Acclaimed journalist & media critic Norman Solomon to deliver Ellsberg Lecture on “The Madness of Militarism” at UMass next week   Acclaimed author, journalist, media critic, and activist Norman Solomon will deliver the second annual Ellsberg Lecture at UMass next week. His talk, “The Madness of Militarism,” couldn’t be more timely and urgent as multiple, devastating U.S.-backed wars and military interventions continue to rage in Gaza, Ukraine, and beyond. The event is free and open to the public. You can find more info below. We hope to see you there!

“No one is better at exposing the dynamics of media and politics that keep starting and continuing wars than Norman Solomon.” —Daniel Ellsberg, former U.S military analyst and Pentagon Papers whistleblower     “The Madness of Militarism” Second Annual Ellsberg Lecture w/ Norman Solomon Wednesday, November 15, 7:00-8:30 p.m. University of Massachusetts-Amherst Integrative Learning Center (ILC), Room N151     MORE INFORMATION     ABOUT NORMAN SOLOMAN Norman Solomon is an award-winning American journalist, media critic, author, and activist. His latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published by The New Press in June 2023. Author and activist Naomi Klein called the book “a staggeringly important intervention,” observing that Solomon writes “with immense and rare humanity” and “insists that we awaken from the slumber of denial and distraction and confront the carnage of the U.S.’s never-ending military onslaughts.” And Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” called the book “essential reading in these increasingly perilous times” and praised Solomon for “eloquently casting sunlight, the best disinfectant, on the propaganda that fuels perpetual war.” Solomon's dozen other books on U.S. militarism, media deception, and government propaganda include War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death, which MEF adapted into a 2007 documentary film of the same name narrated by Sean Penn. Solomon is the co-founder and national director of the online organization RootsAction.org, which now has upwards of 1.3 million online supporters; the founder of the Institute for Public Accuracy, a consortium of policy researchers and analysts; a longtime associate of the media watch group FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting); and has appeared as a guest on a variety of leading national media outlets, including the "PBS NewsHour," CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, "Democracy Now," C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," public radio’s "Marketplace," and NPR’s "All Things Considered." ABOUT THE ELLSBERG LECTURE The Ellsberg Lecture is sponsored by the Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy at UMass. The lecture series is named for legendary anti-war activist and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who passed away this past June at the age of 92. The Ellsberg Initiative was inspired by the acquisition of Ellsberg’s papers by the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives at UMass. The Initiative’s mission is to promote public awareness, scholarship, and activism on the overlapping causes that define Ellsberg’s legacy: peace, anti-imperialism, democracy, truth-telling, nuclear disarmament, and social and environmental justice. Last year’s inaugural Ellsberg Lecture was delivered by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Azmat Khan. This year’s lecture by acclaimed journalist, media critic, and anti-war activist Norman Solomon will be the first since Ellsberg, a close friend of Solomon’s, passed away earlier this year.

PSA Announcements for October 31, 2023

Fall 2023 Newsletter is here

Our latest edition of The Pacific Sociologist, the newsletter of the PSA, is out now. Feel free to view and read more information on PSA 2024 including more information on cool things to do in San Diego. Included is a message from our new editors of Sociological Perspectives, information on our new Executive Director, and information on awards for PSA 2024. Included is also a Lyn Lofland in Memoriam, a valued PSA member, who passed away last year. Click below to vew our Fall 2023 Newsletter. 

Deadline approaching for Nominations for 2024 Distinguished Scholarship Award

Fall 2023 newsletter Final Version - 10-31-2023(A).pdf

Deadline Approaching for 2024 Distingushed Scholarship Award

The Distinguished Scholarship Award is granted to sociologists from the Pacific region in recognition of major intellectual contributions embodied in a recently published book or series of at least three articles on a common theme. To be eligible for the 2024 award, a book or the most recent article in a series must have been published in 2022 or later. If a book has both a hardback and paperback copyright date and no significant changes have been made in the book between editions, the committee will consider the earlier copyright date as the one determining eligibility for the award. Nominations must be from individual members of the PSA; the Committee does not accept nominations from publishers. Edited books are not eligible for this award. The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, November 1, 2023.

After a nomination is submitted, you will need to send three copies of the book; please request mailing address when you submit nomination information. Self-nominations is welcome. Send nominations as an email to awards@pacificsoc.org.

PSA 2024 - Call For Submissions Deadline Extended for Graduate/Faculty

With this being a trying academic year for many include the amout of emotional capital being used in processing national and international developments, we are extending the deadline for grad/faculty. The deadline for submissions is now Nov. 15, 2023 for graduate students/faculty/etc. and still Dec.1, 2023 for undergraduate students. The conference will be held on March 21-24, 2024 at the Marriott Mission Valley in San Diego, CA.

Click here to visit our Call For Submissions page. There you will find instructions for submissions as well as a full list of the Topical Areas. New Sponsored Sessions have been added and will continue to be added on a rolling basis. Be sure to check the page regulartly. 

PSA 2024 Hotel Room Block is open

The 95th installment of the Pacific Sociological Association’s Annual Conference is being held from Thursday, March 21, 2024 to Sunday, March 24, 2024 at the beautiful Marriott Mission Valley in San Diego, CA. Conference registration will open in late September but you can reserve your hotel room today. Reservering your room today will ensure you are able to stay at the host hotel, the Marriott Mission Valley, at the discounted PSA rate.

Reserve your room by clicking either the student block (for students only) or the atendee block (for non-students). Reserve your room today as once our room block fills, rooms will only be available at the regular, non-discount, rate which is subjest to availability and dynamic pricing.

Link to Student Room Block Reservations

Link to Atendee Room Block Reservations

PSA 2024 Design Contest

PSA Mentoring Program 2.0

PSA is re-launching our mentoring program that will provide support for members who would like to participate. This new 2.0 version of our mentoring program will match individuals with various members eg. undergraduate, graduate students, post-docs, early-career faculty, tenured-faculty, and professionals in the field.

To relaunch the 2.0 program, we are identifying interested people to be mentors and mentees. The 2.0 mentoring program takes advantage of Zoom technology prior to the 2024 conference meeting in San Diego by setting up a series of structured meetings and some professionalization seminars.

During the 2024 conference, participants will be given opportunities and space to participate in a number of intentional bonding activities that will bring mentoring teams together. There will also be specific workshops and activities during the conference to engage in professional development. In this brief survey we are attempting to gain information from each participant so as to be able to best match mentors with mentees.

Follow PSA on Social Media

The PSA is now on a variety of social media platforms. We are on X, formally Twitter at the handle @PacificSocAssoc which is the same handle for us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. We are also on Linked In as well. Simply search "Pacific Sociological Association" and you you can connect with us there.

Please take a moment to like and share all of our social media platforms. Be sure to tag us on conference pictures and we are excited to post a varietu of new content in the coming academic year.