Jeanine A. Becker Memorial Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper 2017 Co-Winners:
“Global Secular Elites? Religious Identities, Context-Based Knowledge,and Meaning-Making Processes within UN Spaces” by Shanna Corner
and
“Information Transmission in situ: Communication Pathways in Protest Situations” by Justin Van Ness
About the Becker Award: The Jeanine Becker Award is named after Dr. Jeanine A. Becker, PhD./R.N., who was a doctoral student in Notre Dame’s Sociology Department between 1985 and 1994. Dr. Becker was a medical sociologist who studied the empowerment of nurses in American hospitals for her dissertation project, directed by Professor Rodney Ganey. She also presented papers on the “Healthy People 2000” initiative; the effects of smoking on natality, lead poisoning in children, infant mortality, competency-based nurse training, and school health.
After completing her doctorate, Dr. Becker stayed with the Sociology Department as an Adjunct Professor until her untimely death from a brain tumor in April 1997. She was known among her peers and colleagues as both a dedicated scholar and a compassionate practitioner. She directed and served in several departments of Memorial Hospital, South Bend, Indiana, before, during, and after her time as a graduate student. The Becker Award is given annually to the current student in the doctoral program who applies and whose paper is judged to best represent the highest quality of sociological scholarship and Notre Dame’s commitment to serving human welfare and justice. The honor carries with it a monetary award of $200.00. In addition, the student’s names will be inscribed on a plaque which will hang in the departmental office.