Dr. Steuter was also featured in the Globe and Mail's University Report Card. Here is some of what they had to say about her:

"WHY SHE'S COOL:

For Steuter, the real value of education is when students can apply it to their own lives. That's why she gets her students out into the community. Her students have run a self-esteem program for children, either after-school or during March break. Others have created a mock non-profit organization, creating a website and pamphlets that debunk myths on homosexuality. This way, she said, students leave school with a few ideas of where a sociology degree might actually take them."

Sociology of Cyberspace

In the course, The Sociology of Cyberspace, Dr. Doyle arranged for her students to carry out research on social interaction over the Internet. They presented these findings to the public in a Cyberspace Research Fair. The students came up with some significant results and offered some perceptive analysis on their findings.

They examined blogs, instant messaging, chat rooms, and web pages and looked at such topics as on-line dating, on-line games, gambling, suicide pacts, and support groups for AIDS and anorexia. One of the overarching themes is the concept of cyberspace as a community, a place to belong and connect with others.

Roberta MacLean studied online dating. Her work, entitled Romeo and Juli “net” looked at how people presented themselves in their online profiles, the concept of identity, and societal norms and expectations in online dating sites. Roberta theorized that the rise in interest in and use of online dating services was due to a wide range of social forces and expectations surrounding marriage, dating, employment, youth, mobility, and fertility. Click here for more on this topic.

Political Sociology Research Poster Presentations

Dr. Doyle knows that it is critically important to understand nationalism now more than ever. As conflicts in France, Sri Lanka, Iraq, the Middle East and Sudan dominate headlines, it seems necessary to understand why people are willing to die and to kill for their nations. The students in political sociology examined the ideology of nationalism which asserts the primacy of the nation and national identities and makes this seem natural. They also examined how this ideology acts in practice, that is how nationalism is at play in diverse social and political arenas from foreign aid policies to science fiction films.

They displayed the results from their research projects on nationalism in a poster presentation. The posters included: Quebec nationalism in the popular press; whether there should be a separate Kurdish nation-state; how Canadian nationalism is expressed in education; the multiple identities at play in the conflict in Cyprus; how film represents nationalism; how national stereotypes affect perceptions of foreign aid; how young people imagine Canada; the stories told of Canada; First Nation nationalism in Canada; the debate surrounding reasonable accommodation in Quebec; and educating youth about nationalism.

Liberating Boys: young feminists do their part to address the "crisis with boys”

In an effort to bring more awareness to the growing concern over the position of boys in today’s society, students in Dr. Erin Steuter’s sociology course on Feminist Perspectives at Mount Allison University launched a new information web site. The web site, entitled Liberating Boys: Discovering Boys’ Potential, addresses such issues as masculinity, relationships, athletics, violence, education, and the overall perception of boys in today’s society.

To see the web site, please click here.

Offering a Media Literacy Camp for Children

From the clock radio that wakes us up in the morning until we fall asleep watching the late night talk show, we are exposed to hundreds, even thousands of images not only from television but also from newspaper headlines, magazine covers, movies, web sites, photos, video games and billboards. Educators have noted that it has become important for children to be prepared for living in a world of powerful images, words and sounds.

With this in mind, Sociology Professor Dr. Erin Steuter offered a four-day media literacy camp is for children ages 8-12. She says that "the relentless pace of entertainment media today requires that at least once in awhile, we should stop and look, really look, at how a media message is put together and the many meanings that can derive from it."

To read more, click here.

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words — Draw Your Ideal Public Library

Sociology professor Dr. Judith Doyle wanted her Advanced Methods Sociology class to take their academic skills out of the classroom and to apply them to real concerns in the community. She had her class collaborate with the Sackville Public Library Board to propose the construction of a new library. Part of the project included a contest to design the new library which ensured input from the community. To read more about this project please click here.