Undergraduate Program
Meet Rachel Brzezinski
Class of 2009
Major: Sociology (Honors); Minor: Peace Studies
Hometown: Naperville, IL
Rachel decided to come to ND because of the school’s academic excellence, as well as the spirit of its students.
She began her undergraduate studies in the field of Psychology, but the only parts of psychology she enjoyed were those on groups and social structures. For this reason, she decided to major in Sociology. Rachel is currently the president of the Sociology Club.
Some sociology electives Rachel really enjoyed were “Marriage and the Family”, “Sociology of Sexual Behavior”, and “Controversies & Crises of Modern Criminology.” Particularly, she enjoyed these classes because they all helped her understand the policies and social structures that affect the lives of the underprivileged. This is a topic that fascinates her.
For Rachel, one of the most inspiring professors in the Sociology Department is Prof. Carbonaro because he shares her liberal enthusiasm!
After graduation, Rachel plans to attend graduate school for public health or social work.
Meet Josh Cook
Class of 2010
Major: Sociology (Honors)
Hometown: Wood River, IL
Josh decided to come to ND because it’s a top 20 school. He decided to major in Sociology because he accidentally walked into a class that wasn’t his, liked what he heard, and stayed!
Josh is particularly interested in the issues of poverty in today’s society. He is currently working on a paper in which he is trying to analyze why the minimum wage isn’t fixing the problem of poverty (His take on the issue will be coming soon to Sociological Voices!)
Josh really enjoyed “Sociology of Sexual Behavior” with Prof. Curt Sobolewski. He thinks that college students don't really get to talk about sex in a serious manner and they need to. He really liked Prof. Sobolewski’s class because he thinks it is very rare that a professor gives it to you straight and in a funny way. Also, he thinks Prof. Rory McVeigh is a great professor, since it’s awesome to see someone who reallyloves his job and is passionate about his research (he talks about it all the time!).
After graduation, Josh hopes to go to grad school (hopefully at ND).
Meet Elizabeth Ferrufino
Class of 2009
Major: Sociology (Honors)
Hometown: Rockville, MD
When she came to visit ND in the spring, Liz fell in love with the campus and academic atmosphere. The professors she met were open, and the students were extremely nice and welcoming. In the end, Notre Dame was the school where she felt most at home.
Freshman year, Liz was a pre-professional major, but after a summer at Columbia's medical school, she learned that her passion was not in the sciences. Sociology gives her the opportunity to study and understand social issues like health care disparities, interactions between people, and the consequences of our choices within certain conditions, structures, and institutions. Sociology is the only field that she thinks best complements her interests
From personal experience, Liz had some knowledge about immigration, but it wasn't until she took courses like “Mexican Immigration” and “International Migration and Human Rights” that she learned to view it differently. For example, she learned to use Becker, Weber, and Goffman to understand society's perceptions of immigrants. She has come to understand a little of the complex issue of why and how immigrants are vulnerable, which is a social condition of powerlessness.
Liz is enjoying her “Sociology Internship” because it is hands on. “Marriage and the Family”, “Population Dynamics”, and “Introduction to Latinos in American Society” were electives where she could apply the material to her everyday life. Plus, the professors were really good! Liz thinks that the Sociology department has a great faculty, and says that you can really tell that they enjoy what they teach.
Liz is currently applying to law school. In the future she is hoping to work in either immigration or public interest law.
Meet Ali Gerbaud
Class: 2009
Major: Sociology; Minor: Education, Schooling & Society
Hometown: Panama City, Panama
Ali’s family has a huge legacy at ND; her grandfather, uncles, aunts, cousins, and brother all graduated from Notre Dame. She always knew she too was going to end up at Notre Dame. When she was in high school, she could only count on her family’s admiration for the University. Later, during her junior year in high school, she was able to be a part of the Notre Dame Summer Experience Program for high school students, and got to draw her own conclusion about Notre Dame...She absolutely LOVED it.
Right after coming to ND in 2005, Ali decided to major in business administration. Even though she loved her “Introduction to Social Psychology” class with Prof. Curt Sobolewski, she felt business was the right way to go. By the end of her sophomore year, she was miserable as a business major, and wondered if a major in Sociology was still possible. Fortunately, at the end of her sophomore year she was still able to drop business and continue her undergraduate education as a Sociology major and ESS minor.
