James Vela-McConnell
Associate Professor
velamcco@augsburg.edu


James is a Fellow of the Ford Foundation and has been teaching at Augsburg College since the fall of 1997. His growing up as an "military brat" and living in many different places gave him both a national and international cultural experience and exposure. Sociology has helped him to "understand the crazy stuff happening in the world."

James said Augsburg's sociology program is "grounded in critical thinking," and is the "best place" to prepare students who are interested in continuing on to graduate school.

"Students tell us they love the availability of the faculty. We have a combination of very academic and very activist students."

James, together with Professor Bev Stratton (Department of Religion), has just written a paper titled "The Word on Sex: Biblical Interpretation (On the Web) and Socially Constructed Realities." This paper appears as a chapter in the book Sex, Religion, Media (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002). The research for this paper was a collaboration between the two authors and two Augsburg students: sociology major Ann Mathews and religion major Ross Murray. Both students are now Augsburg alums. James has begun collecting data for his next book titled, "Some of My Best Friends Are."

In addition to his role as a member of the faculty, James is a member of the Personnel Committee. He is also a co-advisor for Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society.

Education
B.A. Loyola University
M.A. Boston College
Ph.D. Boston College

Publications
James has presented a number of papers and seminars on computerized qualitative data analysis throughout the Boston area and at two national conferences of the American Sociological Association. He has also presented, both regionally and nationally, his observational research of giving behavior in public places.

• "Reflections on the 'Death of Marxism," appears in the book What's Left: Radical Politics in the Post communist Era (by Charles Derber, et al., Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995).
• "Who Is My Neighbor? Social Affinity in a Modern World," (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999). This book was nominated for the C. Wright Mills Award, the highest honor for a sociology book published in the field of social problems.

Areas of Concentration
Introduction to Human Society (SOC 121)
Race, Class, and Gender (SOC 265)
Cultures of Violence (SOC 290)
Social Problems Analysis (SOC 390)
Social Psychology (SOC 375)
Interdisciplinary Qualitative Research Methods (INS 381/581)