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Spring 2026 Newsletter

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Letter from the Chair

Dear Students, Colleagues, Alumni, and Friends,

We have reached the final day of class, finding ourselves at the end of another exciting term. This newsletter showcases the work of our faculty and students throughout the semester and the many ways they are engaging with the pressing social issues that continue to shape our world.

Congratulations to our graduating students! You have bright futures ahead of you and we look forward to celebrating you at the departmental commencement ceremony on May 22nd.  

Throughout the spring, the Department’s Colloquium Series brought leading sociologists to campus. Talks presented by Christine Percheski (Northwestern University), Adam Reich (Columbia University), and David Melamed (The Ohio State University) examined siblings and wealth inequality, prison work in the American labor market, and cooperation and segregation in social networks. Visiting scholar Nate Breznau (German Institute for Adult Education, Leibniz Institute for Lifelong Learning) shared new work on reproducibility in the social sciences and implications for sociology (slides and recording for Nate’s talk).

At the end of this week, many of our department faculty and graduate students will present their research at the annual Population Association of America (PAA) meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.

As we head into the summer months, I hope you take time to rest, reflect, and recharge. We look forward to the opportunities that the next academic year will bring.

Warm regards,

Laura Tach

Chair, Department of Sociology

Soc Major Spotlight

Lila Schwab | Undergrad Student Spotlight

Lila Schwab | Undergrad Student Spotlight

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Alumna Spotlight

'Keep moving, even when the path is steep': Lessons from the Hill

'Keep moving, even when the path is steep': Lessons from the Hill

Since graduating from Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences in 2004, Rachel Krug, vice president of sales at Eyes On Eyecare, has realized that her experiences on the Hill taught her unexpected things. She writes about these lessons in a Cornellians ‘Chime In’ column.

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Soc Grad Spotlight

Student spotlight: Raul Armenta

Student spotlight: Raul Armenta

Raul Armenta, a doctoral student in sociology from Los Angeles, studies the intersection of education and the criminal legal system under the guidance of Bryan Sykes.

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Religion & Society

Conduits or Alternative Providers? Christian Ministers as Gateway Providers in an Age of Polarization

Conduits or Alternative Providers? Christian Ministers as Gateway Providers in an Age of Polarization

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Young Americans aren’t abandoning faith—study suggests they’re rebuilding it

Young Americans aren’t abandoning faith—study suggests they’re rebuilding it

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Cornell experts on Trump Christ image, Catholic–evangelical tensions

Cornell experts on Trump Christ image, Catholic–evangelical tensions

Faculty experts from Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences analyze how Donald Trump’s AI-generated Christ image and attacks on Pope Leo have escalated Vatican tensions and drawn criticism from Catholics and evangelicals. The controversy reveals fractures linking faith, politics, and conservative Ch...

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Historic and swift: Mullally’s rise to Archbishop of Canterbury

Historic and swift: Mullally’s rise to Archbishop of Canterbury

Sarah Mullally’s historic installation as the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury highlights rapid institutional change within Anglicanism. Cornell University sociologist Landon Schnabel emphasizes how incremental reforms built support for her swift rise.

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End-times rhetoric in US military ‘didn’t infiltrate, was invited in’

End-times rhetoric in US military ‘didn’t infiltrate, was invited in’

Use of Christian apocalyptic language by commanders reflects a climate shaped from the top down, says one Cornell expert. Another adds: the belief that Christians should actively bring about the end times rests on a misreading of the Book of Revelation.

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Political Commentary

President Trump’s Theater of Grandiosity and Cruelty: An Interview with Mabel Berezin

President Trump’s Theater of Grandiosity and Cruelty: An Interview with Mabel Berezin

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The Authoritarian Feelings Machine

The Authoritarian Feelings Machine

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Political views, not sex and violence, now drive literary censorship

Political views, not sex and violence, now drive literary censorship

Liberals and conservatives both oppose censorship of children’s literature – unless the writing offends their own political ideology, showing how a once-bipartisan issue has become polarized.

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Taxing the Rich

Is 'millionaire migration' really a thing? Lessons from states that already tax the rich

Is 'millionaire migration' really a thing? Lessons from states that already tax the rich

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If you Tax Them, Will They Leave?

If you Tax Them, Will They Leave?

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New York's wealthy warn of a tax exodus after Mamdani's win - but the data says otherwise

New York's wealthy warn of a tax exodus after Mamdani's win - but the data says otherwise

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The California Campaign to Introduce a First-of-Its-Kind Billionaire’s Tax

The California Campaign to Introduce a First-of-Its-Kind Billionaire’s Tax

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Support Sociology!

Help continue the tradition of distinguished teaching, research, and service in Cornell's Department of Sociology and make a gift to support faculty and students.  We are deeply grateful to all of our alumni, parents, and friends for their generosity.  Philanthropy provides a critical margin of excellence for our students and faculty. 

The College of Arts & Sciences

  

323 Uris Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
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