA Section on Human Rights.
- Shiyue Cui was awarded a 2020-2021 Public Humanities Fellowship from Humanities New York for her project, “From There to Here: Refugee Experiences in Buffalo, New York.”
- Zaque Evans published “Using Incremental Writing to Teach Law and Society…and Improve Undergrads’ Writing!” for the Consortium of Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs blog.
2019
- Vinay Kumar published an article in City & Community titled "When Heritage Meets Creativity: A Tale of Two Urban Development Strategies in Kampong Glam, Singapore."
- Matthew McLeskey was awarded the Advanced PhD Fellowship from the Humanities Institute.
- Vinay Kumar was awarded the 2018-19 Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award by UB’s Graduate College.
- Miranda Workman was elected to a 3-year Council position for the Animals & Society section of the American Sociological Association.
- Miranda Workman, Matthew McLeskey, and Vinay Kumar were each awarded Mark Diamond Research Fund Dissertation Research Grants.
2018
- Greg Hall published an article in The Sociological Quarterly with recent PhD graduate Rob Kappel titled “Gender, Alcohol, and The Media: The Portrayal of Ideal Men and Women in Alcohol Commercials.”
- Matthew McLeskey published a book review in Teaching Sociology of Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America’s Metro Areas by Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor. He also published an essay, “If Adjuncting, Be Strategic,” in the summer 2018 newsletter of ASA’s Teaching & Learning section.
- Aysegul Balta Ozgen was awarded a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant for $11,995 for her research titled “Impact of Immigration Policies on Syrian Refugees’ Integration in Canada, Germany, Turkey, and the U.S.”
- Erica Boyce won a 2-year pre-doctoral fellowship with Harvard Univeristy's Center for Education and Policy Research Strategic Data Project.
- Jared Strohl was awarded the 2017-18 Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award by UB’s Graduate College in April.
- Aysegul Balta Ozgen and Sam Yuan were each awarded Dissertation Fellowships from the UB College of Arts and Sciences.
- Vinay Kumar was awarded a grant from Asian Studies’ Nila T. Gnamm Junior Faculty Research Fund.
- Matthew McLeskey was awarded a 2018 SAGE Teaching Innovations & Professional Development Award to attend the ASA Teaching & Learning section’s pre-conference workshop. He was also awarded a Mark Diamond Research Fund grant.
- Jessica Coley was elected as the President of UB’s Graduate Student Association for the 2018-19 academic year.
2017
- Sarah Glann and Paul Durlak published an article in Teaching Sociology with 2014 PhD graduate Jessica MacNamara titled “Experiencing Misgendered Pronouns: A Classroom Activity to Encourage Empathy.”
- Paul Durlak published “Disability at Work: Understanding the Impact of the ADA on the Workplace” in Sociology Compass. He also published a teaching and learning guide to accompany the article.
- Joanne Tompkins and Watoii Rabii published an article in Contexts titled, “Painted into a Corner,” with Robert Adelman and Shelley Kimelberg.
- Matthew McLeskey’s chapter coauthored with Chris Mele, “Pro-Growth Urban Politics and the Inner Workings of Public Private Partnerships” is forthcoming in the Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics.
- Kristen Connolly published an article in the Journal of Drug Issues titled “Building Recovery Capital: The Role of Faith-Based Communities in the Reintegration of Formerly Incarcerated Drug Offenders” with Robert Granfield.
- Wei Luo presented on and won a competitive award from the Population Association of America for a poster she designed titled, “What Underlies Educational Disparities in Chronic Pain?” The project is a collaboration with Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk and Amelia Karraker.
- Watoii Rabii was awarded the UB College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Fellowship for 2017-18.
2016
- Joanne Tompkins’ chapter coauthored with Debra Street, “Is 70 the New 60? Extending American Women’s and Men’s Working Lives,” is forthcoming in the book, Gender, Ageing, and Extended Working Life: Cross National Perspectives.
- Miranda Workman’s chapter, “Perceptions of Personality: How What We See Influences Our Perceptions About and Behavior Toward Companion Animals,” is forthcoming in Companion Animals in Everyday Life: Situating Human-Animal Engagement within Cultures (2016).
- Rob Kappel published an article, “One Person’s Party is Another’s Trash: The Creation of Urban Public Space Through To-Go Cup Laws,” in the School of Management Review.
- Melis Kural published an article, “Lost (and Gained) in Transition: The Contradictions of
Gentrification in Alacati, Turkey,” in the School of Management Review. - Jared Strohl published an article, “Neoliberalism, Work, and the Growth of Individualism,” in the School of Management Review.
- Patrick McDonald was awarded a $43,000 grant from Say Yes to Education for a 10-year longitudinal study to better understand factors affecting college success. He was previously awarded grants of $40,000 and $52,000 for this research.
2015
- Joel Inbody published an article in Sociology of Religion, “Sensing God: Bodily Manifestations and Their Interpretation in Pentecostal Rituals and Everyday Life.”
- Kiera Duckworth was elected as the student representative to ASA’s Sex & Gender Section Council.
- Ashley Wendell Kranjac published an article in Social Science & Medicine, “The moderating effect of self-efficacy on normal-weight, overweight, and obese children’s math achievement: A longitudinal analysis.”
- Tyler Dupont published an article in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, “From Core to Consumer: The Informal Hierarchy of the Skateboard Scene.”
- Greg Hall published an article in the Journal of Historical Sociology, “Selective Authenticity: Civil War Reenactors and Credible Reenactments.”
- Christy Panagakis published an article with department alumna Elizabeth Gage Bouchard in Social Science & Medicine, “The architecture of support: The activation of preexisting ties and formation of new ties for tailored support.”
- Christy Panagakis published an article in Advances in Life Course Research, “Reconsidering adulthood: Relative constructions of adult identity during the transition to adulthood.”
- Kiera Duckworth published a book review of Sexual Minorities in Sports: Prejudice at Play in the Journal of Sex Research.
- Sarah Glann was featured in the Buffalo News for her research on the pollution of Eighteen Mile Creek in Lockport and the toxic threats that residents face in the area.