Sociology

Berkeley Connect links undergraduate students with experienced mentors in Sociology. These mentors lead small groups of 10-20 students in regular meetings; they also meet with students one-on-one to provide guidance and advice. The core of the Berkeley Connect program is a one-credit, pass-fail course that is designed to create a community of students with similar intellectual interests. There is no homework associated with Berkeley Connect: no exams, no papers, no quizzes. Instead, small group meetings focus on sharing ideas and learning new skills within the Sociology major as a way to foster friendships and provide a supportive intellectual community for Berkeley undergraduates.The only requirement for joining Berkeley Connect in Sociology is that you have an interest in the field of study. You do not have to be a major in order to participate! Undeclared freshmen and sophomores are welcome, along with entering junior transfers and juniors and seniors who have declared the major.

Every semester, Berkeley Connect sponsors a wide range of activities and events for participating students.  They include:

• small-group meetings led by your mentor;
• one-on-one meetings with your mentor;
• special events, including informal lectures by professors and guest speakers, and panels on career options, graduate school admissions, and other topics;
• and visits to Berkeley resources.

At the heart of Berkeley Connect is the relationship between you and your mentor. The Berkeley Connect mentors are advanced graduate students s in Sociology, who are chosen both for their demonstrated commitment to undergraduates and for their scholarly achievement. They are dedicated to providing the kind of close-knit community and one-on-one attention that can be hard to find at a large university.

When you sign up for Berkeley Connect, you will join one of several small groups of participants in Sociology. Your small group will be led by your mentor, and will meet every other week during the semester for an hour-long dinner discussion sessions. Discussions will focus on key intellectual issues within Sociology as well as key skills you need to succeed in the major. Above all, the small groups will focus on building connections among students, so that each group becomes a supportive community for all participants.

You will also meet with your mentor one-on-one at least twice during the semester, once to get acquainted, and a second time just before Tele-Bears, to discuss your plans for completing your major. Your mentor also has office hours every other week, during which you are free to show up and ask questions, talk over your day or your week, discuss what you are learning in class, or just have an informal conversation.

G. Cristina Mora (Director) completed her B.A. in Sociology at UC Berkeley in 2003 and earned her PhD in Sociology from Princeton University in 2009. Before returning to Cal, she was a Provost Postdoctoral Scholar in Sociology at the University of Chicago. Professor Mora’s research focuses mainly on questions of racial and ethnic categorization, organizations, and culture. Her forthcoming book, Making HIspanics, will be published by the University of Chicago Press and provides a socio-historical account of the emergence and diffusion of the “Hispanic/Latino” panethnic category in the United States. She is currently working on two new projects. The first examines how national Latino political organizations in the United States and Spain develop and implement panethnic agendas. The second assess clinical studies to explore how the rise of a HIspanic panethnic category influenced the discourse about race and medicine in the United States and abroad.  In addition, Professor Mora’s research on culture focuses on immigrant religion, as well as on the diffusion of Pentecostalism in Latin America. Her work is forthcoming or has been published in venues like the American Sociological Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Latino Studies, and Poetics.

Emily Ruppel is a PhD candidate in Sociology.

Where did you grow up?

Seattle, WA

Where did you go to college and what was your major?

Smith College, Sociology (minor in Applied Statistics)

How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?

My research is about disability and capitalism. My dissertation focuses empirically on job training programs for disabled workers, using historical research to trace the growth of this industry since the 1970s and ethnographic fieldwork to investigate contemporary labor practices.

---

Angel Mendiola Ross is a PhD candidate in Sociology.

Where did you grow up?

Inland Empire, CA

Where did you go to college and what was your major?

University of Southern California, Sociology and Economics

How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?

I study policing, housing, and racial inequality, especially in suburban contexts.

---

Mary Shi is a PhD candidate in Sociology.

Where did you grow up?

Tracy, CA

Where did you go to college and what was your major?

Yale University, Political Science and Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics

How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?

My dissertation uses the United States as a case to analyze the role of large-scale infrastructure projects in the formation of the modern state. I’ve also done research on housing struggles, the knowledge economy, and displacement in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mostly broadly, I am interested in the intersection of society and space and questions about the power dynamics of knowledge and knowledge production.

---

During a semester in Berkeley Connect in Sociology, you will participate in one-on-one conversations with your mentor, small-group discussions, special events and field trips.

Recent discussion topics have included:

• The sociological imagination
• Charting your intellectual path
• Writing like a sociologist
• Student savvy: how to get the most out of your time at UC Berkeley

Berkeley Connect discussion sessions are informal and interactive, with time allowed for students to check in, talk about their experiences on campus, and reflect on current events that create the context for their academic studies.

Recent special events and field trips have included:

• Faculty Panel: How and Why I Became a Berkeley Professor
• Undergraduate Research Panel
• Guided tour of Berkeley Art Museum

To sign up, enroll in a Berkeley Connect section when course registration opens.  To participate in Berkeley Connect in Sociology, you enroll in a section of Sociology 198BC, offered for one unit, taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. Participation is NOT restricted to declared majors.

You may enroll in Berkeley Connect more than once (some students choose to participate for a full year by enrolling in both the fall and spring semesters), and you may enroll through more than one department. You may NOT enroll in more than two sections of Berkeley Connect in one semester, or enroll in more than one section in the same department in the same semester.

Please see our FAQs.  If you have additional questions about Berkeley Connect in Sociology, please contact: G. Cristina Mora, Faculty Director, cmora@berkeley.edu.

You can also contact the central Berkeley Connect office  at berkeleyconnect@berkeley.edu or (510)664-4182.