Come be my boss!

The Government and Sociology Department is hiring a new chair.

Dual Readings: Unemployment in a Rustbelt Town

A friend pointed me toward this piece recently. (I've written a lot in the past on this place.) What struck me, however, is that as I read the piece as a critique of the Whirlpool corporation, friends who work for Whirlpool and other stakeholders read it instead as a praise for the corporation. I find that pretty telling of the state of affairs there.

Business Charter

This is just a thought-exercise for what it might look like if I ever started a small business.
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These shall serve as the binding, irrevocable principles of the firm in perpetuity:

• At every opportunity, the firm shall do social good.
• "Social good" shall be defined by the current social and behavioral scientific consensus.
• The firm shall never do social harm.
• "Social harm" shall likewise be defined by the current social and behavioral scientific consensus.
• All employees of the firm (whether permanent, contract, or other and both current and retired but not terminated) shall be direct, voting shareholders of the firm.
• Individual proportion of ownership may be linked to length of tenure with the firm but shall not be linked to skill, location in organizational hierarchy, or job prestige.
• Shares of firm ownership shall never be public nor shall they be transferable; only current and retired employees may be shareholders.
• The sum proportion of shares held by retired employees shall not exceed 49%.
• All employees are required to take advantage of a minimum of 30 paid vacation days per year.
• All employees have a right to due process among a representative sample of their shareholding peers.
• Beyond shareholding, all employees are entitled to a living wage irrespective of the current governmental minimum wages.
• All employees are entitled to necessary social benefits, including parental/eldercare leave, daycare, healthcare, and a livable retirement income, or, if not provided directly, to additional income beyond the living wage with which sufficiently to purchase such benefits individually.
• Subordinate to all of the principles listed above, the firm is required to pursue financial profit for the shareholders.

Come Work with Me!

My department is hiring! Are you or a student looking for a gig? Check us out!
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Lecturer -Sociology; Non Tenure Track

The Department of Government and Sociology currently offers bachelors degrees in Criminal Justice, Political Science, and Sociology and masters degrees in Criminal Justice and Public Administration. The Department consists of 26 full time faculty and two professional staff members. In addition to serving students through its programs, the Department also focuses on expanding undergraduate research opportunities, community engagement and public policy inquiry. For more information about the department, visit http://www.gcsu.edu/gov/index.htm.

Georgia College is a member institution of the University System of Georgia and is the state’s designated public liberal arts university. A member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC), Georgia College enrolls approximately 6,600 undergraduate and graduate students and is prominently cited for educational excellence in a number of leading publications. The university’s beautiful and historic campus is located in Milledgeville, which was the 19th century capital of Georgia and is very near the geographic center of the state.

Georgia College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. We are committed to enhancing the diversity of the workforce, student body and curriculum. Candidates who share these commitments are encouraged to apply. Furthermore, the successful candidate must have an interest in teaching in a liberal arts setting and embrace a teacher/scholar model.

Primary Purpose of Position
Successful candidates will be expected to instruct our students in the discipline of sociology at the undergraduate level and will make extensive contributions to core instruction related to the introductory sociology course, in addition to a critical thinking course organized around social problems (Georgia College first year seminar) and other core offerings related to global issues and challenges (Georgia College second year seminar).
Successful candidates are expected to have:
1. understanding of the principles associated with teaching and learning.
3. strong communication skills and successful higher education teaching experience.
4. a developing research agenda.
5. demonstrable ability to work collegiality and effectively with individuals of diverse backgrounds.

In keeping with the University’s mission we especially encourage applicants who will further our goal of cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity.

Click here for the complete posting.

Come Work with Me! (Job Posting)

The Department of Government and Sociology at Georgia College & State University, Georgia’s Public Liberal Arts University invites applications for a full-time, temporary (non-tenure track) Lecturer of Sociology for the 2015-2016 academic year.  This benefits eligible position begins August 1, 2015 with possible annual contract renewal.  

