8th Annual Graduate Student Conference

The 2014 Graduate Student Conference

12:30pm-5:00pm, Friday, April 11, 2014

In Perkins Student Center, Collins Room
Reception from 5:30pm-7:00pm at Kildare’s

2014 Keynote Speaker:
The Keynote Speaker this year will be Dr. Jill McCorkel. Dr. McCorkel is a UD alum, and joined the Sociology and Criminology Department at Villanova in 2006. Dr. McCorkel’s research investigates the social and political consequences of mass incarceration in the United States. She focuses primarily on how law and systems of punishment perpetuate race, class, and gender-based inequalities. Her recent book, Breaking Women: Gender, Race and the New Politics of Imprisonment (New York University Press, 2013), explores the consequences of the War on Drugs and “get tough” policies for women prisoners. Using detailed participant observation and candid interviews with prisoners, staff, and state officials, she examines how prison privatization and the racial politics of the Drug War collapsed the rehabilitative ideal and transformed the logic and practice of punishment in women’s prisons. Dr. McCorkel is currently involved in developing Villanova’s undergraduate degree program at SCI-Graterford, the largest maximum security prison in Pennsylvania. She teaches undergraduate courses there and runs a monthly seminar series that offers faculty members from area universities the opportunity to discuss their research with prisoners enrolled in the undergraduate program. In addition, she runs a service-learning course that allows Villanova students the opportunity to serve as literary tutors in the prison. 
 
A flyer for the conference with additional details can be found here!
 
A copy of the conference program with the complete schedule can be found here!
 
Conference Schedule:
 12:00pm-12:30pm     Welcome Reception
 12:30pm-12:45pm      

Welcome address by Dr. Aaron Kupchik, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice

 
12:45pm-2:15pm     Brian Pitt Keynote Speaker, Dr. Jill McCorkel, Villanova University
“What if the Cure is Worse than the Disease? Privatized Treatment in the Era of Mass Incarceration”
 2:15pm-2:30pm Break
 2:30pm-3:30pm     Panel One
Discussant: Emily Bonistall

“Applying the Individual Understanding and Response Framework to Sea-Level Rise Perception South of Delaware’s Indian River Inlet”
Anne Gooodman, Department of Disaster Science and Management

“Rethinking Social Vulnerability to Natural Disasters: Examining the Contextual Approach”
V. Nuno Martins, Department of Disaster Science and Management

“El Mundo de Princesas’: Comparative Content Analysis of Online Pro-Ana Blogs”
Laura Adarve, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice

“Distrust of Atheists: The Impact of Religion and the Social Environment”
Emily Bange, Department of Anthropology
 3:30pm-3:45pm Break
 3:45pm-4:45pm     Panel Two
Discussant: Erin Kerrison

“Violence on the Inside: Exploring Assaults on Corrections Officers within Jail Facilities”
TaLisa J. Carter, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice

“On the Straight and Narrow: An Intersectional Approach to Understanding Sexual Minority Young Women and their Involvement in Criminal Justice”
Tom Albert, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice

“The Implications of Mass Media and Social Media Usage in Missing Children Cases”
Jennifer L. Snyder, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice

 4:45pm-5:00pm

5:30pm-7:00pm

Closing Remarks

Reception at Kildare’s