November 2025
Service
Hyeyoung Woo, Aaron Roussell, and Dara Shifrer (all Sociology faculty) completed three 20-page reports in support of Sociology’s Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral programs for the PSU PIVOT over the Thanksgiving break.
Hyeyoung Woo (Sociology faculty) was invited to discuss papers for the “Gender” and “Education, Immigration, and Sexuality” sessions at the 1st Global Korea Agenda Roundtable for “Dating and Intimacy in South Korea: Diverse Stories” James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Aaron Roussell (Sociology faculty), Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty), and Madi Lou Abel (Sociology graduate student) served on the Applying to Grad School panel, facilitated by Dara Shifrer (Sociology faculty), for PSU students of any level and major/discipline.
Tamara Ogle (Sociology graduate student) crafted a flyer for the department’s end of the term party.
Winter O’Hara Frantz (Sociology undergraduate), Jenny Lunte (Sociology undergraduate), Kris Lucht Adams (CLAS Office Coordinator), and Hyeyoung Woo (Sociology faculty and Department Chair) chatted with approximately 70 high school students about sociology at the PSU Bridges Event.
Maura Kelly (Sociology faculty) supported graduate students in her Qualitative Data Analysis class in writing 7,000-9,000 word manuscripts in the style of publications in peer-reviewed journals, which is quite a feat in eleven weeks. Below are the titles and abstracts:
A Qualitative Study Into the Impact of Sweeps on Homeless-Serving Mutual Aid Groups in Portland, OR (Thesis)
Clover Javurek-Humig
Department of Sociology
Sweeps and land use enforcement are among the most persistent issues impacting unhoused communities. Mutual aid groups in Portland network with unhoused people regularly to mitigate the impacts of sweeps, provide direct aid, and build social capital among encampments. This study aims to understand the impact of policing and sweeps on mutual aid groups working with unhoused communities in Portland, OR. The researcher conducted 10 interviews with mutual aid organizers and 6 months of fieldwork with mutual aid groups in Portland, OR in 2025. Transcripts and fieldnotes were analyzed using a general inductive approach. This study finds that 1) Mutual aid groups build community through consistency of resources and solidarity efforts 2) Groups specifically work to minimize the risk of sweeps 3) Sweeps physically dislocate unhoused group members, straining existing relationships 4) Sweeps re-create social and physical needs among unhoused people and mutual aid groups. Sweeps disrupt long-term connections between housed and unhoused mutual aid group members, leading to the loss of community and difficulty in maintaining aid for unhoused group members.
Unmanned Aerial Support Program in Portland Police Bureau: A Case Study (Thesis)
Eiryn Renouard
Department of Sociology
As emerging technologies are being integrated into daily police work all over the country, it changes the way that law enforcement agencies function and interact with the community. With the Portland Police Bureau recently adopting drone technology as a tactical tool, officers have likely experienced much change in the way they approach their roles as they learn to work in conjunction with this new technology. By interviewing officers and conducting field observations of the drones in action, this study aims to explore these characteristics and dynamics in greater detail to answer the questions: how does the drone program function within the larger social context of the patrol unit, and how has the program changed the roles and perceptions of its participating officers? Analysis shows the impact of program leadership and values on how the drone pilots have changed the way they view their role within the agency, and how the pilots experience camaraderie with other officers in the agency
Unpacking Empowerment within Youth-Adult Partnerships: A Content Analysis of Publications for Providers (Thesis)
Celeste Janssen
Department of Sociology
Youth-Adult Partnerships (Y-AP) are a distinct form of youth engagement, widely applied in multiple sectors, and often recognized as a youth empowerment strategy. Youth empowerment has been conceptualized in many ways, most recently as Mouchrek and Benson’s Integrated Empowerment Theory. This content analysis reviews 19 Y-AP governmental and non-profit organizational publications to explore how integrated youth empowerment is conceptualized in Y-AP, and what Y- AP can help scholars understand about youth empowerment. I find that Y-AP publications contain very little on an individual youth’s agency, purpose, and self-direction. However, broadening the integrated empowerment model to re-conceptualize empowerment as group empowerment allows one to demonstrate how Y-AP builds empowerment (through youth purpose, agency, and direction, as well as mentoring, community, and meaningful role). Furthermore, this re- conceptualization reveals important unnamed aspects of the external youth experience: how reciprocity with adults, emotional support, inclusion of DEI throughout the process, and promotion of support among other adults.
Anti-Trans Rhetoric and Transgender Prison Inmates: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
Jae Collett
Department of Sociology
Despite making up a minuscule proportion of the overall prison population, the treatment of incarcerated transgender individuals has garnered much media attention. Trump made the topic a cornerstone of his running platform in the 2024 presidential election, and limited trans prisoners’ rights as one of his first items of business upon his victory. This study explores the current competing discourses in newspapers surrounding the rights of transgender adults in custody through a Foucauldian discourse analysis, explaining how power dynamics shape support or opposition for trans rights in prison. Analysis of the discourse finds that proponents of trans rights cite human rights, constitutionality, and safety concerns as reasons for their support. Opponents of trans rights in prison resist taxpayer dollars being spent on transgender adults in custody, understand the policies as extreme, and cite fears over the safety of cisgender women in prison. This discourse in the newspaper reflects not only narratives surrounding trans rights in prison, but also how the rights of all transgender people in America are understood in the mainstream.
