Category: Undergraduate Students

Graduate student Larissa Juip has a unique opportunity for a student to work with her on “Applying an Indigenous Methodology: Storying a Tribal Landscape System.” Indigenous storywork, as described by Jo-ann Archibald (2008), combines traditional and life-experience stories to produce a holistic narrative by building “on the storywork teachings of respect, reverence, responsibility, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy.”

These stories recognize different ways of knowing, such as those present in Indigenous communities and they often reflect a great emphasis on place-based knowledge and relationships. This storywork project is designed to complement a National Science Foundation research project (Tribal Landscape Systems) being conducted in partnership with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), Keweenaw Bay Natural Resources, Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), and Michigan Tech researchers.

Storywork has great potential to serve as an important method and pedagogy to reflect on responsibilities of Indigenous-University partnerships. Students will assist her in producing stories shared by partners in this project that reflect place-based connections and relationships as they form or are strengthened through research. The collection of stories shared by partners will become an iterative process that sheds light on the importance of place-based knowledge within the research project.

This project is funded through an NSF-CNH2 (Convergence Research: Bridging Knowledge Systems and Expertise for Understanding the Dynamics of a Contaminated Tribal Landscape System) and is part of a larger undergraduate research initiative in Social Sciences, the Undergraduate Program for Exploration and Research in Social Sciences (UPERSS).

Check out the other opportunities that include:

• Ethnic Organization and Diaspora Engagement in the Keweenaw (Kathryn Hannum, SS)
• Developing a University Partnership offering Educational / Cultural Outreach to State Prison Inmates housed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Susanna Peters, SS)
• Food-Based Plants as Living Heritage (Mark Rhodes, SS)
• Michigan Tech Inventory of Historic Scientific Instruments (IHSI) (Steven Walton, SS)
• Historic Cemeteries: Mapping, Management, and Memory (Timothy Scarlett, SS)

Congratulations to all four of the Social Science majors who presented their work in this year’s Undergraduate Research Symposium!

Brooke Batterson (History) “Analysis of the Labor Market & Landscape of 1900 Lake Linden French Canadians”

Tim Stone (Sustainability Science and Society): “The Daily Spaces and Environmental Hazards for Youth in the Industrial City”

Alannah Woodring (Sustainability Science and Society): “What Are the Best Practices to Integrate Therapy Gardens into Programs Servings At Risk Populations?”

Ava Miller (Sustainability Science and Society): “Community Response to Renewable Energy Project Siting: A Case Study in L’Anse, MI”

And special congratulations to Ava Miller whose project tied for the second place award as “best undergraduate presentation” among all undergraduate presentations! 

Five Social Science students joined Michigan Tech’s inaugural chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, the International Geography Honor Society.
 
-Nev Indish (History)
-Brooke Batterson (History)
-Cal Quayle (Anthropology)
-Lynette Webber (History)
-Timothy Stone (Sustainability Science and Society)

Organized by Assistant Professor of Geography Dr. Mark Rhodes, the honor society will promote geography-related activities and connect students with opportunities to share research and compete for awards. The five Social Science students join twelve other undergraduate, graduate, and faculty members in founding the Michigan Tech chapter.

In collaboration with a class taught by Angie Carter (SS), the Western Upper Peninsula Food Systems Collaborative (WUPFSC) kicked off the Western UP Food Stories Photo Contest last fall.

The students in the course — Communities and Research SS4700 — reached out to local growers, enthusiasts, and anyone who eats to share what local foods in the Keweenaw means to them. Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, they encouraged community members to share their experiences in a visual format.

The course, which is based on transdisciplinary research methods, supports students in creating studies driven by needs identified from community members to ensure that their research would directly serve and empower the community.

The class gathered all the photos on Flickr and some of the winning images are gathered on the University research blog, Unscripted. Check them out at mtu.edu/unscripted . (By Allison Mills, University Marketing and Communications)

Angela Gutierrez, a forth year Social Sciences major, was featured in UpMatters story titled “Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: First-generational Michigan Technological University students share their experience”.

On Friday, May 1st the Department of Social Sciences held a virtual commencement celebration honoring its 2019-20 graduates. 

Play – 2020 Department of Social Sciences Graduation Celebration

“We are marking an important milestone in the lives of our graduates. Graduates, you are ending one phase of your formal education and beginning a new phase of your lives.”

Hugh Gorman, Department Chair, Social Sciences

Speakers

• President Richard Koubek
• Dean David Hemmer
• Dr. Mayra Sanchez Morgan
• Ph.D. Candidate Will Lytle
• Professor Emerita Dr. Carol A. Maclennan

Professor Mark Rhodes provided a musical interlude “Theme from Star Trek Voyager” on trumpet and recent anthropology graduate, Charles Fugate read the poem “In April” by Rainer Maria Rilke. Undergraduate awards were presented and the names of our graduates were read. The musical closing was provided by the Pep Band and Blizzard.

Congratulations to all. We wish you continued success.

“You persevered, and along the way you made a lasting imprint on our campus community.”

Rick Koubek, President

Social Sciences Graduates 2019-2020

Doctor of Philsophy

Erin Burkett, Environmental and Energy Policy, PhD
Brent J. Burns, Environmental and Energy Policy, PhD
Mayra Sanchez Morgan, Environmental and Energy Policy, PhD
Andrew Mueller, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, PhD

Master of Science

Karuna Rana, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Sun Van Nguyen, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Michael Levi Ryan, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Azat Turegeldin, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Robert John Zupko, Environmental and Energy Policy, MS
Tyler D. Allen, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, MS
Brendan J. Doucet, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, MS
Josef Thomas Iwanicki, Industrial Heritage and Archaeology, MS

Bachelor of Science

Charles R. Fugate, BS Anthropology
Bridget E. Quesnell, BS Anthropology
Trenton X. Woodcox, BS Social Sciences -Law and Society
Jessica M. Berryman, BS Social Sciences -Law and Society
Catherine A. Carra, BS Social Sciences -Education
Jason D. Sutherland, BS Social Sciences-Education

Undergraduate Awards

Outstanding Senior Award

Jessica Berryman and Charles Fugate

Undergraduate Research Awards

Alannah M Woodring and Lynette S Webber

Community-Based Research Prize

Angela Gutierrez and Timothy Stone

Departmental Scholar 2020

Timothy Stone

The Department of Social Sciences announced its 2019-20 Undergraduate Research Awards.

• Outstanding Senior Award: Jessica Berryman and Charles Fugate
• Community-Base Research Prize: Angela Gutierrez and Timothy Stone
• Undergraduate Research Award: Alannah M. Woodring and Lynette S Webber

The students will be recognized at the Department of Social Sciences Class of 2019-20 Virtual Commencement Celebration on May 1. Congratulations for these extraordinary achievements.

The Department of Social Sciences recently announced three new undergraduate awards:

• The Outstanding Senior Award recognizes outstanding undergraduate achievement in accomplishments in academics, research, leadership, and/or service.
• Two Undergraduate Research Awards recognize SS Students — a Junior or Senior — who engender exemplary research as evidenced in original research, undergraduate thesis, or creative project under the guidance of department faculty members or other mentors. The awardees are recognized for research that is original and substantive given the standards of the discipline.
• The Community-Based Research Prize recognizes a Social Sciences Junior or Senior who is actively engaged in community-based research, a pillar of the department’s mission. The prize honor’s the student’s efforts to enhance community capacity, build relationships, and/or support community participation in research.