Course on "People and the Polls" for Spring 2010

It's almost Advising Week here at Trinity, which means its time for Trinity students to start thinking about what they want to take next semester. I'll be teaching a new class on "People and the Polls" (see the course description here). Among other things, I want to have the students in the course examine the unrolling of the 2010 Census. All aboard! Sign up now!

Pictures of the SSC, circa 1930

The room that now houses the Social Science Center used to be Trinity's original library and was occupied as such until the library moved to its first free-standing building in 1952 (where it still stands today).  In case you are curious, this is what it used to look like (courtesy of Peter Knapp at the Trinity College Archives in the Watkinson):

Most of the book shelves lining the sides of the room are long gone, but they still remain in the corners.  I love the light shining through the east window!

Sociology open house - October 27

The Sociology Department is hosting an open house for prospective majors on October 27, from 4:15 to 5:30 in the Crescent Street building where the department is located. Take a look at the flier.

Greetings from Ann Arbor

Right now, I'm in Michigan, as part of the assessment team for ICPSR's new website Teaching With Data.  Unfortunately, it's pouring in Ann Arbor, and so I don't get to troll around one of my favorite college towns before events commence at 3:00 pm.  However, being here always reminds me of how cool data people are.  I'm ready to begin!

Trinity Days Workshops - Register Now!

I will be hosting three workshops over Trinity Days:

• Workshop#1: Excel (Monday, October 12, 10 - 12)
• Workshop#2: SPSS (Monday, October 12, 2 - 4)
• Workshop#3: Atlas.ti (Tuesday, October 13, 10 - 12)

We’ll be working in the best computer lab on campus (Seabury 205), eating some food, and working through some “real world” situations that require technical, software skills. There is no better time to start picking up these skills than while you are in college, where you can do this for free in a low-stress environment!

These workshops are for students from all skill levels (from those who would rather avoid learning new software to those who know a lot about the software at hand but want to learn how to apply software skills to real, problem-solving activities).

Please visit the SSC events page to read the flier and register!

ICPSR's Meeting for Official Representatives - Online this week!

Today was the kickoff for ICPSR's first ever online OR meeting. Usually ICPSR hosts their meeting in Ann Arbor every other year. But the economy got the best of everyone this year, and so they decided to host it online via webinars instead. Although it's disappointing not to go to Ann Arbor, the plus of doing things this way is that more people can attend. It doesn't cost a dime to register for these webinars and learn a few things about data.

Libbie Stephenson and I hosted our New OR Orientation today, so if you are not reading this blog post before now, I hate to say that you missed it! But do check out the rest of the schedule for this week. I'm hoping to catch the session on the 2010 Census on Wednesday at 11:00!

Trinity thesis student's thesis is online

Devlin Hughes' thesis on the creation of the Smart Choices website is now online here. If you haven't read this yet, or if you don't know anything about Smart Choices, you should check it out. This thesis brings so many things together: digital and educational divide issues, data visualization, mapping, and website design.