Professor Jawad Fatayer Participates in the Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology AACS
26 October 2010
Between 14th and 17th of October 2010, Professor Jawad Fatayer, President Assistant for Graduate Affairs at An-Najah University, participated in the Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) which took place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
The Meeting included a number of workshops, regular paper sessions, panels, roundtable discussions and short interactive sessions which reflected on the theme of "Expanding the Sociological Practice Paradigm: Applied, Clinical, Public and Translational Dimensions". Research areas such as disasters, race, social problems, social movements, evaluation, social justice, crime, teaching and immigration were addressed from different perspectives.
Sociologists and professors from different countries and universities including the United States, Palestine, Jordan, Italy, South Africa, Norway, Germany, Albania, UAE and Canada participated in the event. The participants discussed issues related to applied, clinical, public and translational sociology which enabled the attendees to take part in new ideas about sociological practice in the 21st century. Participants from Sociologists Without Borders also attended the Meeting and were engaged in discussions with members of the AACS an shared several common sociological concerns.
The Meeting featured more than 55 sessions each of which included different workshops and topics in the field of sociology. On Wednesday, October 13th, an informal meeting was organized for the Executive Board and the Program Committee which was followed by the Executive Board meeting presided by J. Steven Picou, President of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology AACS, University of South Alabama.
The Meeting's workshops addressed various topics including a video presentation about the American botanist and sociologist, Lester F. Ward. The presentation was titled "Lester F. Ward: A Life's Journey" and it documented the life and ideas of the founder of American sociology who advocated for public education and the rights of women and minorities. Other papers included: "Engaging and Applying Sociological Concepts to the Study of Disasters" in which Christine Bevc, Jeff Will and Steven Picou from the University of North Carolina, University of North Florida and the University of South Alabama respectively spoke about geography and social psychological health of gulf coast communities.
Dr. Fatayer participated in the session titled "Evaluation Research" as a presider and presented a new model in Human Development, namely the NBCTV. He also participated in two certification sessions for Clinical Sociology and the Board of Directors of the Association and the Editorial Board of the Applied and Clinical Sociology Journal. Certification is a designation awarded to experienced professional sociological practitioners after a process of evaluation by sociologists within AACS, a certified member may use a special designation as a Certified Sociological Practitioner C.S.P. in addition to his degree.
Pamela J. Jenkins from the University of New Orleans spoke about the meaning of recovery after a catastrophe: a case study of New Orleans neighborhoods. While Dana M. Greene from North Carolina Central University and Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo, UC Santa Barbara spoke about drowning in oil: Narratives of the Gulf oil disaster.
Another session was titled "Documenting Human Impacts of Martine Oil Spills" in which Duane Gill, J. Steven Picou and Liesel A. Ritchie from Oklahoma State University, University of South Alabama and the University of Colorado at Boulder respectively spoke about the impact of oil spills. The next paper discussed developing cultural competency through teaching introductory sociology. The paper suggested the possibility of creating a level of interaction through developing cultural competency by specially designed lecture modes, writing assignments and collaborative learning modules.
Another session was titled "Race and Ethnicity" in which Hisako Matsuoh, Kevin McIntyre and Lisa Willoughby from Saint Louis University, Trinity University and Saint Louis University respectively spoke about the attitude toward immigrants: test of Protestant work ethnic, Egalitarianism, and role of social conflict, while Andrew Golub from the National Development and Research Institutes discussed transient domesticity.
Lubomir Popov from Bowling Green State University and Ivan Chompalov from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania spoke about social design and sociological practices as social design: Methodological implications and academic responses.
The meeting also discussed many work papers including: "Old is Gold: Exploring the Vistas of Social Gerontology", "Fertile Ground: Encouraging Public Gerontology in Rural America", "Free Range Humans Revisited: Instrument Application and Refinement", "Evaluating Public Accommodation: Using the Free Range Human Instrument to Assess Public Space in Warrensburg, Missouri" and "Tiptoeing the Sacred and Profane when Evaluating Spiritual and Religious Environments".
It also featured roundtable discussions in which the participants addressed issues including: "The development and implementation of a cross-borders service learning program in Uganda, Africa", "Using Applied Sociology to Address Community Issues and Revitalization", "Applied Sociology and the Engaged Student", "The Value of Applied Sociology: A Conversation about Increasing Awareness and Recognition of the Practice and Discipline", and "Teaching Stats to Undergraduate Sociology Majors-Instructional Goals and Strategies".
Furthermore, the participants presented work papers including "Using Sociology to Expand the Effectiveness of Programs to Combat Family Violence", "A Possible Future of the Journal of Applied Social Science Consulate", "Social Movements", "The Convergence of Catastrophes and Social Change: The Role of Participatory Action Research in Support of the Newly Engaged Citizen", "Energy Work and Sociological Practice", "Translational Research and Sociological Practice", "Public Sociology and Community Development", "Getting Sociology into Public Consciousness", "Reviving Propaganda Analysis as Public Sociology", "Using Sociological Research to Better Understand Tourist Behavior, Preference and Attitudes", "Digging to the Roots: Creating a Social Justice Paradigm for Civic Engagement", "Social Imagination, Social Theory, Social Entrepreneurs", and "Culture, Narrative and the Media".
Other papers included: "Family Violence in the Arab World", which included the discussion of violence against women in Jordan, child abuse in the United Arab Emirates, family violence in the United Arab Emirates and family violence in Jordan.
"Building Translational Sociology: Pieces of the Puzzle, Tools and Work in Progress" in which the participants spoke about some dimensions of translational sociology and using translational tools to address the BP disaster. "Technology and Society" in which professors from the Bowling Green State University, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, University of Missouri and Arkansas State University spoke about the many faces of Applied Sociology, social and psychological correlates of internet use among college students as well as gaming and friendship.
The conference also included an award luncheon in which the winners of the Lester F. Ward Distinguished Contributions to Applied and Clinical Sociology Award, the Alex Boros Award for Contributions to the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology, the Robert Ezra Park Award for Sociological Practice, the Paul Wellstone Community Service Award and the 2009 Judith Little Award were honored.
Finally, a business meeting for the AACS was organized and presided by J. Steven Picou. The 2010 meeting aimed to address creative conceptual, empirical and policy issues which are relevant to social change in the modern world and to bring together sociologists from different universities around the world.