Coping with Racialized Realities: Mental Wellbeing of Black Portland Residents
Amya Bradley-Woods
Department of Sociology
Portland, Oregon, is known to be a liberal and inclusive city, embracing individuals from diverse backgrounds. However, this reputation overshadows the history of discriminatory practices that affected Portland’s Black community. Today, modern forms of racial stratification permeate the city’s social structure. Portland can be classified as a ‘White space’, these spaces typically have a high concentration of privilege, resources, and opportunities that primarily benefit White individuals (Anderson, 2015). This study analyzed how Portland creates unique living conditions for Black residents, and identifies the strategies used to navigate the city’s racialized conditions. I hypothesized that the conditions of Portland create adverse experiences for Black residents, which requires them to develop strategies to navigate these conditions. To investigate this, ten Black residents in Portland completed interviews and a demographic survey to contextualize the racialized conditions that they live in. Prevalent themes found in the participant’s responses reflected notions of double consciousness and identity, manifestations of racism in Portland, and limited access to culturally affirming resources or spaces. This study aimed to fill the gap in research that neglects to examine Black experiences in predominantly White contexts.
Borrowers, Deservingness, and Local News: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Student Loan Coverage in Missouri and Oregon, 2022–2025
Mo McFeely
Department of Sociology
The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program is a federal initiative introduced in February 2023 to offer income-driven student loan repayment options, providing significant relief to borrowers, lower monthly payments, and curb interest growth for eligible borrowers (U.S. Department of Education 2025). The SAVE program replaced the existing Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan. Coverage of SAVE, and of income-driven repayment more broadly, has been prominent in Missouri and Oregon. These states offer useful contrast: Missouri’s political institutions often challenge federal relief, while Oregon has generally supported borrower assistance. Local news does more than merely describe programs; it helps readers decide what counts as relief or burden, and who is seen as responsible or deserving. This study asks: How are student loan borrowers characterized in newspapers in Missouri and Oregon from January 2022 through January 2025?
Online Deviance and the Communications Decency Act
Abigail Kraus
Department of Sociology
The ‘Communications Decency Act’ was initially enacted to protect minors from harmful online content, but in recent years, it has been used to protect free speech on major social media platforms. I decided to investigate this research topic because I have noticed an online social phenomenon around specific policy enactments to protect social actors from online deviancy, which has led to policy changes. I comparatively analyzed how the news media portrayed the continued impact of the ‘CDA’ between 2024 and 2025. This research uses discourse analysis to investigate news media articles, collected from the U.S. Major Dailies database, from 2024 to 2025. I discovered competing narratives surrounding controversial impacts and implementations of the ‘Communications Decency Act’ between the discursive frames of ‘child safety’ and ‘big tech’ perspectives among the public, the media, and policymakers.
Guest Work, Climate Adaptation Labor, & Prescribed Grazing in Wildfire Prone California (Thesis)
Andrea Baeza
School of Earth, Environment, and Society
The H2A visa program is the current agricultural guest work program in the US. It provides agricultural producers available labor for hire, and participants employment opportunities. California ranchers are increasingly utilizing their herds to contribute to climate adaptation strategies like fuel load reduction. Little research identifying and discussing guest worker contribution to conservation and climate crisis mitigation via agricultural endeavors exists. I ask: what are the labor dynamics, with a focus on immigrant labor, in the emerging field of grazing for climate change adaptation? Through a qualitative approach, this project engages employers, and domestic and H2-A workers in interviews and participant observation. I show that H2A workers contracted as sheep herders experience different program regulation impacts than those contracted as vegetable workers, that they are engaged in climate adaptation labor, and that employers are being priced out of the program. I argue that while requiring improvement, the H2A program shows evidence of both challenges and successes in the sheep herding industry. Its successes, failures, and recommendations for both employers and workers need be considered holistically and dialectically. I also argue that migrant guest workers not only contribute to the US food system, but increasingly contribute to climate change adaptation strategies.
Rangeland Conservation Easements: A Social-Ecological Case Study from Eastern Oregon (Thesis)
Martine Cartier
School of Earth, Environment, and Society
Much of the private land in the west is open rangeland and free of development. However, as exurban migration to rural areas increases, private open spaces are increasingly at risk of being developed. Conservation easements are a private property conservation tool that limits development on private land. This paper explores the relationship ranchers have with different land tenures and the effectiveness of conservation easements towards broader ranching and landscape goals. Through semistructured interviews with 13 ranchers, six with easements and seven without, I investigated ranchers’ motivations for pursuing or abstaining from conservation easements. I found that ranchers’ land ethic, financial situation, succession planning, and trust in local knowledge greatly influenced their willingness to participate in an easement. Conservation easements can be an effective tool to combat landscape fragmentation and land use conversion, but proponents need to understand how to attract landowners to the program.
