Social Sciences Newsblog

Category: Notables

Michaelson Receives Provost’s Award for Scholarship

Published
By
Melissa Michaelson
Melissa Michaelson

From Tech Today:

Outstanding students, staff, and a special alumna were honored on April 17, 2015 at Michigan Tech’s 21st Annual Student Leadership Awards Ceremony.  This year’s recipient of the Provost’s Award for Scholarship was Melissa Michaelson, Departmental Scholar from Social Sciences majoring in Anthropology.

According to the Student Affairs and Advancement, “each academic department nominates one student to represent their department as its Departmental Scholar. From the collective departments, one student is selected to receive the Provost’s Award for Scholarship.

The Provost’s Award for Scholarship is given to a senior who best represents student scholarship at Michigan Tech. This outstanding student is considered excellent not only by academic standards, but also for participation in research scholarship activity, levels of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and communication skills.”

Congratulations Melissa!

Continue Reading →

Faculty Position: Documentation of Sites and Structures

Published
By

Assistant or Associate Professor, Tenure-Track

Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University

HAER drawing

The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University seeks a tenure-track faculty member specializing in Architectural History, Historic Preservation, or Public History to join an interdisciplinary social sciences faculty.

The Department of Social Sciences (http://www.mtu.edu/social-sciences/) offers undergraduate majors in history, anthropology, and social science. The department is also home to two graduate programs (Industrial Heritage & Archaeology and Environmental & Energy Policy), both of which offer MS and PhD degrees. The successful applicant will contribute to the graduate Industrial Archaeology program by teaching the documentation of structures and sites and should be familiar with HABS/HAER standards. Applicants must be able to teach in the undergraduate American history survey and demonstrate an ability to sustain graduate research activities through external funding. Candidates may come from fields such as architectural history, historic preservation, industrial history, history of technology, or American Studies as it relates to the built environment, and should have interests relating to any of the following areas: recording and preserving structures; industrial heritage; cultural resource management; the historic interface between industry and environment; or historic site development, interpretation, and management. This is a tenure-track position at the Assistant/Associate Professor level, beginning August 2015. Ph.D. in History, American Studies or relevant historical field expected at time of appointment.

Michigan Tech is a research university with 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and 120 undergraduate and graduate degrees. The University emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and international research partnerships, and prepares students to create a more sustainable world. Our goal is to attract world-class faculty to enrich the educational experience of our bright, motivated, and adventurous students. MTU is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse faculty committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications from women and minorities. Michigan Tech is located on Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and its community offers year-round recreational and cultural opportunities. Please consult the department webpage for more information: http://www.mtu.edu/social-sciences

Review of the applications will begin on January 15, 2015 and continue until the position is filled. Candidates should complete the online application at https://www.jobs.mtu.edu/postings/2371 and upload the following application materials:

  1. a cover letter
  2. a two-page statement describing teaching experience and research plans, and how you meet the requirements for this position and how you could contribute to an interdisciplinary social sciences department
  3. a curriculum vitae
  4. a recent publication
  5. contact information for three references (no letters of reference, please).

Complete job description is available at http://www.jobs.mtu.edu/postings/2371.

Inquiries may be sent to: Steven A. Walton, sawalton@mtu.edu or 906.487.3272.

Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer, which includes providing equal opportunity for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Applications from women and minorities are highly encouraged by both the department and the institution. Michigan Tech acknowledges the importance of supporting dual career partners in attracting and retaining a quality workforce. Michigan Tech is committed to offering career exploration advice and assistance whenever feasible and appropriate at the University and in the local community. See www.dual.mtu.edu for additional information. Michigan Tech is an ADVANCE institution, one of a limited number of universities in receipt of NSF funds in support of our commitment to increase diversity and the participation and advancement of women in STEM.

 

Continue Reading →

Faculty Position: Social Sciences

Published
By

Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track

Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University

The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University invites applications for an Assistant Professor to join an interdisciplinary social sciences faculty. We seek a scholar specializing in environmental justice, industrial communities/deindustrialization, health, food systems, or gender. Candidates should be prepared to teach one or more courses that articulate with the undergraduate majors in Anthropology or Social Science. Applicants should also demonstrate how their research and teaching interests strengthen one of our graduate programs (MS and PhD) in either Industrial Heritage and Archaeology or Environmental and Energy Policy. A Ph.D. in Anthropology, Geography, Sociology, or a related interdisciplinary field is required by August 15, 2015.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong research record and agenda, as well as high potential for securing external funding. Teaching experience is strongly preferred. The teaching load is two courses per semester.

Michigan Tech is a research university (RU/H) with approximately 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Located minutes from Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the Houghton/Hancock community offers year-round recreational and cultural opportunities. This environment, combined with a competitive compensation package, results in an excellent quality of life. Michigan Tech is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer, which includes providing equal opportunity for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Michigan Tech acknowledges the importance of supporting dual career partners in attracting and retaining a quality workforce. See www.dual.mtu.edu for additional information.

Applications will be reviewed starting Jan 15, 2015. Full consideration will be given to applications received by that date. Interested candidates should complete the online application at http://www.jobs.mtu.edu/postings/2349 and upload required materials including: (1) a letter of interest, (2) Curriculum Vitae, (3) research statement, and (4) names and contact information for three to five references. Letters of reference will be requested for candidates making the short list.

