Sociology Research Labs Support Fund

The Sociology Department at the University of Michigan-Dearborn has educated students and transformed them into leaders, professionals, innovators, and more. Through the guidance of sociology faculty, students feel empowered to participate in labs, pursue research opportunities, present at conferences, and excel in the field.

Your gift to the Sociology Research Labs Support Fund makes a real and lasting difference in the future of our program. From grants to scholarships, labs and transformational courses, to textbooks and sending our students to conferences, your contributions are helpful in providing resources and experiences for our program and the wonderful students and faculty involved. To donate, please use the QR code or click below.

Undergraduate research provides UM-Dearborn Sociology students with a transformative experience that has shown to improve grades, increase the likelihood of graduation, and better equip students for graduate school and careers.  Your gift to the Sociology Research Labs Support Fund will help ensure Sociology students can participate in research now and long into the future.  For example, a gift of

• $2,100 enables a student to participate in research with a faculty mentor for a full semester
• $1,000 covers the cost for a student to attend and participate in a professional conference
• $500 will pay for an iPad and Apple pencil that will be used for presentations
• $200 covers the cost of a handheld air monitor for research projects
• $50 will pay for a student to create a poster of their research for conferences and/or poster sessions
• $30 covers travel expenses or registration for a student to participate in a local conference

How Student Mentorship Makes a Difference, with Sociology Professor, Dr. Pamela Aronson

Sociology helps students discover how much the larger social world impacts them in seemingly invisible ways. Mentorship in our sociology program helps students clarify and achieve their educational and professional goals. Mentorship also gives students a taste of what academic research looks like—it lets students discover what they are good at and what they enjoy doing. 

In the Senior Research Seminar, students are mentored and supported as they design and complete their own research project from start to finish. Other students work as Research Assistants or complete directed studies on research projects with sociology faculty and learn first-hand how to present research at academic conferences and/or submit articles for publication. This type of mentoring provides students with important research skills and experience that they can bring into the workforce and/or graduate or professional school. 

Changing Perspectives & Impacting Society, with Sociology Professor, Dr. Paul Draus

Sociology is an important facet when considering the structures of society and the groups that are interacting. Sociology professor Paul Draus, who is also the faculty director of the UM Detroit Center has worked with students in the Sociology program and across campus to foster collaboration, bring awareness, and create alternatives to incarceration. 

The Inside Out Prison Exchange Program at UM-Dearborn typically takes place inside a state correctional facility, where “outside” students (from the University) and “inside” (incarcerated) students engage in intensive dialogue related to issues of social justice and inequality, with a focus on the causes and consequences of mass incarceration. The Inside-Out (IO) class, with its distinctive dialogic approach, consistently produces a space of transformational and liberatory education, paradoxically taking place behind prison walls.

Art and Agency from the Inside-Out.” Drawing on extensive collaboration between faculty on the UM-Dearborn campus and formerly incarcerated people as a result of the IO program, we developed a series of meetings and workshops where students and formerly incarcerated individuals share their experiences while immersing themselves in the practice of various arts. Under the direction of facilitators trained in various expressive arts, UM-Dearborn students, faculty and formerly incarcerated facilitators share a space where cognitive reflection accompanies sensory, kinesthetic, and emotional expression through dialogue that helps all participants share and understand problems related to social inequality, especially as it relates to experiences of the carceral system in the United States.

Advocating for the Environment and Social Justice, with Sociology Professor, Dr. Carmel Price

Sociology plays an important role in understanding inequities and improving justice. Sociology Professor Carmel Price conducts research on working-class college students who experience food insecurity and homelessness. She works closely with many campus food pantries across the state of Michigan and with non-profit organizations such as Swipe Out Hunger. In October 2023, she testified before the State House of Representatives Higher Education Committee in support of H.B. 5097, the Hunger Free Campus Bill. Ending campus hunger helps to level the playing field between working-class college students and college students who have more resources to support their education, health, and well-being. 

From direct interaction with policy makers to connecting and collaborating with community members, the environmental justice work done through the sociology program and our faculty is key to empowering our students. A great example of this work is Dr. Carmel Price's community-centered environmental justice project. Through meaningful and equitable partnerships, Professors Price and her team are dedicated to building skills, knowledge, and resources to achieve environmental justice in Southeast Michigan. This work has included peer-review research publications with dozens of undergraduate students and community partners as co-authors. As one student noted, this work "has taught me to recognize the power of my voice as a youth, the strength of my story as a woman of color, and the impact of intergenerational work as a means to mobilize for justice." 

Sociologist Professors Emeriti James E. Gruber and Frances Reissman Cousens were dedicated members of sociology whose legacies of teaching, research, service, and mentorship will endure through the Sociology Research Lab Support Fund. Their work surrounding social justice serves as an inspiration for future sociologists at UM-Dearborn. We honor their contributions to the Sociology discipline, the department, college, and university.