A new Freshman Writing Seminar Course, designed by second-year PhD student Lillan Dodderidge (academic interest areas include the Sociology of Education), wrapped up the Fall semester in early December. The class ended the term with a new-fashioned format for their final project.
Students taking “Call in the Experts: How Social Science Research Influences Policy,” worked to employ their sociological imagination to assess policy initiatives on a variety of topics throughout the semester.
For their final project, they transformed their persuasive academic essays, arguing for some side of a policy proposed to address a topic of their choice, into an audience-centric medium relevant to their topic (anything from a public comment, a policy memo, op-ed, podcast interview, etc.). Topics included the case for government-funded Food Banks and the case for implementing mandatory voting in US.
During the final class, students presented their work through a gallery walk, attended by Sociology graduate students, staff, and other interested passer Byers.
