The Sociology Reporter | Summer 2025
The Sociology Reporter | Summer 2025
Message from the Chair
Happy summer break! We had had a busy fall and spring semester, and we are excited to start planning for the new academic year during these next few months. We are delighted to welcome our new students, and a few new faculty members to the Sociology family. Thank you to our students, faculty, and staff – keep up the good work!
– Dr. Eve Veliz-Moran, Department Chair
Spring 2025 Lecture Series
“Sociology in the Real World” Alumni Lecture Series: Careers in Education
April 2025
In April, the department welcomed five Sociology alums back to campus – Genesy Gil ’21, Samantha McFarland ’21, Caroline Rende ’11, Caleigh Rockwal ’19, and Maggie Burke ’19 – for the first panel in a new alumni series, “Sociology in the Real World”. All five panelists hold positions in or are connected to the field of education, and they shared their experiences, career trajectories, and how sociology intersects with their work every day.
Dr. Jill Walsh and Liza M. Hirsch, Esq. “Cell
Phones and Social Media: Impact on Young
Adult Mental Health.”
April 2025
Dr. Walsh, Sociology lecturer at Boston University at and founder of Digital Aged, and Ms. Hirsch, director of the Children’s Justice Unit in the Office of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, presented a joint lecture on realities of social media and how it affects and targets youth and young adults.
Meko Lincoln, “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” Reentry Supports Promoting Earnest Community Ties”
April 2025
Meko Lincoln, coordinator of the Men’s Transitional Program at Amos House, joined us on campus for an informative lecture discussing R.E.S.P.E.C.T., a program centered on establishing community capital and support for the underserved population of justice involved folks. With the current climate of overdose deaths, coupled with the changes to funding sources and government structures for assistance, R.E.S.P.E.C.T seeks to focus on the health and wellness of individuals as the targeted outcomes.
Faculty Focus
LeShae Henderson
Consortium for Faculty Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
Harvard University, B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology
Columbia University, M.A. and Ph.D. Sociology
Expertise:
Through the sociologies of race, punishment, inequality, and Indigenous studies, LeShae asks how the law and social institutions construct racial categories; how people navigate and experience those categories; and how those categories shape socioeconomic and health outcomes.
Dissertation:
LeShae’s dissertation examines race and racial and indigenous identity in the context of incarceration. Drawing from interviews, legal documents, and prison newspapers, she explores how Native Hawaiian cultural practices and identities persist in an institution that is historically meant to “strip away the self.”
Hobbies:
Outside of work, LeShae enjoys being a big sister, and aunty, and a hula dancer.
Hana Gebremariam
Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology
Education:
Middlebury College, B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology
Temple University, M.A. and Ph.D. Sociology
Expertise:
Health Inequality, Mental Health, Higher Education, and Race and Racism
Dissertation:
Hana’s dissertation work focuses on racial inequalities in college mental health services. It examines how students from different racial backgrounds engage campus mental health services and how colleges organize and respond to the needs of different student populations.
Hobbies:
Outside of work, Hana enjoys staying active and has been a yoga instructor for the past five years.
Student News
Trip to Tijuana
This past April, Dr. Kara Cebulko travelled down to Tijuana, Mexico with her GST 371: Globalization, Human Rights, and Borders class. Dr. Cebulko partners with Esperanza International for the trip, an organization that works with local residents and volunteers to build new homes and empower communities. The group spent five days on the work sites aiding in the construction projects with the community and families in the area. The students also visited the border wall, where they connected with the families’ on their experiences, hopes, and dreams.
Sociology Goes to Boston
In March, four Sociology students and two Global Studies students attended the 2025 Eastern Sociological Society Conference in Boston. The students, accompanied by Drs. Brandon Martinez, Rhiannon Miller, and Trina Vithayathil, presented research from their Senior Capstone and Research Seminar projects.
Crismar Ramos ’26, Jazzlyn Goncalves ’25, and Jolade Oshinkanlu ’25, “The Backlash to Affirmative Action in India: Resistance to Filling “Reserved Seats” and Expanding Reservations in the Private Sector“
Rachel Medeiros ’25, “Tensions in Teaching: Examining Job Satisfaction and Perceptions of the Education System“
Emma Lindsay ’25, “What They Don’t Teach You: A Comparative Analysis of Crime Reports at Public and Private Universities“
Mary Gifford ’25, Audrey Koch ’25, and Norah Seidler ’26, “Instagram Parent Influencers’ Expression of Class Status“
Elizabeth Hien ’25, “Perceptions of Racial Inequality and the Criminal Justice System: The Influence of Structural and Individual Explanations“
Thank You Breakfast For UG2 Workers
This spring, students in Dr. Veliz-Moran’s SOC 440: Latinx Experience in the US spent the semester exploring the histories of different Latin American countries, how those communities immigrate to the United States, and learning about the current status of the Latinx population in the US. As the semester came to a close, the students wanted to acknowledge the labor that many immigrants perform that goes unnoticed, and show their appreciation for the UG2 workers and honor the importance of their personal histories.
A Few April Field Trips…
Dr. Greenleaf and his students from SOC 302: Deviant Behavior visited the Gloria McDonald Woman’s Facility at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. The students were able to spend some time meeting and chatting with several inmates.
Dr. Miller took some of her SOC 470: ST: Dating and Mating students to see the 20th Anniversary Re-release of Pride & Prejudice in theatres – some stories really do stand the test of time!
It’s Awards (and Graduation) Season!
As we get to April and May, it feels like barely a week goes by without an honors celebration or reception! On April 24th we celebrated the induction of the newest members of the Providence College chapter of the Alpha Kappa Delta Honors Society, which for the first time included Sociology majors and minors; Lindsay Romano, Jillian Fenerty, Shannon Kelly, Norah Seidler, Brady Beiser, Bella Chinea, Sara Díaz Querejeta, Audrey Koch, Jenna Taylor, Mary Gifford, Olivia Wheldon, Kelsey Lynch, Kylee Sheppard, Camryn Burns, Caroline Lamarine, Isabella Bodio, Mia Cirelli, Alyssa Sammataro, Bells Glennon, Emma Stevens, and Kayla Fordyce. Seniors who were inducted last spring also received their honor cords for graduation.
In addition to AKD Induction, the Student Recognition Dinner also honors the recipients of the Sociology Senior Awards.
This year, Dr. Rhiannon Miller was our speaker for the Recognition Dinner, sharing her presentation “Educational Hypogamy in Cohabitation and Marriage.“
Congratulations to our 2025 Sociology & Anthropology seniors! We are so proud of all the hard work they did over the past four years, and we can’t wait to see what they do next!
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm
Howley Hall 119
401.865.2125
sociology.anthropology@providence.edu
