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Date: Fri, 5 Feb 93 02:09:00 EST
From: Gregory_Nagy@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu
To: socgrad@ucsd.edu
Hello fellow graduate students!  I am a Soc. Grad. student at
Wayne State University, which is located in downtown Detroit,
Michigan.  I am in the process of finishing up my masters
degree and have applied to the University of Michigan and
Michigan State University Phd programs for next fall.
I have served as a T.A. for this department since coming
here.  My T.A. responsibilities have included leading
discussion sections, writing and proctoring tests, and
variety of other interesting duties.  The professors here
generally treat T.A.s with a lot of respect.  Moreover, our
work load, while not boring, is hardly unbearable.  Of
course, as I am reasonably sure is the case with most
University T.A. positions, our duties do fluctuate in terms
of demand intensity.
 
Currently I am serving as a T.A. for a graduate level
research methods course.  In this position I am basically
responsible for the computer applications end of the
instruction.  Because many of the students are cyberphobic,
this position is at once demanding and challenging.
 
Even though we have some good quantitative faculty and a
pretty awesome computer lab, we, as a group, are not all
quantoid.  David Maines, a prolific symbolic interactionist,
has recently come on board at W.S.U.  He believes in
augmenting existing quantitative research with qualitative
research.
 
Theorist Ann Rawls is a strong believer in uniting theory
with practice, as is evident by the 1/4 million a year grant
she (and others) earned for the department in order to study
the symbolic intricacies of family interaction via a state of
the art video room, and via on site video recordings.
 
Leon Wilson is a rising figure in the area of Black Family.
 
J. Ross Eshleman has both a Family and Intro text book to his
acclaim.
 
And many other faculty members are putting out some good
work.
 
The department has adopted a philosophy of multi-method
research.  So, while the artificial distinction between
qualitative and quantitative sociology is ever present on the
lips of budding sociologists, and posited in some circles as
some Manichean dichotomy, many graduate students here are
developing a strong appreciation for multi-perspective
approach to sociological research.
 
All and all, Wayne State is a pretty cool place to become
socialized as a sociologist!
 
Greg N.
Wayne State University