Maxine Atkinson North Carolina State University
Maxine P. Atkinson is Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University, received her Ph.D. from Washington State University, her master's from Georgia State University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia. She is the recipient of the Hans O. Mauksch Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Sociology given by the American Sociological Association, the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Southern Sociological Society and many awards from NC State including election to the Academy of Outstanding Professors, the Richard Felder Award for Outstanding Service in Support of Teaching and Learning, the First Year Student Advocate Award, and the Lonnie and Carol Poole Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. Atkinson's research focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning with an emphasis on assessing classroom teaching techniques and curriculum transformation projects. Maxine has many refereed scholarly publications on teaching and learning as well as published teaching materials. Her latest article is titled "Sociology of the College Classroom: Applying Sociological Theory at the Classroom Level." This article is forthcoming in Teaching Sociology and is the title of her keynote address presented to the section on Teaching and Learning at the 2008 American Sociological Association meetings. Professor Atkinson is most well known for her publications on quantitative literacy including "The Evidence Matrix: A Simple Heuristic for Analyzing and Integrating Evidence" and "Table Reading Skills as Quantitative Literacy" both recently published in Teaching Sociology.
Maxine regularly offers teaching workshops on such topics as inquiry-guided learning, quantitative literacy, programs for first year students, and training graduate students to teach. She is an invited member of the American Sociological Associations' Department Resources Group and completes departmental curriculum reviews, teaching portfolio evaluations, and reviews teaching materials. She is an associate editor of Teaching Sociology.
Maxine served as the director of First Year Inquiry program for four years and continues to serve as the primary faculty developer for the program. While Maxine is known for her support and research on undergraduate education, she makes strong contributions to graduate education as well. She has served on over 50 master's theses and Ph.D. dissertations, and regularly serves as a teaching mentor for graduate students. She has co-authored over 40 publications and professional presentations with graduate students.
In addition to her work with undergraduate and graduate students and her research on teaching, Dr. Atkinson serves in a wide variety of leadership capacities. She chaired NC State's Evaluation of Teaching committee, is currently a member of the University Common Reading Selection Committee and the Campus Culture Task Force. She has served as a member of the First Year Transition Task Force and the Council on Undergraduate Education. In the American Sociological Association, Maxine services as a council member of the Section on Teaching and Learning and chaired the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award Committee. She also served as President of the Southern Sociological Society.