Professor Ari Adut's new book out in August
Dr Adut's book, On Scandal, is part of Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences series by Cambridge
Scandal is the quintessential public event. Here is the first general and comprehensive analysis of this ubiquitous moral phenomenon. Taking up wide-ranging cases in society, politics, and art, Ari Adut shows when wrongdoings generate scandals and when they do not. He focuses on the emotional and cognitive experience of scandals and the relationships among those who are involved in or exposed to them. This perspective explains variations in the effects, frequency, elicited reactions, outcomes, and strategic uses of scandals. On Scandal: Moral Disturbances in Society, Politics, and Art offers provocative accounts of the Oscar Wilde, Watergate, and Lewinsky affairs. Adut also employs the lens of scandal to address puzzles and questions regarding public life. Why is American politics plagued by sex scandals? What is the cause of the rise in political scandals in Western democracies? Why were Victorians sometimes very accommodating and other times very intolerant of homosexuality? What is the social logic of hypocrisy? Why has transgression been so central to modern art?

Fall 2008 placements for recent PhDs
Sociology students obtain tenure-track positions at universities
Congratulations to...

Sociology Graduate Coordinator receives UT Outstanding Graduate Coordinator Award
Evelyn Porter awarded Outstanding Graduate Coordinator for 2008
Sociology Graduate Coordinator, Evelyn Porter, has received the 2008 Outstanding Graduate Coordinator Award, sponsored by the Office of Graduate Studies. Congratulations!

Professors Muller and Umberson invited to join the Sociological Research Association
Chandra Muller and Debra Umberson new members of prestigious organization
Dr Chandra Muller and Dr Debra Umberson have recently been invited to join the Sociological Research Association (SRA). Founded in 1936, the SRA's mission is to recognize and promote excellence in sociological research. Currently, its membership numbers about 425 (some of whom are emeriti). Invitations to membership are extended to a limited number of sociologists each year, based on their long-term careers of distinguished research.

Undergraduates awarded prestigious Hibbs Scholarship
Kelly Burns, Deva Cats-Baril and Lisa Newhouse received Hibbs Scholarship for 2008-9
Sociology undergraduates Kelly Burns, Deva Cats-Baril and Lisa Newhouse have each been awarded a Hibbs Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 for the 2008-2009 academic year. The Dr Bailey R Collins/Ellene Collins Ward/Mary Sue Collins Hibbs Scholarship Fund was created through a bequest from the estate of Mrs Hibbs in memory of her brother, her sister and herself. Because of Mrs Hibbs' generosity, the scholarship was able to be established in several undergraduate departments in the College of Liberal Arts.

Graduate student receives outstanding student paper award
Jeremy Uecker receives McNamara award from ASR
Sociology graduate student Jeremy Uecker was awarded the 2008 Robert J. McNamara Student Paper Award from the Association for the Sociology of Religion (ASR) for his paper, "Religious and Spiritual Responses to 9/11: Evidence from the Add Health Sample." He will present the paper at the ASR meeting in July, and it is forthcoming in a special issue of Sociological Spectrum on the sociology of religion.