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In August the ASA Council established three new task forces and renewed an existing task force to give it more time to complete its assigned task. Council now wants to hear from members interested in serving on one of these components.
Task Force on Sociology and Criminology Programs
Working with members of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), this Task Force is charged with developing model curricula and sample course content for courses in criminology taught in sociology departments; the curricula and courses will cover the BA, MA, and PhD levels. The resulting report will provide guiding principles and recommendations, as well as illustrations (“promising practices”) for how departments of various types offer strong criminology programs within sociology departments. The report will include, as well, information on the optimal relationships between sociology and criminology programs that are separate departments.
Task Force on Teaching Ethics throughout the Sociology Curriculum
Working with members of the ASA Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE), this Task Force would develop curriculum materials to teach students about professional ethics from early in their undergraduate careers throughout graduate school. The Task Force will develop case materials (some of which exist from earlier COPE work but need updating) and course modules that faculty could include in a variety of courses. The resulting set of materials will be available on the ASA website so they can be downloaded quickly and easily and can be updated. The Task Force will also offer a series of workshops at the ASA and regional sociology meetings to illustrate how these materials can be used.
Task Force on Academic Freedom and Scientific Integrity
Issues of academic independence and scientific integrity arise regularly and the Association has always taken a strong stand to protect these values. In recent years, Council has been made aware of a number of sociologists and sociology departments that have come under attack in ways that challenge their academic freedom in teaching or research either directly or indirectly through the chilling effect of such attacks. There have also been a number of reported incidents about federal agencies engaging in behaviors that limit scientists’ access to information, limit the public availability of research findings, or otherwise undermine the integrity of scientific research. This task force will be charged with developing a fact-finding strategy to compile information on examples of these situations and to suggest ways the ASA might address them.
Task Force on Institutionalizing Public Sociology
In 2004 this task force was established and charged with developing proposals for the recognition and validation of public sociology, incentive and rewards for doing public sociology, and evaluating public sociology. All task forces are established with a two-year time limit. At the request of the task force and given the magnitude of the charge, Council has renewed the original two-year term of this task force. Some of the members originally appointed are no longer able to continue their service as members of this task force so there are several opportunities for new members to join this ongoing effort.
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