UMass Boston Sociology Department

Greetings!

You are invited to the Massachusetts Appeals Court (MAC) live session:

Event: Massachusetts Appeals Court Live Session (Three-Judge Panel)
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Time: 9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Location:
UMass Boston – Campus Center, 3rd Floor Ballroom

What to Expect:
The Appeals Court will convene a three-judge panel to hear a series of both criminal and civil cases in a formal, open court session. This is a unique opportunity for students to observe real appellate proceedings, including oral arguments and judicial questioning.

Attendance Details:

Open to faculty, students, and the university community
No registration required
Attendees do not need to stay for the full session – they are welcome to attend for any portion of the program
Seating will be first come, first served
Guidance for Attendees:

Please arrive a few minutes early to allow time to be seated before proceedings begin.

This is a formal court session, so appropriate courtroom decorum is expected. Phones should be silenced and no disruptions during arguments. Business casual attire is recommended.

Educational Value:
This session is particularly valuable for students in criminal justice, sociology, political science, pre-law, and legal studies, offering direct exposure to how appellate courts operate and how legal arguments are presented and evaluated.

Presiding Justices for this session are as follows:

Gregory I. Massing, Associate Justice
Joseph M. Ditkoff, Associate Justice
Kathryn E. Hand, Associate Justice

The Appeals Court is conducting this sitting at the University of Massachusetts -- Boston as part of its ongoing effort to broaden public awareness, understanding, and accessibility of the Massachusetts court system. The Justices will continue to hear oral arguments in cases on appeal at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston during the month.
College of Liberal Arts at UMass Boston

🎉 Congratulations to UMass Boston Sociology PhD candidates, Laura Golden and Jack Leatherman, on receiving the Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society Research Travel Grant and presenting their research at the Eastern Sociological Society Conference!

Laura presented "The Minimalist Lifestyle as a Coping Mechanism for Neurodivergence," offering thoughtful insights into how minimalist practices can function as strategies for navigating everyday life and well-being.

Jack's research, "Watching the Watchers: Initial Findings of a Digital Participant Observation of Twitch Livestreaming Communities," examines the dynamics of livestreaming culture and the social interactions that shape online communities.

We’re proud to see their work recognized and shared at hashtag conference. Congrats to both Laura and Jack on this well-deserved achievement! 👏

College of Liberal Arts at UMass Boston

The Department of Sociology and Criminology UMass Boston is thrilled to share Assistant Professor Sebastián Galleguillos' recent publication of “Re-imagining nonpunitive approaches and rehabilitation in the courtroom: The case of drug courts in Chile,” in Punishment and Society.

This important work offers a thoughtful examination of how treatment and judicial oversight intersect in problem-solving courts. By analyzing the Chilean drug court model, where jail sanctions are not permitted, the study provides valuable insights into how courtroom actors balance rehabilitation, accountability, and defendants’ agency within a non-punitive framework. The findings contribute meaningfully to ongoing debates about drug courts and the broader role of therapeutic justice in legal systems.

👏 Excited to see this research advance conversations about rehabilitation, coercion, and the future of problem-solving courts. 🎉 Congratulations, Dr. Galleguillos!

College of Liberal Arts at UMass Boston

You are invited to the Book Talk: Dreams Achieved and Denied with Dr. Robert C. Smith!

Book Talk: Dreams Achieved and Denied
Date: Thursday, March 23
Time: 3 PM - 4 PM
Where: U03-3540, Campus Center Ballroom, 3rd Floor

Our annual Graduate Student Research Symposium hosted by the GSSA is coming up soon on Friday, April 24. The GSSA Executive Board has invited Dr. Robert Smith, a professor of sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, to be the keynote speaker at the symposium.

Dr. Smith will also be conducting a book talk on Dreams Achieved and Denied: Mexican Intergenerational Mobility. Join us for a presentation and discussion of his latest book, the day before the symposium on Thursday, March 23 at 3 PM. You can find details below or in the flyer attached.

