Dr. Terry L. Besser is this year's Thomas Ford distinguished Alumnus
Dr. Besser, who is currently in the department of Sociology at Iowa State University, has been selected for the Thomas R. Ford distinguished Alumnus for 2008. The Distinguished Alumni Lecture will be held on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 1:00pm in the W.T. Young Library Auditorium, with a reception to follow.
UK Sociology Alumnus Nominated to Head U.S. Census Bureau
President Bush announced his nominee for the next
Census Bureau director is Steven Murdock, current Texas state demographer.
Murdock earned his Master's and Doctoral Degrees at the University of Kentucky.
He a native of Milnor, N.D.
Murdock's experience leading Texas through three census counts made him a prime
candidate for the nomination, said White House spokesperson Alex Conant. "(He)
understands it's important to reach out to communities while running a census,"
Conant said. "He's an extremely well-qualified nominee, who will do a superb job
in leading the country through the 2010 census."
"He's one of the foremost demographers around the country and has had a lot of
experience over the years of leading groups of professionals," said Larry
Leistritz, a longtime friend and former colleague of Murdock's. "He's always has
been very interested in working on real problems that effect real people."
If the nomination is confirmed by the Senate, Murdock would replace current
Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. Conant said the White House expects a swift
confirmation.
Abridged from
The Forum - 06/20/2007
Kristen Daum
UK Sociology Professor, Dr. Carrie Oser, Receives Prestigious Award for Substance Abuse Research.
Dr. Carrie Oser received a prestigious, highly competitive 5-year K01 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The specific aims of this project are: (1) to describe the characteristics of rural clients, as compared to urban clients; (2) to examine the characteristics and treatment practices of rural counselors, as compared to those employed in urban facilities; (3) to identify the organizational characteristics of state-funded treatment facilities in rural counties, as compared to urban, utilizing a PDA-based data collection methodology; (4) to develop two-level hierarchical linear models from an ecological perspective to predict rural treatment outcomes and urban treatment outcomes; (5) to separately examine the proportional contributions of client-level factors, counselor contextual factors, and organizational factors to rural treatment outcomes and urban treatment outcomes using an ecological theoretical framework. This project will significantly contribute to understanding community treatment and client behavioral treatment outcomes in rural and urban counties.
Robynn Pease (PhD, UK Sociology, 2002) appointed as new Director of UK's Work-Life Office.
Robynn Pease, who received her Ph.D. in Sociology from this department (with an emphasis on Aging) in 2002 has been appointed the Director of the UK Work-Life Office. The Work-Life Office identifies and assists employees in finding solutions to family and work issues, offering a variety of resources and services to all UK employees, spouses, sponsored dependents and retirees include the following: consultation and referral about elder and child care, including long-distance care; workshops on Work-Life issues such as flexible work schedules and stress management; information and referral about employee benefits such as health/wellness programs, flexible scheduling, and training and development; sponsorship of campus-wide events such as National Work and Family Month; lending library on employee relations, conflict management, team building and corporate culture. Prior to working at UK, Robynn was employed as the Program Administrator of the Office of Aging Services for the Lexington-Fayette Urban-County and continues to teach classes in geriatric social work for the UK College of Social Work.