Investigation into Students' Understanding of Differentials
Richard Zhao
Department of Math Education
The differential symbols appear throughout the entire introductory calculus sequence. Yet the concept of differentials was not well-defined historically. Many studies identified students’ obstacles in calculus classes that can be traced back to their understanding of differentials, or lack thereof. However, few studies addressed students’ interpretation of the differential symbols directly. In this study, 12 students who recently completed or were concurrently enrolled in introductory calculus classes were interviewed to investigate their interpretation of the differential symbols in various calculus contexts. A major interpretation of the differential symbols as the derivative of a function were identified, and the differential symbol was considered as part of the definite integral notation. The findings suggest that students hold different interpretations of the differential symbols depending on the context, some of which are conflicting, which causes them to be confused when encountering the symbols in calculus.
September & October 2025
Career Progression
Wynn Strange (Sociology graduate student) successfully defended their dissertation, "I like the idea in theory": Experiencing necropower within the imperial matrix through legal gender marker and gender-affirming name changes, with the support of their committee chair Aaron Roussell (Sociology faculty) and committee members Maura Kelly (Sociology faculty), Kim Williams (Political Science faculty), Toby Beauchamp (Gender and Women's Studies faculty), and Julius McGee (Sociology faculty at the University of Oregon).
Kelsey Nielsen (Sociology undergraduate) is graduating this term with a BS in Sociology!
Hannah Sean Ellefritz (Sociology graduate student) successfully defended her dissertation proposal, Between Fulfillment and Employability: Understanding the Paradox of STEM PhD Student Motivations and Career Preparation in a R2 Institution, with the support of her committee chair Dara Shifrer (Sociology faculty) and committee members Maura Kelly (Sociology faculty), Dan Jaffee (Sociology faculty), Lisa Weasel (Environmental Sciences and Management faculty), Tong Zhang (Assistant Dean for Inclusive Innovation in the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science).
Erika Campbell (Sociology graduate student) successfully defended her dissertation, "I Wish We Had Something in School For That": Exploring Youth Perspectives on LGBTQ+ Inclusive Sex Education and School Climate, with the support of her committee chair Amy Lubitow (Environmental Science and Management faculty) and committee members Dara Shifrer (Sociology faculty), Maura Kelly (Sociology faculty), and Eric Mankowski (Psychology faculty).
Awards
Cece Austin (psychology undergrad, mentee of Dara Shifrer (Sociology faculty))) received the "Abigail Jacobs-Kaufman Scholarship in Judaic Studies" 2025-26.
Public Scholarship
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) was featured in an article in The Oregonian, “With Outdoor Afro guides, novice birdwatchers don’t have to go it alone.” The Oregonian, August 5, 2025. https://www.hereisoregon.com/experiences/2025/08/head-outside-with-outdoor-afro-and-see-where-it-leads-you.html
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) was featured in a podcast, “This organization is transforming Black Oregonians’ outdoor experiences: Peak Northwest Podcast. The Oregonian. October 27, 2025. https://www.oregonlive.com/podcasts/2025/10/this-organization-is-transforming-black-oregonians-outdoor-experiences-peak-northwest-podcast.html
Hyeyoung Woo (Sociology faculty) was quoted in “No, It's Not Offensive for Your Kids To Dress Up as the Characters From 'KPop Demon Hunters' This Halloween” in Parents.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Dara Shifrer (Sociology faculty), Alyssa Nestler, Haley Simons, and Rachel Springer (Sociology graduate student co-authored “Micropolitics in School-Based Health Centers’ Provision of Sexual Health Services” in Sociological Forum.
Presentations
Jessica Niemetz (computer science undergrad, mentee of Dara Shifrer (Sociology faculty)) presented “The Impact of Demographics on Educational Technology Use in Pre-Covid K-12 Schooling” as an oral presentation and poster presentation at the 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Forum.
Bernard (Gelo) Marcelo (social work undergrad, mentee of Dara Shifrer (Sociology faculty)) presented “Student Finances and its Relationship with Academic Success and Health” as an oral presentation and poster presentation at the 2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Forum.
Service
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) was the Session Organizer and Presider of “How did they get that job?: Sociologists Engaged in Work Outside Academia at the American Sociological Association Annual Meetings in Chicago.
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) was the Session Organizer, for the sessions “‘Doing Public Sociology’: Public Sociological Practice in the Community,” “Whose Story and Whose Project?’: Ethical Issues and Considerations in Research and Collaborations,” and the organizer of the “Sociological Practice and Public Sociology Roundtables” for the ASA Section on Public Sociology and Sociological Practice at the American Sociological Association Annual Meetings in Chicago, Illinois.
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) is Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology.
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) was elected to serve as a member of the American Sociological Association's Publications Committee.
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) was a Committee Member for the American Sociological Association's Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology's William Foote Whyte Career Award.
Shirley A. Jackson (Sociology faculty) was the Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology's Program Committee Chair for the 2025 American Sociological Association's Annual Meetings.
Madi Lou Abel (Sociology graduate student) was invited back to serve on PSU’s Race and Ethnic Studies Requirement (RESR) Committee as the student representative for the ‘25-26 academic year!