Recent Accomplishments of Department of Sociology Faculty
(The names of University of Memphis Sociology faculty are in bold type.)

Recent Faculty Publications

Enck, Graves . 2004. "The Dying Process" in Clifton D. Bryant, Editor-in-chief.  Handbook of Death & Dying.  Volume I. The Presence of Death, pp. 457-467.  Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

 James, Wesley and Ronald Cossman.  2010.  “Using Maps to Monitor At-Risk Geographic Areas of Heart Disease Prevalence in the United States.”  Journal of Maps. 2010:478-487.

Cossman, Jeralynn, Wesley James, Arthur Cosby, and Ronald Cossman.  2010.  “Underlying Causes of the Emerging Nonmetropolitan Penalty.”  American Journal of Public Health. 100:8:1417-1419.

Porter, Jeremy, Ronald Cossman, and Wesley James.  2009.  “Research Note: Imputing Large Group Averages for Missing Data, Using Rural-Urban Continuum Codes for Density Driven Industry Sectors.”  Journal of Population Research. 26:3:273-278.

 Buchanan, Robert, Michael Kaufman, Li Zhu, and Wesley James.  2008.  “Comparisons of Care Received by Multiple Sclerosis Patients from Neurologists and Non-Neurologists.”  International Journal of Multiple Sclerosis Care. 10:106-112.

Cosby, Arthur, Tonya Neaves, Ronald Cossman, Jeralynn Cossman, Wesley James, Neal Feierabend, David Mirvis, Carol Jones, and Tracey Farrigan.  2008.  “Preliminary Evidence for an Emerging Non-Metropolitan Mortality Penalty in the United States.”  American Journal of Public Health. 98:8:1470-1472.

 Buchanan, Robert, Li Zhu, Randolph Schiffer, Dagmar Radin, and Wesley James.  2008.  “Rural/Urban Analyses of Health-Related Quality of Life Among People with Multiple Sclerosis.” Journal of Rural Health. 24:3:244-252.

 Buchanan, Robert, Mike Kaufman, Li Zhu, and Wesley James.  2008.  “Patient Perceptions of Multiple Sclerosis-Related Care: Comparisons by Practice Specialty of Principal Care Physician.”  NeuroRehabilitation. 23:267-272.

Cossman, Jeralynn, Ronald Cossman, Wesley James, Carol Campbell, Troy Blanchard, and Arthur Cosby.  2007.  “Persistent Clusters of Mortality in the United States.”  American Journal of Public Health. 97:12:2148-2150.

Cossman, Ronald, Jeralynn Cossman, Wesley James, Troy Blanchard, Richard Thomas, Louis Pol, Arthur Cosby, and David Mirvis.  2007.  “Evaluating Heart Disease Prescriptions-Filled as a Proxy for Heart Disease Prevalence Rates.”  Journal of Health & Human Services Administration. 30:4:503-528.

James, Wesley and Jeralynn Cossman.  2006.  “Does Regional Variation Affect Ecological Mortality Research?  An Examination of Mortality, Income Inequality and Health Infrastructure in the Mississippi Delta.”  Population Research and Policy Review. 25:175-195.

Buchanan, Robert, Randolph Schiffer, Suojin Wang, Alexa Stuifbergen, Bonnie Chakrovorty, Li Zhu, MyungSuk Kim, Wesley James.  2006.  “Satisfaction with Mental Health Care Among People With Multiple Sclerosis in Urban and Rural Areas.”  Psychiatric Services, 57: 1206-1209.

James, Wesley, Ronald Cossman, Jeralynn Cossman, Carol Campbell, and Troy Blanchard.  2004.  “A Brief Visual Primer for the Mapping of Mortality Trend Data.” International Journal of Health Geographics. 3:7.

Cossman, Ronald, Jeralynn Cossman, Wesley James, Troy Blanchard, and Arthur Cosby.  2004.  “Mortality Rates Across Time: Does Persistence Suggest ‘Healthy and Unhealthy Places’ in the United States?”  WorldMinds: Geographical Perspectives on 100 Problems.  Edited by Janelle, D.G., Warf, B., and Hansen, K. Amsterdam: Kluwer Press.

