Student Research and Award Day 2016
On April 21, 2016, the Department of Sociology celebrated student success during the annual Student Research and Award Day (SRAD) ceremony. SRAD is an annual program created to recognize student excellence and achievement in the Department of Sociology.
The highlights of SRAD include a poster exhibition featuring the research of some of our brightest students; the bestowment of scholarship awards for students who have achieved the highest academic excellence, and the induction of our students into the Alpha Kappa Delta Honor Society.
During this highly anticipated ceremony, faculty, staff, scholarship donors and students of the program coalesced in the newly renovated Student Center Ballroom to present valuable research projects and receive recognition for outstanding achievements.
Student research poster exhibition
The student research poster competition stands as a cornerstone of the ceremony. During this competition, both graduate and undergraduate students are challenged to produce a poster display that promotes and explains the essence of their research.
Members of the Sociology faculty made their rounds judging each poster and decided upon first and second place winners for both the undergraduate and graduate tracks.
Undergraduate poster winners
First place winner
Jay Smith, "Finding Bias: Online News Reporting of the Freddie Gray Case"
Second place winner
Athraa S. Hannawa, "Veteran Status and Cancer Diagnosis: Exposure or Lifestyle"
Graduate Poster Winners
First place winner
Eboni Turnbow, "Gender Portrayals in Higher Education Professional Development Institutes"
Second place winner
Meghan Dwaihy, "What Does Healthy Look Like? A Comparison of health Promotion Images in the Public and Private Sector"
Bestowment of departmental scholarship awards
By meeting the respective criterion, exceptional students became recipients of several esteemed departmental scholarships. Congratulations to this year's winners!
Alpha Kappa Delta inductees
Alpha Kappa Delta is an international sociology honorary society founded in 1920. The name, Alpha Kappa Delta, represents the first three letters of three Greek words: Anthropos (mankind), Katamanthanein (to investigate thoroughly or to conduct research) and Diakonesein (for the purpose of service).
The name, freely interpreted, signifies social research for the purpose of service. The Department of Sociology was proud to add the following outstanding students to the more than 110,000 AKD members worldwide:
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Iris Taylor, Ph.D., RN
Event-goers were also treated to a special keynote speech from Sociology Department alum, Dr. Iris Taylor, Ph.D., RN.
Dr. Taylor gave an inspiring account of her personal anecdotes and conveyed an overarching motif that described how a sociological perspective can transcend the specific field of study and insert itself into various aspects of life.
Faculty, staff, and students were very pleased to have such a relevant and dynamic speaker at the SRAD Ceremony.
Overall, an air of success filled the open and elegant ballroom. The Sociology department stood unified in pride as some of their best-received hard-earned recognition.
The Department of Sociology is grateful to all who attended and made the ceremony possible. We look forward to another year of success!
All photos taken by Angelique Meiu.