Corner View of Winston Hall
NC State University
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Graduate
  Dynamic Department

Our Commitment to Training Graduate Students of Color
Our department has made an explicit commitment to recruit and train promising African American graduate students and students from other underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. This commitment reflects our model of sociology as actively engaged in the improvement of our world. Our commitment to racial diversity in our own program is an effort to change the world at the same time that we train sociologists whose professional contributions will change the world.

New students

We are committed to having a diverse graduate student population.  Currently, 13 students of color are enrolled in our program.  These students account for approximately one fifth of all our currently enrolled graduate students.  African American graduate students in our program are a large enough group not to be tokens and, we hope, to be known less by their race and more by what they accomplish.  We have fewer students of color from other ethnic backgrounds, but we are very aware of our responsibility both to recruit students from underrepresnted groups and to provide the mentorship support for all of our students to succeed.

As part of our efforts to recruit increasing numbers of excellent African American graduate students, the department sponsored special sessions at the annual meeting of the Association of Black Sociologists in 1999 and 2001. The 1999 session combined the social interaction of a reception and the intellectual interaction of a research poster session. The posters presented the wide range of research on race and ethnicity our faculty and graduate students have undertaken. Approximately eighty members of the association and the department participated.  In 2001, the department organized a session highlighting NCSU and the three other graduate departments awarded special stuatus in the discipline to create mentorship programs that better prepare future faculty.  NCSU then hosted a reception for the entire Association of Black Sociologists, in hopes of encouraging black faculty to send their best students to our graduate training program.
Jeff Davis and Jacki Johnson
Departmental Reunion
Poster Presentation
Jeff Davis and Jacki Johnson, two recent PhDs from the department who attended the 1999 session


Intellectual climate

Several features of the intellectual life in our graduate program foster the success of African American students.
  • Our graduate course on Race and Ethnicity is central to the strong, innovative graduate specialization on Inequality: Class, Race, and Gender.
  • Many faculty and students are currently doing research that focuses on race. A few examples:
    • The Wilmington, NC race riot of 1898
    • Job segregation by race
    • Skin color and self-esteem
    • The southern "black belt"
    • The continuing significance of race for material success and psychological health
    • Driving while black
    • Race and labor market outcomes
    • Black farmers
    • Black women and body image
    • Click here for a presentation of the full range of research projects in the department on race and ethnicity.
  • Several excellent recent dissertations have focussed on race and ethnicity. These have included:
    • "Boys to Men: Inequality Dynamics, Spatial Context, and Behavioral Strategies Among Adolescent Males" by Marino Bruce, now Asst. Prof. of Sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • "Chasing the Dream: Job Search Strategies, Employment Outcomes, and Employer Perceptions of Recent College Graduates" by Jacquelyn Johnson, now Asst. Prof. of Sociology at Syracuse University
    • "Race, Place and Risk: Spatial Effects on Psychosocial Environments and Well-Being" by Jeffrey Davis, now Asst. Prof. of Sociology at California State University-Long Beach
    • "Sailing Under False Colors: Race, Class and Gender in a Women's Organization" by Kristin Myers, now Asst. Prof. of Sociology at Northern Illinois University
    • "Queuing for Unemployment: Gender and Ethnic Inequalities Associated with the Duration of Worker Displacement" by Robert Hironimus-Wendt, now Asst. Prof. of Sociology at Milliken University
    • "Race, Place, and the Reproduction of Educational Disadvantage: The Black-White Gap and Local Structures of Opportunity" by Vincent Roscigno, now Prof. of Sociology at The Ohio State University
    • "Sex and Race Differences in Locus of Control and Adult Criminal Involvement: Towards an Integration of Self and Social Structural Perspectives" by David Alston, now Asst. Prof. at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore
    • "Discrimination Litigation: Implicaitons for Women and Minorities in Retail Supermarket Management" by Sheryl Skaggs, now Research Associate at the University of Texas-Arlington
    • "Prison, Race and Space:  The Impact of Incarceration on Career Trajectories and Local Labor Markets" by Kecia R. Johnson, now Assistant Professor at the University at Albany
  • The department embraces an "engaged sociology" that seeks to apply sociological theory and methods to social problems.

Social support

African American graduate students often feel socially isolated in majority white graduate programs and universities. In overcoming this isolation, there is no substitute for a critical mass of African American graduate students in the department. In addition, African American graduate students in our department can derive social support from:
  • Two African American faculty members of the department
  • The university's Association for the Concerns of African American Graduate Students
  • The Graduate School's Office of Diversity Services (Director is Dr. Pamela Banks-Lee, (919) 515-4390)

Jobs

African American PhDs are in demand in the job market, but they will not get excellent jobs without excellent training. We believe we are providing this training to all our students. The fine dissertations our recent African American graduates wrote, along with their training as teachers, have qualified them for top jobs:
  • Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin--Madison
  • Assistant Professor, Syracuse University
  • Assistant Professor, California State University--Long Beach
  • Assistant Professor, University of Maryland--Eastern Shore
  • Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts--Amherst
  • Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma
  • Assistant Professor, University at Albany

Positive experience

Dr. Jeff Davis, one of our recent African American doctoral graduates, wrote the following: "Looking back on my experiences, I think the department offers exactly what every student of color is looking for: a nationally-recognized program and fair treatment without regards to color. Given the problems of race which permeate the fabric of U.S. society, it is unreasonable to expect to pass through any long term situation, like a graduate program, without some problems. Even Whites and Blacks making a true and sincere effort to counter racism and its impact on the life chances of minorities will be vulnerable to some "misunderstandings" because issues of race run so deeply in this country. There were some moments of discomfort, but always minor and quickly overcome in the same moment. Overall, I think the Department makes every effort to ensure a proper environment for all students. In the most important aspect of graduate school experience--development of sound, working relationships with top researchers/mentors--the department is a very good place to be for anyone."