UND Sociology Department

Today is the last day of Finals Week, bringing this semester to a close. Congratulations to all those graduating this weekend!
Have a great summer, everyone!

The Sociology Department had four students present their fascinating capstone research work at the Spring UNDergraduate Showcase last week!

The Cost of Friendship: How Money Impacts Our Social Connections - Victoria Bryant

Cognitive Rigidity and Perceived Importance of Protecting the Rights of Individuals Suspected of Crimes - Edward Tortorelli

Political Perspective and Gender: Analyzing Attitudes Towards the Supreme Court's Ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization - Aubree Koering

Local Crime News Consumption and Perceptions of Safety - Tyler Birst (via Zoom)

Alpha Kappa Delta (the Sociology Honor Society) and Sociology Club members Ed Tortorelli, Gabe Kilzer, and Joe Jochman participated in the Big Event this year!
Our tasks included lawn, garden, and gutter work. It is always wonderful to be a part of this important community service event, and we look forward to next year and beyond!

On Friday, April 24, we held our 3rd annual Celebrating Sociology event. Faculty and students gathered to have snacks and acknowledge all the achievements accomplished by our students this year. This included presenting certificates to our scholarship recipients and students who joined Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD, the Sociology Honor Society. Prizes were also given out to four lucky attendees!

Congratulations to Dr. Justin Berg and his research team (Dr. Kay Gim from the Communication Department and S**e Olateru-Olagbegi, a graduate student in the Department of Education, Health and Behavior Studies) for winning a development grant from the Midwest Sociological Society. Their upcoming research will examine how eating together can build positive relationships between people from different backgrounds.

Starting this September, they will conduct an experiment where pairs of students share a meal together and engage in get-to-know-you conversations at the University food court. Any changes in their intergroup attitudes will be compared to the attitudes of a control group, which will not eat together. Two undergraduate research assistants will also join the team to help run the tasks, write a journal article, and present at next year's Midwest Sociological Society annual conference. We look forward to seeing the results of their fun and important work!

Last but not least, our newest faculty member, Dr. Katherine Furl, spent most of her time at the 2026 MSS conference presenting research she's done with student collaborators.
She actually presented AND presided over her first session, titled "Media Consumption, Portrayals, and Representation." Her research presentation was titled "The Ordinary Extraordinary in Productivity Influencers’ Mobility Portrayals."
The next session she presented at was titled "Identities and Subcultures in Popular Culture," and her research was titled "If My Friend Was in an Abusive Relationship, I Wouldn’t Be Like, ‘Well, if it Makes You Happy!’”: Ambiguities Surrounding “Trad Wives” on Commentary YouTube.
Finally, she acted as a panelist for a committee session titled "Care as Social Justice: Reframing Faculty Labor," along with Dr. Krista Lynn Minnotte.

Dr. Daniel Bartholomay had a busy week in St. Louis. He attended multiple board and committee meetings throughout the week, acted as a panelist for two sessions titled "Fostering Connection, Community, and Engagement in the Digital Classroom" and "Reclaiming Sociology Through Community Engaged Scholarship and Teaching: Success Stories and Opportunities," and presided over a forum titled "At-Large States: State-Level Forum."

Gabe Kilzer, one of our faculty members (and an alum of the department!), began his 2026 MSS experience early by presiding over a session titled "Education and Politics: Examining the Relationships Between Schools and Political Issues and Activities" on the first day of the conference. Later in the conference, he acted as a panelist for an AKD session titled "Reclaiming Sociology by Sharing the Promises of Sociological Ideas."
Gabe was also able to take in some of the sights around St. Louis before returning to Grand Forks.

Dr. Krista Lynn Minnotte, our department chair, was very busy during MSS! She was a panelist on one of the AKD panel discussions, presided over and participated in a session called “Author Meets Critics Panel Featuring Bringing Law Home: Gender, Race, and Household Labor Rights by Katherine Maich,” acted as a panelist during a committee session (Care as Social Justice: Reframing Faculty Labor), and presented research with both Dr. Pedersen and her husband Dr. Michael Minnotte.

Those research presentations were titled “Time and Work Pressures among STEM Faculty Members: Barriers to the Achievement of Flow State at Work” and “United States Professionals, Executives, and Managers and the Ideal Worker Norm: Workplaces Resources and Gendered Job Outcomes,” respectively.

Dr. Daphne Pedersen presented research with Dr. Jochman and Dr. Krista Lynn Minnotte, presided over two AKD panel discussions, and served on an MSS committee while in MO.

The panels she presided over were titled "Reclaiming Sociology in the Classroom and Our Curriculum" and "Reclaiming Sociology Through Community Engaged Scholarship and Teaching: Success Stories and Opportunities."