Synopsis:

U.S.-born Mexicans in New York City have achieved perhaps the biggest single jump in mobility in American immigration history. In 2020, 42 percent of second-generation U.S.-born Mexican men and 49 percent of U.S.-born Mexican women in the city had graduated from college–versus a 13-14-percent second-generation college graduation rate for most other places in recent decades. How did this happen? In Dreams Achieved and Denied, sociologist Robert Courtney Smith (Graduate Center, City University of New York) examines the laws, policies, and individual and family practices that promoted–and inhibited–their social mobility.

We hope to see you there!

College of Liberal Arts at UMass Boston

Congratulations to All for a Successful Dissertation Proposal Defense!!🎉🎉👏👏

🎉 Huge Congratulations to our PhD students who have recently defended their dissertation proposals! 🎉

This achievement reflects a significant level of preparation, intellectual rigor, and commitment to advancing scholarly research. Successfully defending a proposal is an important milestone in the doctoral journey, marking the transition from developing ideas to executing meaningful and original work.

Here’s to the late nights, the countless drafts, the insightful conversations with mentors, and the resilience that carried you through. Your dedication inspires all of us.

Congratulations to Erica Yao, Ana Hurka-Robles, William McNicholas, Sky Rathvon, and Jonathan Vega Martinez!

👏 Cheers to your progress — and to the exciting chapters ahead! Keep going. The world needs your ideas.

We're celebrating a successful conference presentation at the American Society of Criminology!

Dr. Sebastián Galleguillos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at UMass Boston, proudly presented the collaborative research project, “Circumventing pre-trial detention: an examination of prisión provisional in Guatemala,” at this year’s conference held in DC!

This mixed-methods study offers important insights into how the abuse of pre-trial detention and persistent judicial backlogs in Guatemala undermine defendants’ rights and shape their perceptions of courtroom actors. The work underscores a pressing need for reforms that strengthen due process and enhance trust in the justice system.

The project is a joint effort between Dr. Sebastián Galleguillos (UMass Boston) and Dr. Verónica Michel (John Jay College (CUNY) of Criminal Justice), whose shared commitment to justice reform and human rights continues to drive meaningful scholarly contributions.

Congratulations to Dr. Galleguillos on a compelling presentation and an inspiring week of dialogue and connection in DC!

📢 You’re Invited!
Join the Marxist Sociology Section this Wednesday for a virtual panel, What is to be done? with our 2025 awardees!

Wednesday, 19 November, 11-12:30 ET
Zoom link: https://american.zoom.us/j/96990512591

Congratulations to the Inaugural Schutt Fellows at UMass Boston! 👏

We’re thrilled to celebrate the first cohort of PhD Sociology Fellows! Thanks to the generosity of Emeritus Professor Russell Schutt and Beth Schutt, five incredible PhD candidates received summer research grants to advance their dissertations. 🌟

Please join us in congratulating our 2025 Fellows:
✨ Sky Rathvon
✨ Cam Marsinelli
✨ Rebecca Hooper Yablo
✨ William McNicholas
✨ Brittany Riffle

This fall, three Fellows joined Russell and Beth Schutt for a special luncheon celebrating their amazing research and dedication to sociology. 🥂

Here’s to curiosity, hard work, and all the exciting discoveries ahead! 🙌

📸 L to R: Bill McNicholas, Dean Prasad, Dr. Evan Stewart, Beth Schutt, Dr. Russ Schutt, Danielle Lurie, Sky Rathvon, and Cam Marsinelli.

Congratulations 🎉🎉to Cam Marsinelli, PhD Candidate in Sociology at UMass Boston, recently presented their research at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Minneapolis on October 31st. The research paper, Spirituality at Scale: A Large-Sample Study of Tarot Readings, is co-authored with her advisor, Dr. Evan Stewart.

Cam and Dr. Stewart used a large language model for a large scale inductive text analysis of YouTube tarot card readings to find what themes are rewarded with audience engagement.

We’re proud to see Cam and Dr. Stewart contributing to important conversations in the sociology of religion and representing UMass Boston on a national stage. Congratulations on your outstanding accomplishment, Cam!👏👏

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Please watch the amazing interview in Germany that was just released featuring Asst. Prof. of Sociology & Criminology Karen Okigbo and Johanna Lukate in Conversation: Marriage, Migration & Black Identity with the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Please click below for video

https://www.mmg.mpg.de/1423798/one-to-one-2025-lukate-okigbo?c=1284518