 

Required Qualifications: 

MA in Sociology and relevant teaching experience at the university level. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

ABD or PhD in Sociology. Experience as an independent instructor (full instructional responsibility) of a course at the university level; evidence of teaching effectiveness.

 

The Fall 2015 teaching schedule includes:

GC1Y1000      Critical Thinking: Social Problems  MW     2:00-3:15pm

GC1Y1000      Critical Thinking: Social Problems  MW     3:30-4:45pm

SOCI1121       Sociological Perspectives                 MWF   11:00-11:50am

SOCI1121       Sociological Perspectives                 MWF   10:00-10:50am

SOCI2950       Intro to Race & Ethnic Relations     MWF   9:00-9:50am

 

The Spring 2016 teaching schedule includes:

GC1Y1000      Critical Thinking: Social Problems  MW     2:00-3:15pm

GC1Y1000      Critical Thinking: Social Problems  MW     3:30-4:45pm

SOCI1121       Sociological Perspectives                 MWF   11:00-11:50am

SOCI1121       Sociological Perspectives                 MWF   10:00-10:50am

SOCI2100       Fundamentals of Sociology              MWF   9:00-9:50am

 

Please submit your CV and a cover letter via email before June 21, 2015 to:

 

Costas Spirou, PhD

Professor and Chair

Department of Government & Sociology

Georgia College

Milledgeville, GA 31061

costas.spirou@gcsu.edu

Come Work with Me!

Are you or your grad student looking for a job? Consider this one!

The Department of Government and Sociology at Georgia College & State University invites applications for a Lecturer in Sociology position, beginning August 1, 2014.

The program focuses on social institutions and social stratification with an emphasis on the intersection of gender, race, and social class. The Lecturer will also contribute to the GC1Y and GC2Y departmental offerings.

The Department of Government and Sociology is committed to developing a diverse workforce and student body and to modeling an inclusive campus community which values the expression of difference in ways that promote excellence in teaching, learning, personal development, and institutional success.

The Department currently offers bachelors degrees in Criminal Justice, Political Science, and Sociology and masters degrees in Criminal Justice and Public Administration. The public administration program is NASPAA accredited. The Department consists of 24 full time faculty and two professional staff members. In addition to serving students through its programs, the Department also focuses on expanding undergraduate research opportunities, community engagement and public policy inquiry. For more information about the department, visit http://www.gcsu.edu/gov/index.htm

Georgia College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. We are committed to enhancing the diversity of the workforce, student body and curriculum. Candidates who share these commitments are encouraged to apply. Furthermore, the successful candidate must have an interest in teaching in a liberal arts setting.
We seek candidates who can contribute to The Department of Government and Sociology educational mission. Successful candidates will be expected to instruct our students in the discipline of sociology at the introductory and some upper level courses.

Successful candidates are expected to have:
1. Understanding of the principles associated with teaching and learning.
3. Strong communication skills and successful higher education teaching experience.
4. Eighteen graduate semester hours related to sociology.

Demonstrable ability to work collegially and effectively with individuals of diverse backgrounds. In keeping with the University's mission we especially encourage applicants who will further our goal of cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity.
Minimum Qualifications: Masters in Sociology. Teaching experience at the University level
Preferred Qualifications: Ph.D. in Sociology. Teaching experience at the University level.

Background/Experience in Medical/Health Sociology would be beneficial
Strengthened by Diversity
GCSU is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative-Action Institution committed to cultural, racial, and multi-ethnic communities and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is expected that successful candidates share in this commitment. Persons who need reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act to participate in the application process should contact the Office of Human Resources at 478-445-5596.

Georgia is an Open Records state. The finalist will be required to submit to a background investigation.
Review of applicants begins on 03-26-2014
All applications must be submitted on-line.
https://www.gcsujobs.com/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1394133668527

The finalists will be expected to submit official college transcripts showing their completed academic course work. Successful completion of a criminal and academic background check will be required for employment.

Review of applicants begins and continues until position is filled. Transcripts will be used for evaluation purposes only and do not have to be high quality images. The file space maximum is 2MB and should be contained in one document. When the finalist has been identified official transcripts will be required as a condition of employment. For a full position description and application details, visit http://www.gcsujobs.com

Confidential letters of reference are requested and the reference provider will be asked to upload their letter to this website.

