No. 171, November 2nd, 2009
Please submit information as you would like it written to Renee Hoffman (rmh6@cornell.edu). Read on and enjoy!

Content

Department Meetings and Events
Meetings:

Monday, November 9th, 3pm, B32 Warren - Field Meeting

Monday, November 23rd, 3pm, B32 Warren - Faculty Meeting

Events:

Promotions, Awards, Grants and Honors

Publications

CaRDI Publications
- Where do New Yorkers want to live?
- Community Awareness of Wildlife Disease
- Living with Wildlife on the Rural-Urban Interface
- Economic Development Guide
- 2009 Empire State Poll Chartbook

Presentations and Recent Travels
Jason Cons
Workshops and Conferences

SS Annual Meeting

Job Opportunities
CALS Career Development Newsletter
USAID Careers
NASULGC Careers
Academic Careers Online
University of Victoria
Fellowships, Internships and Other Funding Opportunities
Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies - Funding

Student Activities
Undergrad Course in Law School - LAW 4051: The Death Penalty in America
Community Rebuild Opportunity

Non-Dept. Seminars
The ISS Persistent Poverty and Upward Mobility Team Presents:
PAM Seminar
Call for Papers, Abstracts and Panels

Miscellaneous News

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Department Meetings and Events
To View the entire schedule of Department meetings, seminars, and events, please click here. This schedule is frequently updated.

Meetings:

Monday, November 9th, 3pm, B32 Warren - Field Meeting

Monday, November 23rd, 3pm, B32 Warren - Faculty Meeting

Monday, November 9th, 3pm, B32 Warren - Field Meeting

Events:

Tuesday,November 3rd, 12:15pm, B32 Warren - Graduate Student Brown Bag Seminar: Jason Cons, "Sensitive Spaces: Rethinging Exception Along the India-Bangladesh Border."

Friday, November 6th, 4pm, Mann Gallery - Event Honoring J.M. Stycos

Friday, November 13th, 3pm, B32 Warren - Phil McMichael, "Changing the Subject of Development - A Review of Contesting Development:  Critical Struggles for Social Change" (Polson RWG product).

Tuesday, November 17th, 12:15pm, B32 Warren - Graduate Student Brown Bag Seminar: Luisa Steur, "Adivasi Mobilization: 'Identity' versus 'Class' After the Kerala Model of Development."

Friday, November 20th, 3pm, Statler Hall Room 196 - Ruthie Gilmore, "Life in Hell: Incarceration and the City, 1980-2008," (co-sponsored by Development Sociology, City and Regional Planning, Polson Institute, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, and the Cornell Prison Education Program).

Promotions, Awards, Grants and Honors

Publications

CaRDI Publications:
All of our publications are available on the CaRDI website at
http://www.cardi.cornell.edu*Highlights -Publications *

In September, Issue #33 of our Rural New York Minute series was released, entitled "Where do New Yorkers want to live?", by Robin M. Blakely and David L. Brown, Cornell University.

This month we publish our 34th issue of the Minute, entitled "Community Awareness of Wildlife Disease", by Darrick Evensen, Dan Decker, and Bill Siemer, Cornell University.

The September Issue (#31) of the Research & Policy Brief Series was released, entitled "Living with Wildlife on the Rural-Urban Interface", by /Dan Decker, Heather Wieczorek Hudenko,// Bill Siemer and Paul Curtis, /Cornell University.  /John Major and Lou Berchielli/, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

Our next Research & Policy Brief (Issue #32) will be released in mid-November.

Our two latest CaRDI Reports are also now available:

  Issue #9, entitled "Economic Development In New York State:  An Overview of the Project Development Process", by David Kay and Djahane Salehabadi, Cornell University.
  Issue #10, entitled "Rural NYS in Perspective:  A Chartbook from the Empire State Poll, 2009" by Robin M. Blakely and Andrea C. Elmore, Cornell University.

Presentations and Recent Travels

Jason Cons won the 2009 prize for the best paper on South Asia presented by a graduate student at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. The paper, "Spatial Corruptions: Place, Rule, and Cattle Along the Indian-Bangladesh Border," was presented in Chicago in March of this year.

