IU Southeast to host Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences annual meeting

8th October 2018

By Steven Krolak

(NEW ALBANY, Ind.)–IU Southeast is proud to host the 89th annual meeting of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences (IASS) on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018.

Founded in 1929, the IASS is a unique community of scholars that promoted the value of the social sciences to Indiana and the world, and has fostered links between and among colleges, universities, state institutions, professional organizations, libraries and high schools.

Its conversations on a variety of issues have inspired and supported public policy initiatives, and several of its members have been tapped to contribute expertise and guidance at the national level.

The organization’s broad interdisciplinary scope now includes anthropology,  business, criminology, economics, history, geography, psychology, political science, and sociology. Environmental studies, gender studies, urban studies, and international studies utilizing social science perspectives are also represented.

The IASS last convened its annual meeting at IU Southeast in 2008, but the institution plays an active role in the organization.

IU Southeast School of Social Sciences faculty have been very involved in the IASS. Faculty members have presented their research at the fall conference for decades, and some have served on the board in leadership roles, according to Diane Wille, dean of graduate studies at IU Southeast, who is also the organization’s administrative secretary.

“The IASS was designed to not only provide an outlet for faculty and student research but also to provide faculty a chance to meet faculty from other areas of the state,” Wille said. “There are multiple benefits, from promoting and collaborating on research to finding colleagues at similar institutions to review a faculty member’s research program.”

Wille will be joined by a half dozen IU Southeast faculty colleagues in presenting on topics ranging from microfinance and gender stereotypes in animated film to cultural ecology and moral history in Chinese elementary schools.

Hosting the conference not only allows IU Southeast to showcase its campus and the research conducted here, but brings impulses from around the state, to the benefit of IU Southeast instructors and ultimately students, several of whom will be presenting their work.

A highlight of the meeting will be the keynote address delivered by former Indiana Representative Lee Hamilton, who currently serves as a distinguished scholar in the School of Global and International Studies and as a professor of practice in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.

Hamilton will speak at 1:15 p.m. in the Paul W. Ogle Cultural and Community Center.

The topic of Hamilton’s speech is “Why Should We Believe in America?”

The meeting is open to students, and they are encouraged to attend.

Conference registration begins at 8 a.m. in the entrance area of Knobview Hall/Ogle Center. Academic sessions will be held in Knobview Hall.

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