NIEMONEN, Jack (Edwin) 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born January 8, 1952, in Duluth, MN; son of Thury Amor and Lois Adelaide (maiden name, Johnson; present surname, Rhea) Niemonen; married Karen Engberg Brokenleg (a social worker), July, 1990; stepchildren: Nic, Sarah, Anna. Ethnicity: "White (Finnish-Norwegian heritage)." Education: Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1974; Michigan State University, M.A., 1977, Ph.D., 1982. Politics: "Registered Democrat." Hobbies and other interests: Cooking.

ADDRESSES:

Home—1718 South Ninth Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57105. Office—Department of Social Behavior, University of South Dakota, 414 East Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069-2390; fax: 605-677-5583. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD, assistant professor of sociology, 1983-85; Cornell College, Mount Vernon, IA, visiting assistant professor of sociology, 1985-86; Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD, assistant professor of sociology, 1986-89; University of South Dakota, Vermillion, assistant professor, 1989-93, associate professor, 1993-2002, professor of sociology, 2002—, chair of Human Subjects Committee, 1994-95, 1996-97. Guest speaker at Guilford College, 1985, University of Dubuque, 1986, Pacific Lutheran University, 1989, and elsewhere; South Dakota Public Radio, panelist on South Dakota Forum, 1992. United Charities of Chicago, assistant site director at Camp Algonquin, 1982; Sioux Vocational Services, residential unit trainer for the developmentally disabled, 1984-85.

MEMBER:

American Sociological Association, Society for the Study of Social Problems, Association for Humanist Sociology, American Academy of Political and Social Science, Midwest Sociological Society (member of board of directors, 1997-99; state director, 1997-99), Great Plains Sociological Association, Mid-South Sociological Association, Psi Chi, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi Kappa Phi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Teaching award, Great Plains Sociological Association, 1999.

WRITINGS:

Race, Class, and the State in Contemporary Sociology: The William Julius Wilson Debates, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder, CO),

Contributor to books, including Teaching Race and Ethnic Relations: Syllabi and Instructional Materials, edited by Donald Cunnigen, American Sociological Association (Washington, DC), 1990, 4th edition, 2001; Sociology of Work and Organizations: Resource Book of Syllabi and Teaching Materials, edited by Geoffrey W. Grant, American Sociological Association (Washington, DC), 1993; A Handbook for Teaching Medical Sociology, 3rd edition, edited by Bernice A. Pescosolido, Anne E. Figert, and Gregory Weiss, American Sociological Association (Washington, DC), 1997; and Teaching Sociology from a Marxist Perspective, 2nd edition, edited by Martha E. Gimenez and Brian V. Klocke, American Sociological Association (Washington, DC), 2002. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology, American Sociologist, Humanity and Society, Great Plains Sociologist, and Sociological Spectrum. Associate editor, Teaching Sociology, 1996-98.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Research for a book of readings on American racial and ethnic relations, with emphasis on "how sociological thinking on race relations has changed in recent decades."

SIDELIGHTS:

Jack Niemonen told CA: "The articles that I published were written from the perspectives of the sociology of sociology and the sociology of knowledge. They sought to better understand the social construction of knowledge in the field of race relations and the ideological currents that may contaminate it. Whether or not these efforts should be regarded as basic research is open to debate; nevertheless, they are important to the task of advancing the discipline and strengthening classroom teaching.

"My most comprehensive effort is embodied in Race, Class, and the State in Contemporary Sociology: The William Julius Wilson Debates, a critical examination of the controversies that developed as the sociology of race relations wrestled with William Julius Wilson's controversial thesis in The Declining Significance of Race, published in 1978. In this context, I have begun a documentary study of the growing influence of post-modernism on the sociology of race relations. Initial results will be presented in a paper to be titled 'The Triumph of Rhetoric over Reason: How Postmodern Pedagogy Explains the Race Relations Problematic.' Eventually this paper will be developed in another book that will examine, in part, how postmodernism becomes embodied in course objectives and content, approaches to subject matter (specifically, race relations), and pedagogical techniques."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, November, 2002, S. D. Borchert, review of Race, Class, and the State in Contemporary Sociology: The William Julius Wilson Debates, p. 558.

Humanity and Society, Volume 24, number 2, 2000, Ian Jeffrey Ross and others, "IRBs and State Crime: A Reply to Dr. Niemonen," pp. 210-202.

Sociological Quarterly, Volume 25, number 2, 1984, Herald R. Kerbo and L. Richard Della Fave, "Further Notes on the Evolution of Corporate Control and Institutional Investors: A Response to Niemonen," pp. 279-283.