Ali especially enjoyed “Marriage and the Family” with Prof. Mim Thomas, and “Race and Ethnicity” with Prof. C. Sobolewski. Both professors are great! They have a great deal of practical experience with many of the topics covered and always have great stories. She also really enjoyed “Sociology of Teaching” with Prof. Sean Kelly since she is very interested in the field of education.
Unfortunately in Panama, lack of educational opportunities is a major issue. Therefore after graduation, she plans to go back home and work in the field of education, hopefully middle school.
Meet Jordan Kennelly
Class 2009
Major: Sociology (Honors) and Spanish
Hometown: Knoxville, Illinois
Jordan’s aunt and uncle both went to Notre Dame, so there were already some strong family influences in his decision to come to ND. And when he toured the campus as a prospective student, it just felt right. He saw himself fitting in very well at Notre Dame.
During Jordan’s first yearat Notre Dame, he took a social psychologyclass and loved it! He became very interested in sociology after that class.Jordan particularly liked Prof. Andy Weigert’s “Self, Society, and the Environment” and Prof. Lyn Spillman’s “Sociology of Economic Life”; and he also really enjoyed his seminar on “Culture and Consumption.” Jordan likes learning about contemporary problems in our society, and feels like these classes introduced him to some of the relevant dilemmas in our society today.
Sociology has given Jordan a greater understanding of how individuals are influenced by the overarching society.He has learned that group pressures are a strong influence on our everyday actions and thought processes. By studying sociology, this has become clear to him.
After graduation, Jordan plans on going to law school.
Meet Jane Lee
Class of 2009
Major: Spanish and Sociology (Honors)
Minor: Catholic Social Tradition
Hometown: La Crescenta, CA
Jane decided to come to ND because Notre Dame has a great sense of community and she admires its mission to foster human solidarity, justice, and concern for the common good. She decided to major in Sociology because she is passionate about people! She loves exploring and analyzing the causes of poverty, dynamics of social movements, and differences in cultures. Sociology embraces her interests and provides her with an avenue to use academia and research to create change.
She believes that we see various images and hear many stories about people suffering from lack of resources, butthenotion of poverty is much more complex. After taking various classesand participating in internships and seminarsconcerning poverty and development, the issue is still challenging tounderstand. Nevertheless,gaining a sociological perspective encouraged Jane to examine otherfields, which helped her recognize that understanding specific problemsin society is a continuous process with diverse explanations. Social analysisinspires her towork towards finding ways to improve impoverished communities.
Jane really enjoyed Prof. Jackie Smith’s "Social Movements and Global Perspectives" because it gave her the knowledge of theory and the global political and economic system to connect the possible explanations and goals of the formation of social movements. The class' emphasis on transnational movements also encourages a broader perspective and understanding of this social phenomenon, which Jane was able to apply to her current research on rural social movements in Costa Rica.
After graduation, Jane plans to eventually go to graduate school in Sociology and focus on Development Sociology. Currently, she plans to apply to a Masters Program in Social Workand also to apply tovarious fellowships involving research and development.
Meet Marie Sanchez
Class: 2010
Major: Sociology
Minor: Latino Studies
Hometown: Plymouth, IN
Marie decided to come to ND because it gave her the best of both worlds: academic excellence and close proximity to her hometown so that she could visit her family frequently, whichis very importantto her. Most significant, though,is that she attended the Latino Community Leadership Seminar, for up and coming Latino high school students about the problems and challenges facing theLatino community in the US at ND, which inspired her to have a career that reached out to Latinos in the US.
Marie has loved all her sociology courses. She became hooked on the sociological method when she took “Understanding Societies.” It basically gave an overview of sociology, covering complicated subjects ranging from prostitution, race relations, group dynamics, and many others. She came away with the realization that "things are not as they seem" - the social world and reality isnot inherent or natural, but the result of complex processes. It was also so practical: she could use what she learned in sociology to understand and address some of the social issues that have always troubled her (e.g., poverty, crime, and immigration). Presently Marie is taking Prof. Mike Welch’s “Controversies and Crises in Modern Criminology,” which challenges her understanding of crime and criminals. At times, we may be inclined to think that criminals are bad people, but the motivations for engaging in crime are infinitely complex; it is not as black and white as we might like to imagine. Marie enjoys all of her professors, but she really likes the way that Professors McVeigh and Welch have challenged her to think critically in their classes.
