March 28, 2005 (Vol. 1, No. 5)

Data Analysis in the Classroom: Sociology and Social Work Department to Hold Conference on Campus April 1

The Department of Sociology and Social Work will host its first Integrating Data Analysis (IDA) conference on Friday, April 1. The purpose of the conference is to share information on the Department's newest curriculum initiative with other educators. The day-long conference, which will feature presentations by several guest speakers and department faculty, begins at 8:30 a.m. in Room C-14 of Carman Hall.

Dr. Havidan Rodriguez, director of the Disaster Research Center and a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware, will deliver the keynote address. Other speakers include Dr. William Bosworth, director of the Bronx Data Center, and Dr. Andrew Beveridge of Queens College.

The IDA project demonstrates the Department's commitment to scientific literacy and to ensuring that Lehman students have the quantitative skills necessary to succeed in an increasingly competitive and technologically sophisticated society.

For several years, the Department has been working on finding ways to integrate data analysis into its curriculum. Thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation, the Department will soon purchase a wireless computer lab equipped with new survey software, which the College is providing. Funds from the grant will also be used to hold conferences to teach faculty from surrounding colleges about the IDA project.

"One of the basic premises of this project is that data analysis should be mainstreamed into all sociology courses," says Dr. Esther Wilder of the Lehman sociology faculty, who is the project coordinator. "In many sociology programs, the only actual hands-on experience students get in working with data is the research methods course; however, sociology is a social science, and the IDA approach to education treats data analysis as a core component of all sociology courses."

For more information on the conference, please call Professor Wilder at (718) 960-1128.

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