New and Noteworthy

March, 2013

Congratulations to Matthew Town who was awarded the highly competitive American Sociology Association Minority Fellowships for Doctoral Students.

Matthew Town is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He graduated from Black Hills State University with a Bachelor's in Sociology and Oregon State University with a Master's in Public Health with an emphasis in Global Health. Matthew is pursuing his Ph.D. here at Portland State University in Sociology and Social Inequality. Prior to returning to school full time, Matthew worked as a Program Director for the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board and the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. His work focused on sexual and reproductive health as well as cancer health disparities among American Indians and Alaska Natives. His areas of interest include indigenous health, health disparities, social determinants of health, LGBT health, global health, medical sociology and his research interests focus primarily on community based participatory research. Matthew is a member of the Native Research Network, American Public Health Association, Pacific Sociological Association, International Network of Indigenous Health Knowledge and Development, and the Portland Area Indian Helath Service Institutional Review Board. You can contact him at mtown@pdx.edu.

Matthew has been awarded a fellowship through the American Sociological Association's Minority Fellowship Program. The Minority Fellowship Program is in its 40th year and Matthew has been selected alongside 6 other Ph.D. students from throughtout the United States. As part of his fellowship, Matthew will work toward completing his dissertation, which investigates the impacts of everyday discrimination on HIV risk behaviour among American Indian/Alaska Native(AI/AN) men who have sex with men (MSM). Using data from the HONOR Project, which is the largest investigation of AI/AN sexual minorities residing in urban areas of the United States, his project will assess the association between everyday discrimination (assessed using microaggression scales on both race and sexuality) and HIV risk behavior (related to both substance use and sexual behavior). The aim of his project is to inform policy makers and intervention specialists on the importance of discrimination on HIV risk behavior and to consider aspects of discrimination in the development of policies and interventions pertaining to AI/AN MSMs.

February 2013

Congratulations to Josh Murray who is now an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University.

June, 2012

Congratulations to our Master's student, Elisabeth Wilder, the recipient of the University club Fellowsip for 2012. Elisabeth's research focuses on media representations of environmental issues--specifically, the Keystone XL pipeline. She evaluates whether the media is providing citizens with the full range of information that they need to make decisions about Keystone XL, and, more broadly, analyzes the extent to which media presentations of environmental issues facilitate or limit discourse in civil society. The University Club Foundation annually awards four $5,000, merit-based scholarships to one qualifying graduate student from each of four universities in Oregon: Portland State University, Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, and Willamette University. For more information on the fellowship, please go to the University Club Fellowship Website.

June, 2012

Congratulations to our incoming Master's student, Amanda Leece, for receiving the President's Award for Outstanding University Service. Amanda's role in initiation of social sustainability month and acting as chair of the planning committee the first two years were main factors in her selection (Pictured, Amanda Leece, left; Amy Lubitow, right).

The President's Service Awards are among the most prestigious honors at Portland State University. Up to 24 students are recognized each year for their service to the University and the larger community with receipt of this Award. The President's Award for Outstanding Community Engagement is an honor conferred annually to a maximum of 12 students who have engaged in an ongoing community service effort off campus and the President's Award for Outstanding University Service is an honor conferred annually to a maximum of 12 students who have engaged in an effort to enhance the student experience at PSU.

June, 2012

Congratulations to Frank Goulart for receiving a Sustainability Leadership Award by President Wim Wiewel.  Frank Goulart is a master’s candidate in sociology. His research has focused on promoting the ability of local communities to develop sustainable economies, a topic that has led him to testify before a state legislative committee about the closure of Oregon paper mills. Frank also worked with an interdisciplinary team of PSU faculty, students, and community partners on a project examining social equity and environmental health for sustainable cities. The resulting paper, which Frank coauthored, was recently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Social Sustainability in Economic, Social and Cultural Context. Read more, here: http://www.pdx.edu/sustainability/news/president-honors-psu-sustainability-leaders

June 8, 2012

Congratulations to Jose Padin, winner of the 2012  J.E. Allen Teacher of the Year Award.

November, 2011

Robert Liebman speaks about the Occupy Portland Movement at the Portland City Club. Link to video: http://pdxcityclub.org/content/wall-st-nyc-main-st-pdx-can-occupy-become-political-force

November, 2011

Randy Blazak speaks on KGW news about the Occupy Portland Movement. Link to video: http://www.kgw.com/video?id=133802683&sec=547647

October, 2011

Alex Stepick was the Keynote Speaker at the Danforth Associates Northwest Conference, October 9-10. Dr. Stepick addressed, "Immigrants in America: Past and Present." Danforth Associates Northwest (DAN) is an intercollegiate /interdisciplinary network of college and university faculty that is an independent descendant of an earlier nationwide program of the Danforth Foundation.

October 5, 2011

Veronica Dujon presented for the Seminar series for the Institute for Sustainable Solutions about her research on environmental health and equity. Stream presentation:  http://www.pdx.edu/sustainability/solutions-seminars

June 3, 2011 

Congratulations to Ben Cushing for winning the 2011 J.E. Allen Teacher of the year award.