OUR department did both good and well again this year. Individual and collective efforts led again to excellent teaching, productive scholarship, and strong service to the Skidmore community. We revised our courses, participated in workshops, presented papers, published articles and books, served on panels and committees, and recruited new colleagues. We made personnel decisions, some easy and some difficult. And, too, we reviewed the three programs of our disciplinary trinity, agreeing in each case to sets of goals that will serve as criteria for next year's assessment processes. All this year's accomplishments seem to have been achieved, mirabile dictu, with humor and good will wonderfully intact.

Students

Most significantly and proudly, our students did well this year. Some high points: The Anthropology-Sociology Club continued as an active organization sponsoring panels and informational meetings. The Club's get-together in which students who have studied abroad meet with students considering study abroad programs seems to have become an annual event. The Club also coordinated a panel discussion in which Jill Sweet, Susan Bender, Gerry Erchak, and Pat Rubio discussed anthropologist Ruth Behar's work and lecture. (Anthropology major Megan Moodie worked especially hard to arrange Dr. Behar's visit.) At another Club session Jill Sweet and Susan Bender discussed the integration of archaeology and cultural anthropology in the study of Chaco Canyon.

Angel Perez, a '98 social work major, received the Rodney D. Andrews Award for his service to the community. More generally, Social Work students again led the way with their activities in Benef-Action and other service to the larger community.

Three department majors were elected to Phi Beta Kappa and many more to the Periclean Society. Nine students in Kate Berheide's Senior Seminar in Sociology presented papers at the annual meetings of the Eastern Sociological Association–the second consecutive year of such participation. Sociology major Erin Kain, '98, had a paper accepted for presentation at the World Congress of the International Sociological Association in Montreal in July. Alpha Kappa Delta awarded Erin an International Scholarship Initiative grant to support her participation in the ISA's World Congress. Another paper by Erin Kain received third prize in the undergraduate paper competition offered by Alpha Kappa Delta, the sociology honor society. Lani Radack, '99, and Catherine White Berheide received a Collaborative Research Award to support their study of "Analysis of Men's Roles in Neglectful Families." They will conduct their research in Summer 1998.

We are indeed proud of our students and their many accomplishments.

Staffing

We recruited and recruited and recruited and recruited. Yes, we carried out (count them) four major recruitments. Our new, incoming colleagues:

	David Karp. David has in fact already joined us, moving to Skidmore in late May from Amitai Etzioni's Center for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University. David has his PhD from the University of Washington. He will teach courses on criminology and community.
	Michael C. Ennis-McMillan is finishing up his PhD this summer at Michigan State University. Michael is an anthropologist with special expertise in medical anthropology, environmental anthropology, and cultures of Latin America. He will contribute to the College's International Affairs and Environmental Studies programs
	Renee Walker recently earned her PhD at the University of Tennessee and comes to us most recently from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Renee specializes in zooarchaeology, has considerable field experience, and has carried out extensive research at the important Dust Cave site in Alabama.
	Carla Sofka. Carla earned her doctorate at Washington University. Carla comes to Skidmore with substantial teaching experience at the University at Albany. Carla is especially interested in thanatology and death studies as well as Web resources for social workers.

Thus, come fall, four of our thirteen department members will be Skidmore newbies. We have also hired Stephen Darman, a doctoral candidate at the University at Albany, to teach SO 101—Sociological Perspectives in the fall.

Our hiring activity was prompted in part by our department's colonization of significant administrative territory. Thomas "Pat" Oles established a beachhead as Assistant Dean of the Faculty in January, but is soon to be stationed in Case Center as interim Dean of Student Affairs. Susan Bender, coming off a much deserved albeit infringed upon sabbatical, will be Associate Dean of the Faculty in the fall and interim Dean of the Faculty next spring. Kate Berheide will coordinate the Women's Studies Program this coming year. Contributing too, in a way, to our discipline's administrative takeovers, sociologist Fran Hoffmann will return to Skidmore next fall as Assistant Dean of the Faculty.

We have had our administrative changes within the department too. Last summer Bill Fox succeeded Susan Bender as department chair, and this past January Jackie Azzarto succeeded Pat Oles as Director of Social Work.

Kate Berheide was promoted to full professor this year–a well deserved promotion applauded by our department. We carried out a second-year review of Susan Walzer and "officially" notified the Dean of the Faculty that we regard Susan as a candidate for a second three-year appointment. We also carried out a first-year review–very positive–of Rory McVeigh.

Three colleagues–John Conway and Tim Lloyd in Anthropology and Pat Akard in Sociology–wound up their Skidmore careers this year. Jack and Pat, each in his own way, contributed significantly to our academic programs in recent years, and we wish them the very best as they continue their careers elsewhere. We also wish the best to Tim Lloyd, who will return to his doctoral work after substituting for Susan Bender in this past spring.