Please direct inquiries to Richelle Winkler at rwinkler@mtu.edu or (906) 487-1886.

Continue Reading →

Anthropology Major Wins EPA Greater Research Opportunities Undergraduate Fellowship

Published
By
Melissa Michaelson
Melissa Michaelson

Michigan Tech student Melissa Michaelson has been awarded two years of funding to complete her B.S. in anthropology through the EPA Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowship for Undergraduate Environmental Study. She has the honor of being one of only 34 awards given nationwide in this competition. In addition to funding her education for the final two years of her degree, Melissa will be placed in a paid summer internship at an EPA facility. She is focusing her degree in the area of environmental anthropology with the aim of doing senior thesis research on social and cultural barriers to a plastic free campus and community. Building on her experience designing a display of 600 plastic bottles collected from local trash bins to engage local community members in discussions about consumption patterns, Melissa continues to do community-engaged research in Dr. Richelle Winkler’s Communities and Research class. This year the class, funded by a separate EPA People, Prosperity and Planet grant, is creating a guidebook that former mining communities can use to evaluate the social and technical feasibility of using minewater for geothermal energy. Her sponsor for the EPA GRO Fellowship is Dr. Kari Henquinet.

Plastic Bottle Chains
Plastic Bottle Chains
Melissa Michaelson with plastic bottles.
Melissa Michaelson with plastic bottles.
Continue Reading →

Langston to Receive Honorary Doctorate

Published
By
LangstonCongratulations to Professor Nancy Langston of the Department of Social Sciences, who will receive an honorary doctorate from Umeå University in Sweden next week. 

Umeå University is one of Sweden’s leading universities, and the honorary doctorate is its highest honor. Langston will receive the degree of doctor honoris causa in recognition for her work on environmental history, as well as her close collaboration with faculty at the University of Umeå. In 2012-2013, Langston served as King’s Professor at Umeå University. An article about her research in Sweden was published in Tech’s Research Magazine recently: http://www.mtu.edu/research/archives/magazine/2014/stories/pay-attention/

Langston has published three award-winning books and served as President of the American Society of Environmental History and Editor of Environmental History (the leading journal in the field). She has been the receipient of honors and award from the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the King of Sweden, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Humanities Center.

The ceremony will take place on October 18, 2014 in Sweden.

Continue Reading →

Peace Corps Ranks Michigan Tech Tops in the Nation—Again

Published
By

Erica JonesFor the ninth year in a row, Michigan Technological University ranks as the number one university nationwide for the number of Peace Corps Master’s International (PCMI) students currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers. Michigan Tech has 32 graduate students overseas, earning the University top spot on the Peace Corps’ annual ranking of PCMI and Paul D. Coverdell Fellows graduate schools.

“We have an amazing group of students who enter our program each year from all walks of life,” said Kari Henquinet, director of Michigan Tech’s PCMI program. “They are not only dedicated academically, but also able to apply what they have learned to problem solve and work collaboratively on the ground. Our Master’s International programs are set up to produce scientists and professionals who think creatively, understand social problems and function in multiple cultures. Our graduates go on to work for places like USAID, environmental engineering firms, and non-profit groups such as Doctors Without Borders.”

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Jennifer Donovan.

Continue Reading →

Fulbright Scholarship for Mary Durfee in Hungary

Published
By
Mary Durfee in Malta
Mary Durfee in Malta

Professor Mary Durfee, social sciences, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Corvinus University in Budapest, Hungary, for fall 2015. She will teach a graduate course on international water cooperation and conflict as well as an undergraduate course on writing about international relations. She will also be learning about water management in Hungary. In Spring 2015 she will be a visiting researcher at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. There she will be affiliated with the Department of International Relations, the Institute for Globalisation Studies, and the Arctic Centre.

This is Durfee’s second Fulbright, her first was to Malta. She has returned to that country every year since as a visiting professor at the University of Malta.

From Tech Today.

Continue Reading →

Kathleen Halvorsen Wins Research Award

Published
By

Kathleen HalvorsenKathleen Halvorsen, whose scholarship bridges social and policy sciences relating to climate change, has been chosen to receive Michigan Technological University’s 2014 Research Award.

Professor Alex Mayer, who nominated Halvorsen for the award, called her “a major force in joining social science with natural science and engineering disciplines.” She is a professor in both the Department of Social Sciences and the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science.

“[H]er most noteworthy contributions are advancing research into biologically derived fuels, fostering interdisciplinary research and spearheading Michigan Tech’s environmental and energy policy graduate programs,” Mayer said. “Professor Halvorsen has shown a remarkable ability to bring literally dozens of colleagues together to craft proposals and lead projects which advance science and international collaborations across continents.”

Read more at Tech Today, by Marcia Goodrich.

Continue Reading →

Scholarship for Steven Sarich

Published
By

Steven SarichSteven Sarich, MS student in social sciences, was selected as a recipient of the Robert and Mary Buttle Scholarship which will provide $4,000 toward tuition and other expenses. This is one among several funding opportunities provided by the Southwest Section of the American Ceramic Society which focuses on material science research of historic and modern ceramics.

From Tech Today.

Continue Reading →