Student Awards and Publications
Since 2006, Macalester sociology students have won 73 regional and national awards for the quality of their research projects, all of which were developed in Sociology coursework. Below, find Sociology’s award-winners from the last decade and recent research publications.
Awards for Research
2024
Midwest Sociological Society Paper Competition
Senior, Francesca Bernardino – First place. “’Eating the Other’: Negotiations of Authenticity within Culinary Cosmopolitanism.”
Senior, Daisy Alcantar – Third place. “Ni de aquí, Ni de allá”: How the Mexican-American student is seen as the perpetual foreigner in the U.S. and in Latin America.”
Sociologists of Minnesota, Caroline Rose Student Paper Competition
Sophomore, Emery Teague – Second place. “Christianity as Deviance: Flipping the Script at a Religiously Affiliated Liberal Arts College.”
2023
Alpha Kappa Delta Undergraduate Paper Competition
Senior, Ethan Hyslop – Second Place. “Who Gets the Job? Social Reproduction through Student Employment Hiring.”
Midwest Sociological Society Paper Competition
Senior, Tommy Navarre – First place. “No Longer Invisible”: Contesting the Purpose of Public Parks and the Production of Houselessness in Minneapolis, Minnesota.”
Senior, Sophia Kaufmann – Second place. “Un-Scene: How Responses to Sexual Violence Reproduce Legal Hegemony in the Bay Area’s Punk and DIY Community.”
Senior, Stella Kirszner – Third place. “Hiding and Hoarding: How the New York City Public School Application Process Reinforces Privilege and Inequality.”
Sociologists of Minnesota, Caroline Rose Student Paper Competition
Senior, Josh Groven – First place. “‘Cool People’ vs. ‘Food Goodness’: Capitalist Grammar and Social Distinction at a St. Paul Restaurant and Salon.”
Junior, Haoxuan Gao – Second place. “Work Above and Beyond: How Peer Tutors Navigate Their Role and Manage Emotional Labor.”
2022
Midwest Sociological Society Paper Competition
Senior, Greer Lichtenberg – First place. “Looking Up and Playing Down: The Paradoxes of Performing Wealth at a Liberal Arts College.”
Senior, Aidan Williams – Third place. “Plague! Public Health, Community Memory, and HIV/AIDS.”
Midwest Sociological Society, Three Minute Thesis Competition
Senior, Inge Pham-Swann, First place. “Beyond Vegan: Producer and Restaurant Involvement in the Mainstreaming of Plant-Based Meat.”
Senior, Xunwen (Aarron) Zou, Second place. “Ambassadors, Idols or Trash? Interpreting Foreignness and Race in the Chinese National-Building Project.”
2021
Sociologists of Minnesota, Caroline Rose Student Paper Competition
Sophmore, Josh Groven – First Place. “Native Futures, Complex Pasts: South Africa’s Griqua at the Boundaries of Colonialism and Indigeneity.”
Sophomore, Sophia Kaufmann – Second Place. “Dual Advocacy: The Garifuna’s Fight for Indigenous and Afro-Descendant’s Rights.”
Senior, Inge Pham-Swann – Honorable Mention. “Constructing the ‘New Normal’: An Analysis of Student Interaction with Covid-19 Policies on North Star College’s Campus.”
Midwest Sociological Society Paper Competition
Senior, Maria Arrealoa – Second place. “Collective Action in Times of Organizational Crisis: A Case Study of a Hybrid Nonprofit Organization.”
2020
Annual Sociologists of Minnesota Caroline Rose Student Paper Competition.
Senior, Aaron Zou – First Place. “Multiculturalism: Just a Catchphrase? Perceptions of Immigration and Integration in a Multinational State.”
Senior, Tori Gapuz – Second Place. “Migrant Filipina Nurses: Navigating a Racialized and Gendered Division of Labor.”
Senior, Maria Arreola – Honorable Mention. “Assessing Nonprofit Advocacy in a Make-or-Break Election Cycle.”
Annual Midwest Sociological Society Student Paper Competition
Senior, Margaret Breen – First Place. “The Dilemmas of Mobilizing while Lacking Resources: The Standing Rock Occupation as Tactical Innovation.”
Senior, Susanna Morales – Second Place. “Beyond Assimilation and Care Work: Immigrant Women’s Foodwork as Agency.”
2019
Annual Midwest Sociological Society Student Paper Competition
KP Blake-Leibowitz – First Place. “‘Being Able to Breathe Publicly:’ Trans and Gender Nonconforming People Healing through Embodied Activity.”
Olivia Chew – Second Place. “Tampoco soy una chica que está perdida por allí’: Class Disparities Embedded in the Tensions between Gender Discourses Navigated by Young Adults in Quito.”
Margaret Hinson – Third Place. “The Unrecognized Role of Parental Incarceration on In-School Suspension Rates.”
2018
Annual Midwest Sociological Society Student Paper Competition
Senior Nicholas Shriver – Second Place. “Combative Values: Hegemonic Masculinity and the Normalization of Women’s Violence in Mixed Martial Arts”
2017
Joe Feagin Distinguished Undergraduate Student Paper Award, American Sociological Association Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Senior, Mahala Miller. “‘I Treat Everyone with Respect’: Debt Collection Attorneys as Agents of Institutionalized Racism.”
Law & Society Association Undergraduate Paper Award
Senior, Mahala Miller – Honorable Mention. “‘I Treat Everyone with Respect’: Debt Collection Attorneys as Agents of Institutionalized Racism.”
2016
Annual Midwest Sociological Society Student Paper Competition
Senior Rosa Druker – Third Place. “Supporting Strategies: Rethinking Parental Involvement for Latino Immigrants”
2015
Annual Midwest Sociological Society Student Paper Competition
Senior Sean D’Amico – Third Place. “On-Campus Barriers to Social Integration: Student Employment and Status Cultures in Higher Education.”
2014
Annual Midwest Sociological Society Student Paper Competition
Senior, Laura Levinson – First Place. “Jezebels and White Girl Twerk Teams: Race, Sex, and the Twerking Body.”
Senior, Mara Aussendorf – Third Place. “The Birdhouse and the Bee Hive: Parents’ Navigation of Successful Sexual Socialization.”
Alpha Kappa Delta Undergraduate Paper Competition
Senior, Mara Aussendorf – Third Place. “The Birdhouse and the Bee Hive: Parents’ Navigation of Successful Sexual Socialization.”
Recent Publications from Sociology Alumni
Taylor Laemmli, alum ’11. 2024. “Class Experience Mobility through Consumption, Work, and Relationships.” Sociological Theory, 0(0).
Aaron (Xunwen) Zou, alum ’22. 2024. “Examining the Information Needs of Chinese Migrants Crossing the Darien Gap.” Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Internews.
Kai P.Blake-Leibowitz. 2021. “Being Able to Breathe Publicly”: Trans and Gender Nonconforming People Healing through Embodied Activity. Advances in Trans Studies: Moving Toward Gender Expansion and Trans Hope (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 32), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 177-192.