Workshops and Conferences

Job Opportunities
CALS Career Development Newsletter, "CALS Jobs, Internships, and Events", is now available on line at: http://www.cals.cornell.edu/cals/current/career/newsletter/

USAID Careers link (http://www.usaid.gov/careers/applicant.html)

NASULGC  Careers - NASULGC is the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.

Academic Careers Online, since 1998, is an academic job site where universities and colleges in the US, Canada, and around the globe, advertise faculty, adjunct, post doc, library, endowed chairs, administrative and senior management jobs. There is no charge for our applicant services. You can: (1) Search current job openings (and remember, new ones are added daily), (2) Post your resume for employers to review, and/or (3) Receive e-mail alerts when matching jobs are posted. To search jobs and/or open an applicant account at Academic Careers Online then select "Applicants Enter Here." Your resume will be visible within seconds to employers. If you are part of a search committee you can also post your job opening.

UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA – The Department of Sociology invites applications for a position in the area of Sociology. The appointment, effective July 1, 2010, will be made at the rank of Senior Instructor. The Senior Instructor will teach and coordinate introductory Sociology courses. There are possibilities of teaching in other areas. Areas of specialization are open. The position begins July 1, 2010. Duties will include teaching 8 one semester courses a year. The initial appointment is for three years, with expectation of renewal for further fouryear terms, subject to performance reviews. For further details applicants are referred to the University of Victoria’s Framework Agreement accessible at http://web.uvic.ca/vpac/hrissues/framework_agreement.htm.
The successful candidate will be expected to make a substantial contribution to the Department’s undergraduate teaching, and must demonstrate teaching excellence, course management skills, and technical skills. S/he is also expected to assist the Department in the development and promotion of its undergraduate programs. A completed PhD in Sociology, or ABD status with an expected completion date no later than the start date of the position, is expected. Applicants should include a covering letter, curriculum vitae, and evidence of teaching ability. Applicants should also provide the names and addresses (including email) of three referees and should ask these referees to send their letters directly to the Search Committee no later than the application deadline given below. Letters of application, CVs including all university transcripts, writing sample, and confidential letters from three referees should be send by January 6, 2010, to:
Senior Instructor Search Committee
Department of Sociology
University of Victoria
P.O. Box 3050,
Victoria B.C., V8W 3P5
Canada.
Telephone: (250) 7217572
Email: soci@uvic.ca
Web: http://web.uvic.ca/soci.
The University of Victoria is an equity employer and encourages applications from women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, Aboriginal Peoples, peoples of all sexual orientations and genders, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of the University. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, in accordance with Canadian immigration requirements Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Fellowships, Internships and Other Funding Opportunities

Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies - Funding Opportunities for Faculty: Visit their website (www.einaudi.cornell.edu/funding/displaysearch.asp) to search all international research funding opportunities for faculty. (The Population and Development Library (Room 12, Warren Hall) has copies of the Einaudi Center's recent publication, "Post-Doctoral Opportunities in International Studies." Library Hours are Monday 2:00-5:00, Tuesday 12:30-4:30, Thursday 8:30-5:00.
 

Student Activities

Community Rebuilds Opportunity -

Dear Students,
Are you graduating a semester early or a semester late?  Are you looking for an internship fornext semester?  Do you just want totake some time off and have a life-changing experience?
 
My name is Noah Aptekar and I am working for an affordablehousing nonprofit called Community Rebuilds based in Moab, UT.  We are just getting off the ground andI wanted to invite you to be one of our interns while we build our FIRST homefor a deserving low-income family in Moab, UT, from January 15-May 30, 2010.
 
Community Rebuilds provides affordable housing in a uniqueway.  We target families in theMoab community who are currently living in dilapidated and inefficientsingle-wide trailers.  Trailerhomes have been a very common response to the need for affordable housingaround the country.  We believethat people deserve a better and more decent home, and with our help, we hopeto shift the paradigm away from trailer-homes to naturally-built straw balehomes—and the change starts here in Moab.
 
Straw bale construction is simple, affordable, andbeautiful.  The primary buildingmaterials are sand, clay, and straw, with which we are able to build a durable,well-insulated, comfortable home with very low environmental impact.  The family we will work with will beresponsible for qualifying for a loan to finance the construction. With ourhelp and our donated labor we are able to work within an incredibly affordablebudget and build the family a new home way below market value.
 
