Sociology

All right so I promised y’all a taste of the sociology department and that is what I am going to attempt to provide.

First of all there are four faculty members currently in the Sociology department. I am attaching a link to the faculty page of the Hollins website. http://hollins.edu/academics/sociology/faculty.shtml

1. SJ Creek: One thing you have to know about her is that she does a great Sarah Palin impression. Cracks me up every time “You just have to pull yourself up by your boot straps…”. Well now that I have gotten that out-of-the-way I can continue on. Most of her students call her SJ, I do anyway. She just asks that when you are speaking with someone important such as Dean Hammer you say Professor Creek instead. Prof. Creek is new to Hollins (Fall 2011).As of now she is a visiting professor (2-year contract), and fresh from grad school: full of energy and enthusiasm. Honestly she is the best professor I have yet to have at Hollins. I’ve spent Friday nights in her office talking to her about paper topics, to which she then proceeds to throw books at you for. I am also bias because she is my advisor. Currently I am taking Sociology of Sexualities with her. I also took Race, Class, and Gender with her last fall, and Sociology of Deviance in Film over J-Term
2. LeeRay Costa:  I have yet to have a class with her. I know she has been here for several years and really enjoys teaching at Hollins. She teaches all of the anthropology and some gender and women’s studies classes. Everyone who I know that has had a class with her raves about how excellent she is, and how much help she provided. I am planning on taking a class with her either next year or senior year.
3. Eberle Smith: Prof. Smith teaches the social work classes. She works with student’s in the sociology department as well as other departments who are interested in doing social work. She is also in charge of the Senior Social Work internships. I have yet to take a class with her but have heard that she is very funny and relatable. She doesn’t teach any classes outside of social work to my knowledge. She does a lot of teaching on family and children relationships.
4. Aurthur Poskocil: Oh –  Professor Poskocil! Let me just tell you he is a character. Poskocil knows Hollins in and out, he has been teaching here since the late 1960’s. He offers a real life perspective of the changes that Hollins has gone through over the years that other professors just do not have. This is particularly interesting in my Current Social Problems class that I am taking with him this semester. Poskocil is able to give us multiple perspectives on what women thought were social problems in the late 60’s – 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and today.  It had been fascinating. Professor Poskocil expects a lot out of his students. His 200-level class is more in line with the work load of a 300 level. He has pushed me to focus deeper on course readings. I often leave his class thinking what did I just learn  – because now I am more confused about my political beliefs than ever. I will leave you with a quote that Poskocil said on the first day of class: “Many of you are going to leave this class thinking, gosh my professor is a communist radical…. And I am okay with that.”

I hope this made the Hollins sociology department seem more like real people rather than just a face you see on the Hollins Web site. I am sure if you have any questions about the department they would be more than willing and even excited to answer your questions! Also don’t forget you can e-mail me! My e-mail address is on the blog – in the about me section.

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