News and Announcements

Ritchey to Receive Ingalls Award


Dr. Ferris Ritchey

UAB sociology Professor Ferris J. Ritchey, Ph.D., is the 2008 recipient of the Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. He will be honored at the Alumni Leadership Recognition and Awards Luncheon on Thursday, Sept. 25.

The award is presented annually to a full-time, regular UAB faculty member who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to teaching throughout his or her career at UAB. To be eligible, faculty members must be past recipients of the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and have served UAB for 20 or more years.

Ritchey is being recognized for his teaching and scholarship. He teaches courses on social statistics, medical sociology and data management and analysis. He is the author of several books, including his latest, The Statistical Imagination: Elementary Statistics for the Social Sciences (2008). He also has published numerous journal articles and book chapters related to homelessness and medical malpractice.

He is a member of the Metropolitan Birmingham Services for the Homeless board of directors and the UAB School of Social & Behavioral Sciences Executive Committee.

Ritchey earned his bachelor and master’s degrees at the University of Alabama in 1971 and 1974, respectively. He earned his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977. He has been a member of the UAB faculty since 1978.

 

Graduate Student Henna Budhwani Featured in UAB Magazine
		Henna Budhwani is featured in the Spring 2008 issue of the UAB Arts & Sciences Magazine. Budhwani discussed her interest in exploring the links between society and health. Budhwani is a doctoral student in medical sociology and is about to complete a master's degree in health care organization and policy. The educational opportunies at UAB, she says, have provided her with a solid foundation to pursue her interests. To read more, download the spring 2008 issue as a PDF.

 

New Minor in Sociology Approved

Applications are now invited to the new minor in Medical Sociology. Medical sociology focuses on the study of the social causes and consequences of health and illness. In addition, it analyzes health organizations and institutions, the social behavior of health personnel and consumers of health care, as well as international patterns of health services.

The minor offers Pre-health professionals and other undergraduate students interested in health and health care services a needed background in the linkage between health and society. As such it better prepares students for entry into a variety of professional programs and careers including nursing, optometry, medicine, social work, medical sociology and psychology. It also builds on our department’s growing contribution to medical social science training, and promotes greater collaborative relations with health-related fields on campus.

 

Mrs. D’Anne and Dr. Walter McCoy Endow Medical Sociology Scholarship

Walter and D’Anne McCoy have given $25,000 to endow the first graduate student scholarship in Medical Sociology. The McCoys are longtime supporters of UAB, having given generously to the Reynolds Historical Library, WBHM,  UAB Center for Palliative Care, and the Alys Stephens Center.  Dr. McCoy is a graduate of the former Medical College of Alabama and Tulane University School of Medicine. At age 93 he still volunteers his services as medical director of the Plasma Care Center and continues his passion for sculpting. Mrs. McCoy is a long-time community volunteer.

 

Dr. Michele Wilson Awarded UAB President's Diversity Award

Dr. Michele Wilson was awarded the UAB President’s Diversity Award on Februrary 25, 2007 for her years of  courageous and dedicated service to the University, community, and State in furthering the cause of diversity and social justice. Mike, along with Dr. Jose Fernandez of Nutrition Sciences were co-winners of the Faculty Award.

 

 

Congratulations to Our Students

The Department’s Annual Honors and Awards Ceremony and reception was held on the evening of April 23, 2007 in the Henley Room of Mervyn Sterne Library. A very large crowd of family and friends of recipients attended the ceremony. Dr. LaGory presented awards to the following people for their outstanding achievements in the undergraduate and graduate programs:

Caroline Robinson            Outstanding Graduate Student

Meghan Cash           Outstanding Undergraduate Student

Lesley Irwin              Undergraduate Academic Excellence Award

Sarah Ray                Undergraduate Research Award

Dr. Tennant McWilliams, Dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, was present to announce that Caroline Robinson had also been chosen as the School’s Outstanding Graduate Student, and that Sarah Ray had been selected as the School’s Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher.

Several students were inducted into Alpha Kappa Delta, the national sociology honors society including: Chrystal Boyles, Kevin Bridgmon, Ellen Bryant, Lesley Irvin, Julia Kunin, Jennifer Land, Jennifer Nichols, and Amber Stifflemire.

Ms. Caroline Robinson receives SBS Outstanding Graduate Student Award from Dean McWilliams and Dr. Mark LaGory (Chair).

Dr. Ferris Ritchey and Ms. Sarah Ray holding Ms. Ray's Awards for Outstand Research.  Ms. Ray was the first recipient of the SBS Undergraduate Rearch Award.