Westminster Professor Discusses Cluster Courses at American Sociological Meeting

Dr. Kristin Park, associate professor of sociology at Westminster College, recently discussed cluster courses at the American Sociological Association annual meeting.

 "At the meeting, 'Weaving the Tapestry: Teaching with Other Disciplines,' I discussed my experiences with Westminster's inquiry and cluster classes," Park said.

 Inquiry is taken during a student's first year at Westminster College.  This semester-long course is designed to confront and engage students, and is taken in addition to writing and oral communication to make skill and content instruction mutually reinforcing.  Cluster courses are taken during the sophomore or junior years at Westminster, and consist of two linked courses taught by at least two faculty from different disciplines to the same group of students.

 Park's journal article, "Stigma Management Among the Voluntarily Childless," will be reprinted in the fifth edition of Patricia and Peter Adler's reader, "Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context and Interaction," a widely adopted textbook in sociology of deviance classes.

 Park, who has been with Westminster College since 1993, earned her undergraduate degree from Colgate University, and her master's and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 For more information, contact Park at (724) 946-7251 or e-mail kpark@westminster.edu

Dr. Kristin Park