0601115

Here Is Your Paycheck. Care to Donate to the Cause?

My employer wants me to donate money to its endowment. There is a big campaign to get at least half of the faculty here to contribute. I find this silly. Employers pay workers, not vice versa. As I see it, I would essentially be saying, "No, no, no, you pay me too much. Here is some of that money back so that you can do other things besides paying me." I think my logic holds regardless of institution type, but it's worth looking at how things might differ. I work at a public liberal arts college. We are, in part, funded by state monies (although, the control the state wields over us is far disproportionate to that meager--and shrinking--financing). If the people of this state, as represented by their elected officials, want state institutions to compete with private and out-of-state institutions, they need to mandate more funding, including that for higher salaries to recruit and retain qualified and prestigious professors. A similar argument holds, though, for private institutions. Their alumni tend to have deep pockets. Hit them up for more donations, not your workers. Overall, I find it perverse that employees should be asked to shoulder any burden. To suggest anything else is hegemonic at best and coercive at worst. Do not misunderstand; I firmly believe in the mission of this institution (at least as it is on paper if not in practice), but that does not change the economic relationship that is inherent to any work-related situation. Then again, this is the same system that forced me to take two weeks worth of unpaid furlough days a couple years ago.

The Literal Graveyard Shift

I was inspired by this list of authors' strange jobs to write about some of the jobs I've had.

When I was a pre-teen, I worked for a few summers as a groundskeeper for the local Little League park, raking and lining the infields before games. My parents matched the money that I saved, and I bought a kickass Schwinn Predator BMX bike with my earnings.

When I was 19, I worked as a bartender in a converted train depot in the Michigan beach community where I grew up. I think I learned more in this job about people than in any other job I've had to-date, but in retrospect, I didn't have the right temperament for it. I'm a relatively anxiety-prone guy, and that doesn't mix well with a dozen+ people simultaneously yelling orders at you.

By far the oddest and the more rewarding job I had before my current gig was as a gravedigger--yes, really. Not to get too morbid, but I dug graves for and buried eight people that summer of my 21st year. We did it by hand, with shovels and no backhoes. It was a physically grueling job, but I found it oddly spiritually rewarding. Being surrounded by death gives one an amazing appreciation for the living. There is a finality to burying a person, and I mean the physical act of burying, not watching a person being buried. We have separated ourselves so far from death that we've lost perspective on our lives. We need to recapture that.

The last job I had before I was solidly on track with my career was as an assistant at a college library as an undergraduate student. It was cake, but I learned a lot about how to behave in a professional situation.

What College Does

There has been a lot of debate in the blogosphere lately about the value of a college education. Some have called it the new bubble. The housing bubble was inflated by the belief that housing values would continue on their upward trajectory indefinitely. When it became evident that this growth was unsustainable, the bubble burst. It seems to many that something similar is going on with college degrees right now. The relative cost of a college degree has been been increasing over the last twenty or so years. People have still been willing to burden themselves with the loan debt necessary to get a degree believing that it would guarantee employment and income later down the road. Many have rightly pointed out that the quality of a college education isn't what it once was nor does it guarantee employment how it used to. So, going to college isn't paying off--except when we compare it to not going to college. Catherine Rampell at Economix does a good job of making this point. I especially like where she writes, "...[H]aving a postsecondary degree sometimes serves as litmus test for employers who can be picky about hiring." College is a socializing ritual that, independent of skill- and knowledge-acquisition, transforms students into would-be employees. The ritual is somewhat arbitrary but, nonetheless, is a symbolic indicator to employers that a candidate is capable. Stay in school.

Immigration Links

"Raising the Floor for American Workers" from Center for American Progress
http://bit.ly/6BSQEC
[see especially chart on page 13 of full report (PDF link)]

"Headless Bodies and Other Immigration Tall Tales in Arizona" from The Washington Post
http://bit.ly/bC5VXa