ABOUT ME
Hi. My name is Gina Spitz. I'm a PhD Student in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Michael M. Bell, of Community and Environmental Sociology, is my adviser.
My research and teaching interests are race and ethnicity, urban sociology, and social inequality. I also try to incorporate an analysis of spatial dynamics into my work. As Pierre Bourdieu once said - "an agent's position in social space is expressed in the site of physical space" (Bourdieu 1999: 124). Along these lines, I'm particularly interested in looking at how racial inequality relates to spatial relationships in urban areas. For my Master's thesis, I looked at how Black Middle Class individuals in Milwaukee experienced space as racially coded in ways that reinforced racial residential segregation.
I also work as a Project Assistant for the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching, which challenges scientists to bring to teaching the critical thinking, rigor, creativity, and spirit of experimentation to the classroom for better undergraduate education. Currently, the director of WPST - Sarah Miller, and I are working with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences to improve assessment and training of Teaching Assistants there.
One of the things I've come to enjoy the most about my work is teaching. I have taught the Survey of Sociology class several times, as well as the introductory class on U.S. Racial and Ethnic Minorities. I am also excited to be able to co-facilitate the Scientific Teaching course this upcoming Fall 2011 semester with Sarah Miller. We will be giving newbie TAs survival skills for teaching and knowledge about how undergraduates learn best.
Like many of my colleagues in the Sociology department, I chose to enter academia as part of an effort to actually DO something with the knowledge I learn about social problems. Aside from tayloring my research agenda to focus on social inequalities, I am also involved in several efforts outside of the academy focusing on workers rights (my union - the TAA, and those huge protests at the WI capitol), defending quality, affordable public education, anti-racist and feminist social commentary, and two efforts to improve access and retention of racial/ethnic minorities in higher education (ONRAMP and Sociology's Minority Recruitment and Retention Program).
When I have some extra time, I like to take long bike-rides out of town on my road bike, try out new restaurants and watering holes in Madison, and do some outdoor activities. I'm not bad at racquetball, and I am usually up for trying any new activity once.UNDER CONSTRUCTION (Aug 2011), PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON