Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe has been awarded this year’s Distinguished Contribution to Teaching Award by the Southern Sociological Society in recognition of outstanding achievements. Dr. Lowe will be honored during the Society’s Presidential Honors and Convocation Plenary, held at their annual meeting in Jacksonville, FL in April.

Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe, along with sociology graduates ThuyMi Phung ’23 and Katherine (Kat) Holcomb ’22, have published a mixed methods paper titled “White Grievance as a Predictor of American Attitudes Toward Critical Race Theory” in the journal Sociological Forum. This article is based on a faculty-student collaborative research project and can be accessed here.

Sociology students and faculty members attended the Southern Sociological Society annual meeting in Charlotte, NC from April 9-12. Five sociology seniors presented their capstone research: Catherine Angell presented “Presidency or Penitentiary: Exploring Americans’ Attitudes Towards Felons’ Right to Vote;” Isabella Bahamon presented “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Choice: Predicting Americans’ Attitudes Towards Abortion Rights,” which won the 2025 Odum Award for Best Undergraduate Paper; Emily Dimiceli presented “‘Obama was voted president by white people’: Predictors of Americans’ Perceptions of Racism;” Mary Kate McAdams presented “‘It seems like the system has a few favorites’: Factors that Affect American Attitudes about Racial and Economic Bias in the Criminal Justice System;” and Chelsey Rocha presented “‘DEI is just racism against white people’: Americans Attitudes About Anti-DEI Bills in Higher Education.” In addition, faculty and students presented on their collaborative research projects. Assistant Professor of Sociology Amanda Hernandez and environmental studies major Sarah Ventimiglia ’25 presented their co-authored study titled, “Hashtag Blessed: Performances of White Femininity and Consumption on TikTok.” Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe presented her collaborative study (with co-authors Dr. Reginald Byron of the University of Denver, Brigit Reese ’24, and Carson Maxfield ’24) titled, “Residents of Color in non-Predominantly White Neighborhoods: Are They More Likely to Worry about Racialized Surveillance Than White Residents?”

Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe, sociology and business graduate ThuyMi Phung ’23, and sociology and art history graduate Katherine Holcomb ’23 presented their co-authored paper titled “The Interaction of Race and Racial Grievance: Predictors of American Attitudes about Critical Race Theory” at the Eastern Sociological Society annual meeting in Boston from March 6-9.

Isabella Bahamon ’25 was selected for the Southern Sociological Society’s 2025 Howard Odum Award for Best Undergraduate Paper for her capstone project titled, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Choice: American Attitudes about Abortion Rights in the United States.” Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe supervised Isabella’s project during this year’s sociology capstone class.