I am inviting you to be one of our first interns responsiblefor building an entire home with the help of an expert natural builder, generalcontractor, the family who will then move in to the house, and other volunteersfrom the Moab area.  We like to referto our interns as students, because you will gain an unparalleled amount ofnatural building education and experience in just four and a half months, aswell as study the affordable housing crisis that exists around the country.
 
While this is an unpaid internship, as one of our internsyou will receive housing in a communal situation with the other interns, get amonthly food stipend, and otherwise just have a blast living in one of thegreatest communities in one of the most beautiful parts of the country doing agreat thing!
 
Our application and recommendation forms can be found on ourwebsite: www.communityrebuilds.org/ .  Please let me know what other questionsyou have!  I look forward tohearing from you!
 
Sincerely,
Noah Aptekar
noah@communityrebuilds.org

Non-Dept. Seminars

The ISS Persistent Poverty and Upward Mobility Team Presents:

November 2, 2009
Public Lecture
The Causes and Consequences of Child Soldiering: Myth versus Reality
Chris Blattman, Political Science, Yale
4:30 p.m., 423 ILR Conference Center
Co-sponsored by CCSF

Media portrayals of child soldiers are animated by three powerful images. One is the senseless, brutal rebel force recruiting innocant children. The second icon is the drug-crazed teenager, wielding an AK-47, assured of his magical immunity from enemy bullets. The mostcommon and painful image, however, is that of the troubled return tocivilian life. At minimum, we fear, these children return as damaged,uneducated pariahs. More troubling still is the portrayal of children associated with these groups as bloodthirsty perpetrators who, atwar’s end, pose an ongoing security threat. How fortunate for all of us (and especially for the youth in question) that these imagescontradict the reality of most recruited children.

November 3, 2009
Seminar
The Industrial Organization of Rebellion: The Logic of Forced Labor and Child Soldiering
Chris Blattman, Political Science, Yale
12:00-1:30 p.m., ISS Conference Room (146 Myron Taylor Hall)
Co-Sponsored by CCSF
Lunch will be served.  No RSVP is necessary

This paper integrates case evidence, survey data, and contract theory to understand the motives and conditions one of the most pernicious forms of labor exploitation: child soldiering. One of the worst offenders is Uganda’s behind Lord’s Resistance Army. Their recruitment tactics provide a cruel natural experiment, one that reveals how youth of different ages respond to a common set of incentives. We employ original survey data and interviews to argue that the rebels abducted young adolescents because they were more effective guerrillas than younger children and were more easily indoctrinated and disoriented than adults. We capture these dynamics in a formal model that brings together the diverse explanations for child soldiering and suggests the circumstances that lead rebel leaders to coerce children into war.

For more on this ISS research team, see:  http://www.socialsciences.cornell.edu/0811/desc.html

PAM Seminar - Eric Bettinger, Associate Professor of Economics and Education, Stanford University

Tuesday, November 3rd, 3 PM, The Rushmore Room, MVR 114

The Role of Simplification and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA Experiment

Growing concerns about low awareness and take-up rates for government support programs like college financial aid have spurred calls to simplify the application process and enhance visibility. This project examines the effects of two experimental treatments designed to test of the importance of simplification and information using a random assignment research design. H&R Block tax professionals helped low- to moderate-income families complete the FAFSA, the federal application for financial aid. Families were then given an estimate of their eligibility for government aid as well as information about local postsecondary options. A second randomly-chosen group of individuals received only personalized aid eligibility information but did not receive help completing the FAFSA. Comparing the outcomes of participants in the treatment groups to a control group using multiple sources of administrative data, the analysis suggests that individuals who received assistance with the FAFSA and information about aid were substantially more likely to submit the aid application, enroll in college the following fall, and receive more financial aid. These results suggest that simplification and providing information could be effective ways to improve college access. However, only providing aid eligibility information without also giving assistance with the form had no significant effect on FAFSA submission rates.

Call for Papers, Abstracts and Panels

 

Miscellaneous News