Bartkowski, John., Xu, Xiaohe., and Levin, Martin L.  2008.  “Religion and Child Development: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study” Social Science Research, 37:18-36.

Blanchard, Troy C.,  Cossman, Jeralynn S., and Levin, Martin L.  2004. “Multiple Meanings of Minority Concentration: Incorporating Contextual Explanations in the Analysis of Individual-Level U.S. Black Mortality Outcomes” with Population Research and Policy Review, 23:309-326.

Blanchard, Troy C.,  Cossman, Jeralynn S., and Levin, Martin L.  2004.  “Data Sources for the Estimation of Hierarchical Models of Individual Mortality Outcomes” Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 29:473-485.

Levin, Martin L., Xu, Xiaohe., and Bartkowsk, John.  2002.  “Seasonality of Sexual Debut” Journal of Marriage and Family, 64:871-884.  Abstracted in the CSA database.

Robertson, Angela., and Levin, Martin L.  2002.  “Being Prepared--Attitudes and Practices Related to Condom Carrying Among Minority Adolescents” Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention & Education for  Adolescents & Children, 5:103-121.

Vannini, P., Waskul, D., Gottschalk S., and C Rambo. 2010. “Sound Acts: Elocution, Somatic Work, and the Performance of Sonic Alignment” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.

Rambo, C. and Tiffanie Grier.  2008. “The Future of Symbolic Interaction, Peaking and Collapsing the Matrix.”  Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 32:37-50.

Rambo, C. 2007.  “Sketching as Autoethnographic Practice” Symbolic Interaction, 30:4:531-542.

Rambo, C.. 2007. “Handing IRB an Unloaded Gun”  Qualitative Inquiry, 13:3:353-367.

Rambo, C., Presley, S., and Mynatt, D.  2006. “Claiming the Bodies of Exotic Dancers: At Play with the Problematic Discourse of Commodification,”  Body/Embodiment: Symbolic Interaction and the Sociology of the Body, edited by Waskul, D. and Vannini, P.  London:  Ashgate Publications.

Rambo, C.  2005.  “Impressions of Grandmother: An Autoethnographic Portrait”  Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 34 (5) 560-585.

Rambo, C..  2005. “Sketching Carolyn Ellis, Purple Diva of Autoethnography” Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 28:1:3-14.

Stoll, Laurie Cooper and Larry R. Petersen.  2008.  “Understanding Church Growth and

Decline: A Test of a Market-Based Model.”  Review of Religious Research 49 (3):251-268.

Petersen, Larry R.  2001.  Religion, Plausibility Structures, and Education’s Effect on Attitudes Toward Elective Abortion.  Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40 (2):187-203.

Rushing, Wanda (ed.).  2010.  The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Urbanization. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. Volume 15 of the 24 volume series, Charles Reagan Wilson, general editor.

Rushing, Wanda.  2009. Memphis and the Paradox of Place: Globalization in the American South.  Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

Rushing, Wanda.  2009.  "Memphis, the Delta, and a Progressive Sense of Place."  Business Perspectives 20:1:52-55.

Rushing, Wanda.  2009.  "Memphis: Cotton Fields, Cargo Planes, and Biotechnology."  Southern Spaces http://southernspaces.org/2009/memphis-cotton-fields-cargo-planes-biotechnology

Rushing, Wanda and Zandria Robinson. 2006. "Beyond the Veil: Black and White Perspectives on Teaching about Racial Inequality." African Americans and Whites: Changing Relationships on College Campuses, edited by Robert Moore.

Rushing, Wanda. 2004. "Globalization and the Paradoxes of Place: Poverty and Power in Memphis." City and Community. 3:65-81.

Collins, Tracy and Rushing, Wanda. 2003. "Across the Pond: A Comparative Analysis of Social Capital Formation in the United States and Great Britain." Humanity and Society 27:1:30-49.

Rushing, Wanda.  2002.  "Sin, Sex, and Segregation: Social Control and the Education of Southern Women."  Gender and Education 14:2:167-179.

Rushing, Wanda.  2002.   "Did You Hear What That White Woman Said? Speaking for Change and Chance in Memphis, Tennessee."  In The Quality and Quantity of Contact between African Americans and Whites on College Campuses.  Robert Moore, ed.,  Rowman & Littlefield: University Press of America.

