New Award Honoring Retiring Professor is Presented at ISA
On April 4th, at the annual Iowa Sociological Association meeting which was held at Grinnell College, the Sociology Department was pleased to announce a new award for best undergraduate research paper.
This award - the Stephen G. Wieting Award - is named in honor of Professor Steve Wieting, long-time member of the Department of Sociology at the University of Iowa and long-time member of the Iowa Sociological Association.
Professor Wieting has been a professor at the University of Iowa for 37 years and is retiring this Summer. Our department wanted to commemorate Steve’s career and especially his work advising and teaching undergraduates. We hope this award encourages undergraduate students to explore their own research questions for many years to come.
This new award will be presented annually at the ISA conference for the student paper that best “integrates theory with research." The Wieting award carries with it a $100 cash award, and is sponsored by the Sociology Department at the University of Iowa.
A bit about Steve ….
Professor Wieting came to the University of Iowa in 1971, after completing his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota.
Over his career, his research has focused on the sociology of the family, research methodology, and the sociology of sport.
At the University of Iowa, Professor Wieting has taught thousands of undergraduates. Despite the large number of students he teaches every year, he looks at every new student as an individual and takes a genuine interest in each and every one. Nothing makes him happier than to have students who are excited about learning, and he loves to involve himself in special projects with them.
One of Steve’s most popular courses is a year-long course in which students learn to conduct their own research. One of his students from this class remarks “The fact that Professor Wieting challenges his class is something that sets his class apart from others… Also, he allows his students the opportunity to come in to talk to him at any time, and this is a huge advantage. It put me in a situation personally where I am no longer taking a class, but rather acquiring knowledge because he has so much of it….He is witty, as well, which makes for humorous classes (if you get his jokes!).”
In his teaching, Professor Wieting has worked to show students that sociology can be useful in the “regular world” after graduation. Whether helping students to consider issues from a variety of perspectives, or showing how statistics can be used in everyday life, he works to make Sociology relevant to students’ lives.
Steve has also fostered interaction between students and professors, through social events at his home and through the undergraduate sociology club….and he has worked to bring students in closer contact with the world around them through a “globalizing the undergraduate curriculum” grant. His ties to researchers and students in Iceland and other countries have enhanced the experience of our sociology majors.
In addition to his mentoring, Professor Wieting has worked to improve the undergrad curriculum at Iowa in a number of ways. He has been the director of undergraduate studies for the past seven years and he has developed a capstone course for undergrad sociologists that provides special preparation for occupations or graduate school.
The Sociology department and the ISA community want to thank Steve for all he has done for us during his career.
Here's wishing you a happy retirement – you will be missed.
Winner of the first Stephen G. Wieting Award, Meredith Drake, and Steve Wieting.
2008 ISA attendees, left to right: Layana Navarre-Jackson, Ashlee Swinton, Charisa Sorensen, Steve Wieting, Alicia Eads and Jennifer Glanville.