Curriculum and Teaching Activities

Teaching is much of what we are about, and so course development never ceases. In his first year at Skidmore, Rory McVeigh developed what were for him all new Skidmore courses. Susan Walzer significantly redesigned her SO 201—Social Issues course, while Kate Berheide developed a new course, SO 331—Women in the Global Economy, that serves the International Affairs program as well as the sociology curriculum. Jill Sweet added two new components–"Meet the Author" and "Life After Skidmore"–to her AN 366—Seminar in Anthropology course. Gerry Erchak revised his AN 227—Ethnology of Sub-Saharan Africa course to reflect changes in Africa. Gerry also developed a new 300-level course–Evolution of the Mind and Brain. Susan Bender introduced a series of Web sites into her AN 327—Archaeological Field and Laboratory Methods and electronic posting of course materials in AN 103—Introduction to Human Evolution. Jackie Azzarto significantly revised her HBSE and Volunteerism courses.

Our department has always contributed mightily to the Liberal Studies program, so some of this year's course development involved LS offerings. Susan Walzer developed and taught a new LS 2 course on Changes in Families. Switching from Latin to Arabic, Gerry Erchak translated his LS II and IV courses into LS 2 offerings.

In truth, several department faculty have serious reservations about the new Honors Forum. Still, Skidmore faculty authorized the Forum and we will contribute to it from the getgo. Rory McVeigh is developing a new Honors section of SO 101—Sociological Perspectives and Kate Berheide is converting her Liberal Studies 1 tutor course into an Honors offering. Both Rory and Kate are gearing up by participating in this summer’s Honors Forum workshop.

Susan Walzer participated in the Liberal Studies workshop last summer. This summer Rory McVeigh took part in the LS II as well as Honors Forum workshop, while Kate Berheide and Bill Fox wrote code and debugged together in the Advanced Web Programming workshop. Kate is working with Ethan Gottlieb, '00, and John Danison to develop an interactive Web site to accompany her LS 1 presentation on the family. Pat Oles coordinated and John Brueggemann took part in the pedagogy session on racial dynamics in the classroom. John also participated in the workshop on "Racial Dynamics in the Classroom" last summer.

Professional and Scholarly Activities

Department faculty continued their active professional and scholarly lives despite the demands of recruitment on time and energy. Scholarly interests range from the KKK to Peg's Tacardon's grandmother, from Indians at High Rock to babies in high chairs, from significant others to significance tests. Gerry Erchak saw a new paperback edition of his Anthropology of Self and Behavior into print, while Bill Fox coaxed out a third edition of his Social Statistics text. Susan Walzer awaits summer publication by Temple University Press of her Thinking About Baby: Gender and Transitions into Parenthood.

Rory McVeigh published an article on protest in America in Sociological Forum and a book review in Social Forces. Rory has another article forthcoming in an edited volume. John Brueggemann's article on sources of interracial solidarity will be published soon in Work and Occupations. Susan Walzer published her article on employment decisions of new mothers in Qualitative Sociology. Susan's article on gender and divisions of infant care was reprinted in Robert Thompson's Essential Sociology Reader, further evidence that Susan's work is indeed essential reading. Susan Bender examines the career of anthropologist Marian E. White in a forthcoming book edited by Alice Kehoe. Peg Tacardon was co-author of "The Sexual Politics of Widowhood," published in the Journal of Family History. This article in part focused on Peg's grandmother to explore more general issues related to women in the Progressive Era. Jackie Azzarto's article on a young women's support group was published in Health and Social Work.

Several department faculty published book reviews this year: Gerry Erchak in JRAI; Jill Sweet in the Journal of Anthropological Research; Rory McVeign in Social Forces; and John Brueggemann in Theology Today.

Department members presented papers at professional meetings. Peg Tacardon delivered a paper, "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil: Field Work Education and the Consumer Society," at the annual meetings of the New York State Social Work Education Association. Susan Bender spoke on "Revisioning Saratoga's High Rock Spring" at the 30th Annual Chacmool Conference in Calgary and presented a paper on "Woodland Period Diversity in the Northeast" for the Society for American Archaeology. Rory McVeigh presented papers at the annual meeting of three associations–the American Sociological Association, Eastern Sociological Society, and the Rural Sociological Association. John Brueggemann gave papers on labor organizing in the coal and steel industries at both the Humanist Sociology Association and the American Sociological Association meetings. Jill Sweet spoke on the life and contributions of Cynthia Novack at the American Anthropological Association meetings.

Department members reviewed manuscripts for journals, an important but often underappreciated task. Susan Bender reviewed articles submitted to American Antiquity and Northeast Anthropology. Gerry Erchak reviewed manuscripts for JRAI. Jill Sweet did likewise for the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography and Dance Review Journal. John Brueggemann reviewed for the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography and Mobilization, Rory McVeigh for both Social Forces and the American Sociological Review, and Susan Walzer for Qualitative Sociology. Kate Berheide reviewed manuscripts for Rowman and Littlefield Publishers and is on the Editorial Board of Sociological Forum.

