Rachel Powell Wins Two Major Paper Awards
When Centenary senior Rachel Powell "took off" a semester to go on the Soulforce Equality Ride in 2006, she was only just beginning to work on her sociology degree. Nevertheless, she used the experience to do the fieldwork research for an award winning paper on social movements, "Sustaining Group Members: A Case Study in Social Movement Organizations."
Rachel speaks about researching and writing the paper, as well as how it felt to win.
Working closely with sociology professor Dr. Michelle Wolkomir, Rachel built upon her research during the ride to examine more generic questions about the ways in which social movement organizations use narrative strategies to attract and retain members, as well as how such narratives must be adjusted through time to sustain organizational momentum.
Rachel's original research has been honored with two awards in 2008, one regional and one international:
- Odum Award for best undergraduate paper from the Southern Sociological Society
- Winner of the 2008 Undergraduate Student Paper Competition from Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society
As part of her wins, Rachel will travel to academic conferences in both Richmond and Boston in the spring and summer of 2008 to present her paper and receive her awards.
The Odum Award has been won by two other Centenary students in the recent past: Diya Surie in 2006, and Harmony Newman in 2003.