Kaulapi World

Q: What have you done since you left college? (Occupations, family, service, politics etc.) Tell us whatever you want us to know.

A: Worked for the state of Hawaii, took evening classes at the University of Hawaii in Economics and Political Science as an unclassified graduate student. After that I returned to Madison for a Master’s degree in public policy from the La Follette Institute, and am currently working for the federal government and working on a law degree as an part-time, evening student.

Q: Has your education in sociology been relevant or useful in your life? How? (We are wondering about general citizenship or social awareness as well as occupations.)

A: One of the true realities both in academia and in the real world is that humans are by nature social beings, and thus the study of society is very relevant and useful in living as a human being. I think the sociology education at UW-Madison has help make me a more conscious person better able to appreciate better people from different backgrounds, perspectives, socio-economic status, cultural, religious and personal values. This broader perspective comes in handy when working with other people in the real life work environment. Office politics always come into play and it helps to understand co-worker’s backgrounds as possible markers or explanations for their behaviors. There is also much to be said about the study of sociology as a means of establishing a strong sense of identity and self worth, which I find is essential for confidence and general happiness in life.

Q: Are there any classes or professors or other experiences in our program that stand out in your mind as especially memorable or useful?

A: Professor Duneier’s introduction course to Sociology was very memorable. I actually took it late in my degree path, one of my last soc courses but ended up being very enjoyable and personally beneficial. I was especially interested in Mitch’s research in writing “Sidewalk” and how he invited one of the people he met during his research to visit Madison as a guest lecturer. He was a “subject” in the strictest sense, but the respectful but honest way that Mitch wrote about him and interacted with him reflected the very human-focused aspects of sociology.

The other memorable sociology course that I had the opportunity to take was professor Elder’s Global Village seminar which gave students currently living in the Merit House Global Village a chance to share and learn from each other’s cultural backgrounds and experiences.

Another memorable course that I took which I believe was cross-listed in Sociology and Afro-Am Studies was professor Michael Thornton’s course on cross cultural interactions between ethnic minority groups. The premise of the course was to move away from focusing on white-black interactions and to allow discussions on asian-black, brown-black and other interracial interactions that are as much of a reality as the white-black discussion. I found his no-nonsense approach towards discussing race relations in an open and active setting very beneficial to thinking outside of the box, which is what we as societies need to constantly be challenging themselves in order to improve race relations beyond the status quo.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for future students or for us that would improve our program for students?

A: Looking back on everything, I think more efforts at providing career and job placement to sociology majors would be helpful. Sociology gets a bad rap as an “easy” major with limited job prospects on graduation without plans to go to graduate school. There are opportunities out there, but I remember as a student I was at times a little uncertain what I would be doing after graduation with a sociology degree. While I can definitely say that the degree program overall prepared me for the next steps in my academic and professional development, most of my opportunities were obtained on my own with minimal official guidance from the sociology department. Instead, it came from the professors themselves that I reached out to for guidance and advice. Also triple majoring and getting a criminal justice certificate probably helped out as well.