Dr. James J. Vander Putten, associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership in the College of Education, will present his research paper, “The Sociology of Academic Professionals: Historical Analysis of the Influences of Faculty Social Origins,” at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference in Denver on Saturday, May 1.

His coauthor is Brenda A. Risch, assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of Texas-El Paso.

Vander Putten’s research will be a topic of interest at the 14^th Annual International Conference of the Working-class/Poverty-class Academics (WCPCA) Group that will meet at UALR June 25 to 27.

The conference at UALR will focus on:

• Intersections of class with race, gender, age, and numerous other diversity areas.
• Identities of working/poverty class students, staff, faculty members, and activists, told through storytelling, writing, discussion, and activism.
• International perspectives of class and cross-cultural awareness of class.
• Personal and professional aspects of significant social class mobility; can you ever go home again?
• Regional variants of working class and poverty class life.

“We are seeking proposals for workshops, media presentations, scholarly papers, book and roundtable discussions in the above areas,” Vander Putten said. “The purpose of the conference is to critically examine working-class and poverty-class culture and the ways significant social class mobility to the middle-class impacts all aspects of our lives. It is also intended to provide insights into how class works, on domestic and international levels, and what personal/political initiatives we can take to address class issues.”

The deadline for proposals is April 30. For more information, contact conference program chair Andreas Kemper or Jim Vander Putten.