University of Akron Department of Sociology

10/05/2026

Something big is coming soon! Mark your calendars for October 30th!

10/05/2026

Soooo, we have an exciting new addition to our team who has already turned our place around in only one week and has helped beyond expectations and brought a new spirit to our rooms! Welcome to the amazing Carla Himmerlreich! The Buchtel Beat profiled her today:

Give a warm BCAS welcome to Carla Himmelreich, who joined the Departments of Political Science and Sociology as Administrative Assistant & Student Support Specialist. The editor of the Buchtel Beat reached out to ask her a few questions.

What is your professional background prior to working for UA? Prior to being hired for the University of Akron I was a substitute high school teacher for the past year. I also worked for 10 years for a winery in Rootstown as their Office Manager and Accounting and Payroll Manager.

Are you an alum? If so - year and major? I am an alum! I graduated in 2003 with a bachelor's in finance.
What excites you about joining BCAS and your department? I am excited and proud to be part of TWO departments and the University community. I look forward to supporting faculty, staff, and students in achieving their goals while contributing to a collaborative and positive environment. I am passionate about helping create an engaging, welcoming, and enjoyable experience where students can succeed and feel connected to our campus community.

What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of work? Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my husband and my son. We enjoy hiking, camping, and visiting national parks. I also love to crochet!

09/30/2026

Big day in the office! We welcome our new administrative goddess Carla Himmelreich and we got started on painting the new Student Lounge!

It’s going to be an amazing student space in Olin with comfy furniture, games, a foosball table, free books and more!

The Student Lounge will also feature a bonus room for study groups and be a cool space to hang out, have student organization meetings, and change the world.

09/25/2026

We had a blast last night with a fabulous drone light show and a huge, excited crowd of students, staff, and faculty and their families!

We never had something like it before, and it was truly an experience of what sociologist Durkheim called 'collective effervescence." The "LIGHT UP THE NIGHT" show was an invitation from President exclusively for students, staff, and faculty at UA, with free food and a lot of fun outdoor activities. Everybody was excited to be there; there was a shared sense of energy, unity, and electricity. We needed that bit of joy and wonder as a campus community.

08/25/2026

Our very own Mark Meadows has published an opinion piece in the Akron Beacon Journal; congratulations! Mark is a student magnet who has had academic leadership roles in California and Arizona while always maintaining a rich teaching portfolio. We are lucky to have him back in his hometown teaching a wide variety of classes and often nerding out over sports or movies ;-)

A reader reflects on the recent congressional push to make daylight saving time permanent.

08/23/2026

Emma Bass and Kellie Hughes, our fantastic student leaders for Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society Sociology Club are ready for Roofest today! Go meet them 12-3pm in the Student Union!
Sociology Club

05/11/2026

We are tremendously proud that our very own Estrella Lemus was elected to be a commencement speaker in this year's ceremony. She is the first Sociology graduate at UA to accept this honor and responsibility. Estrella works a full-time job to sopport her college (and sometimes more), has led our Mu Chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society, presented her research at North Central Sociology Association twice, and is a bright and shining star in our hallways (as her name suggests ;-).

You can check out her profile https://www.uakron.edu/graduation/responders/2026/lemus and speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Mpa0NrxLI
(start at minute 23) - We are sure to see her face, skill, and magic in academia (her chosen path) and beyond!

05/07/2026

05/07/2026

It is that time of the year to celebrate our team and students. Many of us are part of the cohort of the Akron Community Engegaged (ACE) Scholars within the fabulous The EXL Center for Community Engaged Learning. This year, we welcomed Jennifer J. Reed and Elena Popa into the ever-growing circle!

We had a marvellous time celebrating the accomplishments of my colleagues; congratulations to Stacey Nofziger for the Excellence in Campus-Community Collaboration Award for her pathbreaking collaboration with the City of Akron, and to Rebecca Erickson for her Lifetime Akron Community Engaged Scholar Award. We were pretty much crying all day as we see Becky float into retirement after this semester.

We have so much more to celebrate: Among other awesome things, our very own graduate and AKD president Estrella Lemus was chosen as the commencement speaker this year, Andrew Magons landed a job with "socioogy" in the title, and our Larry Payne was accepted into graduate school! Bam!

04/20/2026

We had a fabulous weekend at the NCSA conference in Pittsburgh, and we are so proud of our students! We had four students presenting their work (kudos to Lauren Holler, Brynn Lewis, Kellie Ann Hughes and Estrella Lemus!), several others joined and supported their colleagues and networked (Emma Bass, Andrew Magons, Carmen Meeker).

While we were there, we learned that Estrella was chosen as the Commencement Speaker to represent the college at the spring graduation ceremony! A Latina from Appalachian Ohio, she finances her studies through hard (sometimes more than full-time work) has led our AKD Sociology Honors Society chapter for the past year, and presented on sociology as mental health tool at NCSA. WE could not be more proud and will support her on her way to grad school! The committee really made the right decision. Congratulations!