Students in the "Clearing the Air: Environmental Studies of Pollution" class, co-taught by Dr. Scott Frickel and Dr. Meredith Hastings, contribute to Hastings’ community-based project, Breathe Providence, which was inspired by the City of Providence’s Climate Justice Plan and developed in partnership with local government and community organizations including the City of Providence, the Racial and Environmental Justice Committee, American Lung Association and the Conservation Law Foundation.
In the past, the chances of human exposure would have been minimal, but climate change is dialing up the possibility of contamination. As extreme rain storms become more common, these low-lying streets around the Woonasquatucket are more vulnerable to flooding, which could release chemicals, volatile organic compounds or heavy metals like lead or cadmium from the ground or the river bottom.
Complementary Paratransit Service Will Also Be Fare Free
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) announced the launch of a free fare pilot program on the R-Line, RIPTA’s most frequent and highest-ridership route, connecting Providence and Pawtucket.
Thousands of factories once lined the waterfronts of U.S. cities, churning out textiles, chemicals and many other products. Most of the buildings are long gone, often replaced by parks or surrounded by neighborhoods, but the pollution they dumped into the water and soil can remain. In many cases, that pollution was never documented, write sociologists Thomas Marlow, James Elliott and Scott Frickel.
Congratulations to Yifan Shen for successfully defending his dissertation, “Bringing Oppenheimer Back: The Continuing Importance of Oppenheimer’s Family Sociology for Understanding the Shifting Economic Organization of American Families.”
Congratulations to Danielle Falzon for successfully defending her dissertation entitled, “The Business of Adaptation: Reproducing Inequality in the Face of Climate Crisis.”
Michael D. Kennedy, professor of sociology and international and public affairs at Brown University, is an expert on East European social movements and system change. A candidate to be vice president of the American Sociological Association, Kennedy teaches a provocative sociology course, Power, Knowledge and Justice in Global Social Change.
Congratulations to Meg Collier for successfully defending her dissertation entitled, “Inequality, Brokerage, and the Mobilization of Social Capital in Elementary Schools”.
Congratulations to Sam Brady for being awarded the Alden Speare, Jr. Award, which recognizes superior achievement in the Master of Arts thesis within the Department of Sociology.
Congratulations to Yasemin Bavbek for being awarded the Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award, an award that recognizes sustained and exceptional contribution to teaching and learning in the Department of Sociology.
