Voices . . . being heard is as vital to life as air, water, and food. We may recognize sound, but are we really listening? Are certain voices heard and others ignored?

Congratulations to Anairis Hernández Jabalera for successfully defending her dissertation entitled, “A Life-Course Approach to Gender Differences in Work Outcomes and Occupational Mobility in Mexico: The Role of Migration.”

Dr. Meredith Hastings, professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and deputy director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, and Dr. Scott Frickel, professor of Sociology and Environment and Society, are co-teaching ENVS 1247: Clearing the Air: Environmental Studies of Pollution.

In the past, the chances of human exposure would have been minimal, but climate change is dialing up the possibility of contamination. As extreme rain storms become more common, these low-lying streets around the Woonasquatucket are more vulnerable to flooding, which could release chemicals, volatile organic compounds or heavy metals like lead or cadmium from the ground or the river bottom.

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) announced the launch of a free fare pilot program on the R-Line, RIPTA’s most frequent and highest-ridership route, connecting Providence and Pawtucket. Complementary Paratransit Service Will Also Be Fare Free

Thousands of factories once lined the waterfronts of U.S. cities, churning out textiles, chemicals and many other products. Most of the buildings are long gone, often replaced by parks or surrounded by neighborhoods, but the pollution they dumped into the water and soil can remain. In many cases, that pollution was never documented, write sociologists Thomas Marlow, James Elliott and Scott Frickel.

Congratulations to Yifan Shen for successfully defending his dissertation, “Bringing Oppenheimer Back: The Continuing Importance of Oppenheimer’s Family Sociology for Understanding the Shifting Economic Organization of American Families.”

Congratulations to Danielle Falzon for successfully defending her dissertation entitled, “The Business of Adaptation: Reproducing Inequality in the Face of Climate Crisis.”

Michael D. Kennedy, professor of sociology and international and public affairs at Brown University, is an expert on East European social movements and system change. A candidate to be vice president of the American Sociological Association, Kennedy teaches a provocative sociology course, Power, Knowledge and Justice in Global Social Change.

Congratulations to Meg Collier for successfully defending her dissertation entitled, “Inequality, Brokerage, and the Mobilization of Social Capital in Elementary Schools”.

Congratulations to Sam Brady for being awarded the Alden Speare, Jr. Award, which recognizes superior achievement in the Master of Arts thesis within the Department of Sociology.

Congratulations to Yasemin Bavbek for being awarded the Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award

Congratulations to Chantel Pheiffer for successfully defending her dissertation entitled, “Internal Migration, Urban Living, and the Health Penalty among Women in South Africa”.

Congratulations to Chinyere Agbai for successfully defending her dissertation entitled, “Wealth Begins at Home: A Historical Analysis of the Role of the 1944 GI Bill in Linking, Race, Place, Wealth, and Health in America.”

Congratulations to Quinn Bernier for successfully defending his dissertation, “Risky Business: Agricultural Transformation in Tanzania.”

Congratulations to prabh kehal for successfully defending their dissertation entitled, “Racializing Meritocracy: Ideas of Excellence and Exclusion in Faculty Diversity."

Congratulations to Kristen McNeill for successfully defending her dissertation, “Cultural Foundations of Creditworthiness: Gendered Evaluations of Borrowers in Colombian Microcredit.”

Congratulations to Izzy Notter for successfully defending her dissertation, “Intergenerational Transfers Between Adult Children and Their Aging Parents.”

Congratulations to Amanda Zagame for successfully defending her dissertation, “Understanding Fathering and Adolescents’ Wellbeing: Father Figures and Transition to Young Adulthood.”

Congratulations to Laura Garbes for successfully defending her dissertation, “Sound, Public Radio, and Particularistic Performance Standards in the Workplace.”

Congratulations to Liz Brennan on successfully defending her dissertation, “Autonomy Disrupted: Law, Technology, and its Impact on Professions’ Autonomy Following the Implementation of the Electronic Health Record.”

John was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association on February 28, 2022.

Michael Kennedy speaks with NBC 10 about his Friends of Ukraine initiative that seeks to send medical aid to the country.