Center for Social Research

A new paradigm for a new year

Greetings, colleagues! For 2006-2007, the Center for Social Research is moving to a new project management footing, of which this brand new weblog is a part. We are working to place new emphasis on our primary mission:  helping Calvin faculty improve our academic research in the social sciences. CSR’s support for community service organizations, the Christian Reformed Church, and Calvin administrative departments will not end, but we are working hard to emphasize faculty research as the organizing principle for these other CSR functions, which are after all part of our entire institution’s mission, not CSR’s alone. This note is primarily about the ongoing expansion of our high-tech research-support infrastructure. Read on to see a few of the steps we are taking…

READ MORE...

Congratulations, Graduates!

The Center extends its congratulations to our May 2006 graduates. Carolyn Yu has worked at CSR for three years and has contributed to data entry and logistical management; a political science major, she was also a fellow of the Henry Institute in 2005-2006. She has an internship with Chase Manhattan Bank in her future. Michael Sullivan, a psychology major, finished Calvin’s program in just three years and has received significant scholarship aid to study law at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; he currently plans to specialize in intellectual property. During his two years at CSR, Michael has programmed dozens of surveys in Inquisite, managed major mailings, and provided the CSR workroom with a fantastic supply of snacks. He also produced a much visited reanalysis of law schools placement records. We will miss you both!

New student Research Assistants

CSR has hired rising senior Dale Yi (a major in Psychology and Economics) and rising sophomore Nehemiah Chu (Religion and Communications) to join our team beginning in Summer 2006. They will join Gwen Einfeld (Engineering) and Mark Van Holstyn (Computer Science) in supporting CSR projects through the summer.

There is some possibility of additional hiring for Fall 2006. Candidates, especially those with technical skills with statistical analysis, databases and information management, are welcome to apply. Visit the CSR Jobs page to see job descriptions and apply online.