Alumni News

Sirry Alang (M.A. '08) joined the Lehigh faculty in Fall 2015 after completing her PhD in Public Health at the University of Minnesota and working as Principal Planning Analyst by the Hennepin County Public Health Department.


Michelle Choi (B.A. '14) co-presented a paper at the Eastern Sociological Society meetings in Boston in March 2016. Her co-authors are faculty member Kelly Austin and graduate student Ginger Berndt. Michelle has accepted a position as Research Associate for Kaiser-Permanente in Honolulu. She says, "Sociology has opened all the doors I have gone through. I have gained skills that will open more doors."


Sofia Covarrubias (B.A. '12) became head of Lutron's Southeastern Florida sales team.


Anna Field (B.A. '11) and Sarah Tax Wilkins (M.A. '09) sent us a pic from the Qualitative Research Consultants Association conference in New Orleans, LA.



Anna Field (B.A. '11) is a Research Manager at Research Partnership, one of the world’s largest independent healthcare market research and consulting agencies. Prior to this position, she was Senior Research Executive at Branding Science in East Windsor NJ. She wrote, "As a market researcher, pharmaceutical companies approach us with specific research questions. In order to answer those, we propose a specific methodology (e.g. one-on-one interviews, focus groups, telephone interviews, quantitative survey) and lay out our research plan very thoroughly. When we win a project, I'm involved with creating screeners - ensuring we recruit the correct respondents - and writing discussion guides. I then attend fieldwork if it's held at a central location and am very involved with report writing which generally is created in PowerPoint. Every day, I'm using my sociology background whether it's ensuring I'm reading solid secondary research as background information or using my knowledge of SPSS to create additional tables for reports."



Brittany Leigh Fisher (B.A. '11) lives in Philadelphia and recently started full-time on the Philanthropic Services Team at Vanguard Charitable (Vanguard's non-profit arm), assisting clients with balances of $1,000,000 or more with their philanthropic giving.  In the photo she is with Josh Leight (also B.A. '11), who is loving teaching 4th grade at Parkside Elementary School in the Penn-Delco School District.


Samantha Gerstein  (B.A. '11) is working as Director of Legal Recruitment at the New York-based law firm Special Counsel, after finishing a law degree in 2017.



Maggie Hagerman (M.A. '06), now on the faculty of the Department of Sociology at Mississippi State University, published a book entitled White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America, with NYU Press. Maggie and her book are profiled in The Atlantic.


 


 


Shelly Harris (B.A. '09) is now Administrative Manager at Calyptus Consulting Group, Inc in the Boston area.


Rebecca Johnson (B.A. '98) was named Executive Director of AIA Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Center for Architecture.


Caroline Kusi (B.A. '11 and MPH from the University of Michigan), after working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, accepted a new position--in Rwanda! She reports: "I will serve as the East Africa Coordinator for UC San Francisco's Preterm Birth Initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for 5 years. I will be based in Kigali, Rwanda, helping them to begin their work on the ground. The grant includes Rwanda (group antenatal care model testing), Uganda, and Kenya (implementing an intervention package to address intrapartum and immediate postnatal care). I will have 80% travel to Kenya and Uganda. This involves overseeing the organization of data collection, and liaising with ministries of health and community facilities."


Josh Leight (BA, '11) started his first day as principal of Parkside Elementary School (Penn-Delco school district, Parkside PA) in 2017.


Samina Luthfa (M.A. '06) recently defended her PhD dissertation in sociology at Oxford University. Samina is on the faculty of the Department of Sociology at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh.
Click here to visit her webpage.


Bob Malys (B.A. '11) will enter the Master of Social Work program at the University of Pittsburgh this fall, focusing on Community Organizing and Social Administration. He is looking forward to getting established in this dynamic city, and reports that he uses his anthropology skills every day. He has been acting as Canvass Director for Planned Parenthood of Western PA's Voter Registration.


Lauren Cuoco Mastbaum (MA '09), who is a senior editor for financial services clients for a content marketing agency. After only six months there Lauren was nominated "rockstar of the month" at an all-staff meeting. She says "LOTS of social research and analysis is required" for this position.


Maria Theresa Mejia (BA '14, MA '15) became Manager for Endowment and Gift Documentation at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, dealing with endowments and their contracts.


Amanda Midkiff (B.A. '12) is at Roots to River Farm in Solebury, PA, living her dream as part of the Community Supported Agriculture movement.


Brittany Modell (BA '12) is now working on her Masters in Nutrition Education at Teachers College of Columbia University.


Ted Morrin (BA '08, MA '11) spoke about his experience in campus social justice activism to Ziad Munson's Social Movements class (see photo at left). He currently works for the Bucks County Adult Probation/Parole Department.


Congratulations to Michele Mount (B.A. '95), who just earned her CAE (Certified Association Executive) credentials.


Harvey Nicholson (M.A. '16) began the doctoral program in sociology at the University of Central Florida in Orlando in 2016. He is the subject of a November 2017 profile on the UCF website.


Amy Palmer (B.A. '12) was recently accepted to the MSc program in Museum Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She is currently interning at the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts in Bethlehem, after spending a year selling fine art on luxury cruise ships.


Janelle Pham (M.A. '11) completed her PhD in Sociology at UC Santa Barbara in 2018 and accepted a tenure-track position with the Department of Sociology at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.


Danielle Popow (B.A. '12) is acting grants manager at the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation in New York City.


Cory Rolon, MA grad and Community Fellow at Lehigh, has been promoted to a new leadership position at the United Way. The Morning Call reports: "Corissa Rolon has been promoted at United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley to senior director, Workplace Campaigns. Rolon has been serving as a leader of collective impact at United Way since 2009 and has achieved national recognition for her work with Healthy Aging Programs in the Lehigh Valley.Rolón has five years of experience in nonprofit development and 10 years of experience in market research and holds a B.S. in business administration from Kutztown University with a minor in Spanish and a Master's degree from Lehigh University in sociology."


 




Arie Senya-Bonsu (BA, 2010) is Admissions Counselor for International Recruitment for the Graduate and Professional Admissions Department at the Ohio State University.




Michelle Sibley (B.A., 2011) works in brand management for Diageo, the world's largest producer of spirits, promoting sales through celebrity partnerships, event sponsorships and media outreach. She lives in New York City.


Christina 'Tina' Stegura (B.A. '08, M.A. '09) returned from service in Peace Corps Cameroon January 2013. She later worked for Peace Corps in Washington DC as a Desk Officer in the Africa Region for Cameroon and Uganda. In 2018 she joined the US diplomatic corps and was assigned to the US Embassy in Lomé, Togo as a General Services Officer.


Sarah Steinberg (B.A. '12) is working on her 80th episode as Associate Producer of Food Network's hit show "Chopped."


Sybil Stershic is President and Owner at Quality Service Marketing, a company specializing in internal marketing and communication.


Michael Stershic is the president of Discover Lehigh Valley [formerly the Lehigh Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau], serves as vice-chairman for Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, and is a member of the board of directors for Lehigh Valley EconomicLehigh University Sociology and Anthropology - Michael Stershic Development Corporation. He is also a member of the executive committees of Pennsylvania Associations for Travel and Tourism and Restaurant and Lodging, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Lehigh Valley Chapter of Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, and the Renew Lehigh Valley Leadership Council.


Carlos Tavares (M.A. '06) went on to complete his PhD at Duke and was hired by Lafayette College as assistant professor of sociology. 


Rosalie Torres Stone earned her BA in our department, then went on to get a PhD in Sociology from UConn. She is now associate professor of sociology at Clark University.



Joseph Yu Wang (MA '14) is currently at the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt, Germany as a doctoral student in European legal history. His dissertation project examines the dissemination of European legal tradition throughout the world, focusing on the transformation of the Chinese legal system in the late 19th and early 20th century, applying a wide array of theoretical frameworks and methodological advancement from historical and cultural sociology.