Marie is not sure what she’ll do after graduation, maybe grad school or law school. In general, she would like a career that allows her to address the social problems facing Latino communities, whether this is through research, policymaking, law, community organizing, or something else.
Meet Nick Trapp
Class of 2009 (Senior)
Major: Sociology / Arts and Letters Pre-professional
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Notre Dame was the most prestigious school to which Nick was accepted, it has a Catholic affiliation, and he has always been a huge Notre Dame Football fan. Basically ND was his dream school, and since he received good financial aid, he couldn't say no.
Nick bounced around among several majors, including Psychology and Business, before he decided on Sociology/ALP2. The sociology faculty is great, the classes were interesting, and it included several topics, which were interesting to him (criminology, social psych, gender roles and violence, terrorism). It is a great complement for a pre-med student, focusing on the human side of patient care.
Particularly, Nick explains that his “Sociology Internship” was a great course, which allowed him to apply his sociological knowledge to a contemporary problem while working at the Sister Maura Brannick Health Center in downtown South Bend. There he focused on helping the clinic apply for a grant to study the health problems of the indigent population of South Bend, primarily the Hispanic/Latino population. The internship helped him understand the health carecrisis in America and the problems in our social structure, which make this problem a reality. Also, this internship helped him understand how culture and society can play a major role in the health and well-beingof an individual. Nick also really enjoyed “Sociology of Terrorism” and thinks Curt Sobolewski is a great professor who relates well to students. He also enjoyed “Self, Society, and Environment” and “Introduction to Criminology.” Overall, Nick feels that professors Weigert, C. Sobolewski, McVeigh, Myers, Power, Pressler, and C. Smith are very interesting people who are great at engaging students and helping them to understand the relevance of a sociology degree.
Nick plans to attend medical school in the fall of 2009, and potentially work towards a joint Masters in Public Health/MD degree. Also he is considering the Peace Corps or service work abroad, either as part of his MD program or following medical school.
Meet Sarah Walter
Class of 2009
Major: Program of Liberal Studies and Sociology
Hometown: Franklin Park, IL
Sarah decided to come to ND because she wanted to be intellectually challenged, and loved the size, the distance from home, and the dorm life of the school. Besides that, she just fell in love with campus (like many others).
She began her undergrad studies as a Psychology major because she wanted to learn about why people make decisions the way they do. She soon realized that psychology didn’t address the effects that social environment had on personal development, which is essential to understanding human behavior. She switched to sociology because she thought it offered a better grasp on why humans behave the way they do. For a while, she was also planning to be an Econ major, but she found she did not agree with the theory of Homo Economicus. She did not understand/agree with the idea of a rational human who always seeks to maximize utility and minimize cost. The sociology classes that she took confirmed her doubts about this model by showing that humans are Homo Satisificing, which means that theydon't always seek the best option according to Homo Economicus but rather they seek what they see as a pretty good option (a satisfactory one). Homo Satisficing is often satisfied with a mediocre option instead of thebest one, which made more senseto her. Sarah gave the following example: “I might buy a sweater in the first store Igo to, even though I'm not in a hurry and Iknow thatother stores might have much cuter sweaters for the same price.I just like the sweater well enough to buy it. I have not maximized utility and minimized cost, but I'm satisfied.This is a trite example, but you get the picture.”Out of all her Sociology electives, Sarah really enjoyed J. Sobolewski’s “Marriage and Family” because she believes that one’s family environment greatly affects his or her development. She also enjoyed C. Smith’s “Religion, Modernity, Secularization & Religious Persistence” because she is very interested in religion, especially in regards to how social relationships affect personal religious belief. And she really liked D. Myers’s “Introduction to Social Psychology.”
After graduation, Sarah plans on going to grad school for a Master’s degree in religious education. If that doesn’t happen, she will do post-grad service for a year or two.