Susan Bender and Jackie Abodeely, ‘97, recently learned that their archaeological work at High Rock Park will be included in New York Crossroads, a WNET documentary on educating high school students about New York State’s cultural resources. Taping will take place on site in July.

Our faculty continue to participate significantly in professional associations. This spring Kate Berheide was elected to the Executive Council of the American Sociological Association, well-deserved recognition of Kate's abilities and her strong and long-standing service to the ASA. Kate also led two workshops at the American Sociological Association meetings last August. She serves too on the ASA's Publications Committee and as treasurer of the Eastern Sociological Society.

Susan Bender co-chairs the Task Force on Curriculum for the 21st Century for the Society for American Anthropology. Susan was a recipient, with George Smith, of a Getty Foundation Grant for "Enhancing the Undergraduate and Graduate Archaeology Curriculum." Susan also serves on the Executive Board of the New York Archaeological Association.

John Brueggemann chaired the Committee on Teaching for the American Sociological Association meeting.

Community Contributions

Weak participation in faculty governance may generally plague the College, but members of this department certainly participate actively across the committee system. Consider our participation this year:

All this in addition to meeting as department programs to discuss program goals, working toward reaccreditation by the Council on Social Work Education, and staffing four department search committees. Every continuing member of the department served at least one department search committee. No slackers here!

And we contributed to the College in other ways too. John Brueggemann took part in the Student Leadership and Multiculturalism Workshop. Rory spoke on extremist movements in America–a stimulating and well-received presentation in the Krystalnacht series.

Sociologists, anthropologists, and social work faculty also contribute significantly to both the University Without Walls and the Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies. By the chair's count, department faculty advised 22 UWW students and assessed an indeterminate but sizable number of final projects. Peg Tacardon and Kate Berheide have been involved especially heavily with UWW. Department members have at least ten MALS advisees.

Susan Bender's work exemplifies how scholarly work can meld with service to the community. Susan delivered the Lou Follett Memorial Lecture on "Discovering the Native Americans of the Upper Hudson Valley" to the Stillwater Historical Association, gave a presentation on the prehistory of Saratoga Lake to the Water's Edge Homeowner's Association, and had about 60 members of the community visit the fieldwork site for her AN 327 course.

Other activities in the larger community: Peg Tacardon volunteered at the Hale Creek Correctional Facility and served on the Democratic Committee. Kate Berheide serves on the Board of Trustees of the Home of the Good Shepherd.

Looking Ahead: Issues and Concerns

In addition to welcoming and integrating our new colleagues this coming year, our department and its component programs will need to deal with several issues and concerns:

Social Work Reaccreditation The Social Work Program's self-study and development of materials for reaccreditation–more precisely, "reaffirmation" of accreditation–by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is well underway. Begun by Pat Oles and now led by Jacqueline Azzarto, this effort involves enormous work and considerable perseverance. The Social Work Program will submit its self-study to the CSWE by mid-August. A site visit team will be on campus in November. We fully expect the Skidmore Social Work Program to be reaffirmed by the CSWE.

Program Goals and Assessment Each of the three parts of our department reviewed its mission and developed a statement of program goals. These collegial conversations, with their agreements and disagreements and emerging consensus, proved far more rewarding than any of us expected. Social Work was able to derive its goals from its reaccreditation self-study. Statements of goals for Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work are appended to this report. Next fall we will tackle development of assessment procedures based on these sets of goals.

Reconfiguration Each of our three programs has begun to think very seriously about so-called "reconfiguration," exploring models that may free up faculty time and energy while more effectively realizing program goals. We are carrying on these discussions this summer and may present proposals for curricular changes during the 1998-99 academic year.

Enrollment Pressures Despite the staffing increase in Anthropology a couple years ago, we are facing acute and increasingly serious enrollment pressures, especially in Sociology and Anthropology courses. Courses close early. Majors are unable to take required courses. Wannabe Anthropology majors cannot even get into introductory courses that are prerequisites for other Anthropology courses. As we consider assessment and reconfiguration, we will need too to confront our problems with enrollment pressures.

Space Problems As its collections have grown, lack of storage space has become an increasing serious problem for the Archaeology Laboratory. The lab is now ten years old and has outgrown its storage space. The lab will have to have additional storage area, even if the space is not adjacent to the lab itself. Susan Bender and our new colleague Renee Walker will be addressing this problem.

We have complained about the lack of comfortable space for student and faculty interaction–call it a lounge– since before we moved into the Learning Center. A College that prides itself on interaction and discourse needs to provide areas for getting together other than classrooms. For the most part, Skidmore doesn't. Granted, classroom space is tight. Still, the lounge problem needs addressed. We hope that the retrofitting of Starbuck Center will free up space for classrooms elsewhere, which in turn will free up TLC classroom space for conversion into a lounge to allow students and faculty to get together more informally than classrooms permit.

Colleagues of the Department of Sociology,
   Anthropology, and Social Work

Tisch Learning Center, Second Floor

June 1998