Honors Alumnus Grayson Bodenhiemer (Dec ‘ 17), has been accepted to Indiana University Bloomington’s graduate program in the Department of Sociology. He received a full five-year funding package that includes: a stipend, fee remission, and health insurance, as well as an additional summer fellowship. Grayson will work as a Graduate Assistant for one-to-two years, and then he will have Student Academic Appointment for his three years. He also has the opportunity to apply for separate research fellowships.
As sociology major and global studies minor in the Honors College at Appalachian State University, Grayson studied the Finnish education system for his Honors thesis, working with Dr. Pavel Osinsky, Associate Professor of Sociology, as his thesis mentor. Grayson’s larger research interests concern teacher burnout and emotional labor in the United States and Finland. In his graduate work, he intends to continue that and related areas of research like burnout in healthcare, organizational theory, and inequalities in education.
Faculty at Indiana have already shared with Grayson exciting ideas for his research including the potential of a school-based ethnography, which Grayson has been wanting to pursue. As he shared, “I'm so excited about this! I've spoken with a few professors here since my acceptance, and they seem both devoted to their work and excited about my work. I can't wait to get started, to be honest!”
Top photo (submitted) shows Grayson vising Bamburgh Castle in England during his study abroad in the Spring 2017 semester.
Story by Garrett Alexandrea McDowell, Ph.D.
