This semester wraps my 10th year teaching at Maryville College.

Among this year’s teaching highlights was attending the “New Directions in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies” conference at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with several of my students from Introductory Sociology and Social Inequality. I also cherished the opportunity to make a donation with my Social Inequality class to Blount County Family Promise, in honor of a wonderful student enrolled in our class who died unexpectedly in the last week of the semester.

A few of the students who joined to attend the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Conference.

Donating to Family Promise with my Social Inequality students

I am pleased to report that I have now received the fully copyedited manuscript from Oxford University Press for my forthcoming book, Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church.

This expected release date for the book – both hardback and paperback – is August 2017.

From the American Sociological Association Section on Religion:

DISTINGUISHED BOOK AWARD
The ASA Sociology of Religion Section solicits nominations for the 2017 Distinguished Book Award. The award honors a book that makes an outstanding contribution to the sociology of religion. Books published in the previous two years (copyright date of 2015 or 2016) are eligible for the 2017 award. Nominated authors must be members of the ASA Religion Section in order for their book to be considered. Please have publishers send copies of books nominated for the award to each of the four committee members no later than March 1st, 2017 to be considered for the award. Books may be nominated for the award by authors, publishers, or others.

Book Award Committee
Please send nominated books to each committee member at the addresses below.

Tricia Bruce (chair)
Division of Social Sciences
Maryville College
502 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway
Maryville, TN 37804-5907

Mark Mulder
Department of Sociology and Social Work
Calvin College
3201 Burton SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546

Rachel Rinaldo
Department of Sociology
University of Colorado Boulder
UCB 327, Ketchum 266
Boulder, CO 80309

Buster Smith
Catawba College
Sociology Department
2300 W Innes Street
Salisbury, NC 28144

It was a pleasure to participate in today’s conversation about Asian American Catholics, stemming from the report I co-authored with Drs. Stephen Cherry and Jerry Park.

At a special panel of the American Academy of Religion – sponsored by the Asian North American Religion, Culture, and Society Group – we presenting findings from our 2014-2015 study. Three expert panelists – Professors Tia Pratt, Jeremy Cruz, and Joe Cheah – then offered insightful commentary on the report and its implications for how we understand Asian American Catholics.