CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2019

Spring Commencement 2019
Spring 2019 Department Receptions

Department of Sociology & Criminology reception will be held on Saturday May 11th, 2019 @ 1:30 PM
The Warwick Center Ballroom

UNCW Parking

Every year the Sociology and Criminology Department holds our own departmental graduation ceremony in order to give the students an opportunity to celebrate with family, friends, and their classmates and professors in a more intimate setting. This year, like every year we took the time to bid our students goodbye and good luck as they leave UNCW. The following students were recognized for their excellence in achievement for the Fall 2018 Commencement.

MASTERS OF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY & CRIMINOLOGY 

Kenyetta Myosha Corley, CRM 

Thesis: Black Women in Blue: Exploring Black Policewomen’s Experiences of Career Advancement and Rank Attainment    

This qualitative study seeks to examine what Black policewomen experience in their pursuits of career advancement and rank attainment in various law enforcement agencies in the southeastern US

Chair: Dr. Kim Cook

Ashleigh Loran Earle, SOC

Thesis: Intergenerational Educational Attainment: Does Gender Matter

By drawing on previous theoretical and empirical literature examining the relationship between parent’s educational attainment and children’s educational attainment, the thesis analyzes gendered effects of parents’ educational attainment on children’s educational attainment. Using secondary data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth, the effects of father’s college completion were compared with the effects of mother’s college completion. When controlling for respondent’s race, gender, academic performance, and parental and child expectations for college, the effects of father’s college completion were stronger than mother’s college completion on son’s and daughter’s college completion. The effect of mother’s college completion, however, was more influential for daughter’s college completion than for sons.  

Chair: Dr. Stephen McNamee

Kristin Nicole Robeson, SOC

Thesis: Examining the Influence of Race and Nationality on Wages in the Men's Professional Soccer League (MLS)

My thesis looks at social inequalities in the workforce specific to the institution of sport. Specifically, my research examines the influence of soccer players' race and nationality on wages to evaluate if social inequalities present in the MLS reflect or alter from larger labor market inequalities.  

Chair: Dr. Jennifer Vanderminden  

Carly Frances Westphal, SOC

Thesis: Concerted Cultivation Among Immigrant Parents: The Effects of Job Mismatch and Living Within an Ethnic Enclave   

My study was designed to expand concerted cultivation theory, to apply its concepts to the parenting practices of immigrant parents. Using O*NET and the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, I examined the differences in occupational skill requirements between parents' birth country occupation and current U.S occupation, as well as whether or not they lived within an ethnic enclave, to determine if these factors influenced their engagement in concerted cultivation.  

Chair: Dr. Jacob Day

HIllary Dawn White, CRM

Thesis: A Multi-Methods Analysis of Responses to Violence against Indigenous Women and Reconciliation in Canada and the United States: Working Towards Safer Tribal Lands 

The The purpose of my study was to look at the responses of the United States and Canadian governments to violence against Indigenous women. Using the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 in the US and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls National Inquiry in Canada, I utilized a grounded theory and comparative analysis approach to examine these responses. I then look at the implications this comparison could have for both countries, specifically, I wanted to influence current actions and future policy to further try to end violence of all forms, especially against Indigenous women within Indigenous communities. 

Chair: Dr. Christina Lanier 

Bachelor of Arts in Sociology 

Bachelor of Arts in Criminology