Rushing, Wanda. 2001.  "Inequality and Education Reform: Formulating a Macro Historical Sociology Perspective."  Race Ethnicity and Education 4:1:29-44.

Wang, Junmin. 2010. “Enlightened Localism in Contemporary China: Political Change in Property-Rights Institutions of Township and Village Enterprises.” Comparative Sociology. Vol. 9: 631-662.

Guthrie, Doug, Zhixing Xiao, and Junmin Wang. 2009. “Asset Management and Productivity in Reform-Era China.” Research in the Sociology of Work. Vol. 19: Work and Organizations in China after Thirty Years of Transition. Edited by Lisa Keister. Pp35-69. Revised version reprinted as: “Corporate Governance in Transition: From State Ownership to Asset Management in Reform-Era China.” In China’s State Capitalism: Growth and Crisis, edited by Barry Naughton and Kellee Tsai. New York: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming).

Wang, Junmin. 2009. “Global-Market Building as State Building: China’s Entry into the WTO and Market Reforms of China’s Tobacco Industry.” Theory and Society. Vol. 38 (2): 165-194

Guthrie, Doug and Junmin Wang. 2007. “Business Organizations in China.” Pp99-121, in Handbook of Asian Business. Edited by Henry Yeung. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Wang, Junmin. 2006. “State-Building as Market-Building in China.” European Journal of Sociology. Vol. XLVII (2): 209-240.

Guthrie, Doug and Junmin Wang. 2006. “Changing Social Institutions.” in Doug Guthrie, China and Globalization: The Social, Economic, and Political Transformation of Chinese Society. New York: Routledge

Guthrie, Doug and Junmin Wang. 2006. “Changing Life Chances.” in Doug Guthrie, China and Globalization: The Social, Political, and Economic Transformation of Chinese Society. New York: Routledge

Recent Sociology Faculty Awards and Honors

James, Wesley

• College of Arts & Sciences Travel Enrichment Award, University of Memphis, 2010.
• Sociology Doctoral Student of the Year, Mississippi State University, 2009
• SSRC Research Fellow Award.  Social Science Research Center, Mississippi State University, 2008
• Population Association of America Poster of Excellence Award, 2006
• Graduate Student Paper of Distinction Award: “Conversation of Gestures of Significant Symbols?  An Analysis of Boxing.”  Mid-South Sociological Association.  Atlanta, GA, 2005
• Centers and Institutes Graduate Student Research Award Recipient.  Mississippi State University, 2005
• Population Association of America Poster of Excellence Award, 2004
• Population Association of America Poster of Excellence Award, 2003

Levin, Martin L.

• Distinguished Service Award, [first recipient], Southern Sociological Society, 2003.
• The Distinguished Service Award of the Southern Sociological Society was renamed the Martin L. Levin Distinguished Service Award, 2004.
• Population Association of America Poster of Excellence Award, 2002

Preston, Jim

• Alma Bucovaz Advising Award, University College, University of Memphis, 2006.

Rambo, Carol

• Editor, Symbolic Interaction, January 2007-11.
• Course Redesign Fellowship, University of Memphis, Summer 2010.
• Norman Denzin, Qualitative Research Award, Carl Couch Center for Research on Internet and Culture, University of Illinois, Urbana, 2007.
• W. Russell Smith Teaching Award, University of Memphis, 2005.

Rushing, Wanda

• Dunavant University Professor, August 2011
• College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Research Award (CASDRA), University of Memphis, 2010
• Finalist for the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Memphis, 2005.
• Faculty Fellow, Technology Fellowship Program, Advanced Learning Center, FedEx Institute of Technology, University of Memphis, 2004-05.
• Alma Bucovaz Urban Research and Service Award, University College, University of Memphis, 2006.
• Finalist for the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Memphis, 2005.

Ventimiglia, Joseph

• W. Russell Smith Award for Teaching Excellence, August 2010

Wang, Junmin

§  Faculty Research Grant in Social Sciences, Business and Law of University of Memphis ($6,500) (2009-2010)

§  Post-Doctoral Fellowship in China’s Political Economy of Indiana University ($35,000) (2007-2008)