Addressing Health Inequalities

Sociology Week events focus on health care issues

March 13, 2008

by Mimi Ko Cruz

Health inequalities, including insurance and treatment, are among the issues under discussion at this year’s Sociology Week. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) is a featured speaker for the March 17 and 19 event sponsored by Alpha Kappa Delta, the student sociology honor society.

“Students picked the 2008 theme ‘Health Inequalities’ because disparities of health — prevention, care and treatment, among others — in the U.S. still is the unresolved issue of the 21st century,” said Jorge Fontdevila, assistant professor of sociology and the honor society’s adviser. “The issue is significant when compared to other equivalent developed nations, which have universal health care for their citizens. It is continuously stressed in all political debates and the media.”

The events listed below, are free and open to the public and will take place in the Titan Student Union.

March 17

• 11 a.m.-noon, Portola Pavilion C: “Careers in Sociology”  presented by Debbie Darling, a university Career Center specialist.
• Noon-1 p.m., Portola Pavilion C: “Health Care Plans and What It Means for You”  delivered by Mary Hermann, director of health education and promotion, Student Health and Counseling Center, Cal State Fullerton.
• 1-2 p.m., Portola Pavilion C: “Preaching to the Preachers: Responding to the Black Church's Social Construction of AIDS”  by Angelique Harris, Cal State Fullerton assistant professor of sociology.
• 2:30-3:45 p.m. Portola Pavilion C: “The Medical Rights of Pregnant Teenagers: Labor and Delivery Dilemma” by Loretta Winters, associate professor of sociology, Cal State Northridge.

March 19

• Noon-1 p.m., Portola Pavillion C: “A Non- Partisan View of the Federal Children’s Health Insurance Bill” presented by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).
• 1:15-2:15 p.m., Portola Pavilion C: “Social Implications of HIV/AIDS Among all Communities in the Orange County Area” addressed by Martin Salas, director of health education and prevention services at OC AID’s Services Foundation.
• 3-3:45 p.m., Heterbrink Room: “Kaplan Grad School Workshop.”
• 5-5:30 p.m., Heterbrink Room: “Friends or Foes: Black-Latino Relations in Southern California” by Patricia Literte, associate professor of sociology, Cal State Fullerton.
• 5:30-6 p.m., Heterbrink Room: “Who Owns Conflict? Research on Restorative Juvenile Justice” delivered by William Wood, assistant professor of sociology, Cal State Fullerton.
• 6-6:30 p.m., Heterbrink Room: “Pivotal Moments: A New Theoretical Framework to Understand Academic Success in Higher Education” presented by Roberta Espinoza, assistant professor of sociology, Cal State Fullerton.
• 7-8:15 p.m., Heterbrink Room: “CSUF Sociology Graduate Program Workshop” delivered by Edythe Krampe, lecturer of sociology at Cal State Fullerton and graduate students.