Sociology

Cristal Fortino, of Manchester, earned her degree in sociology from McDaniel College, and took part in commencement ceremonies on May 19. Fortino, who was a stay-at-home mom to her two children for 15 years, enrolled at McDaniel College after her husband lost his job due to downsizing. It was around her family's dinner table that the decision was made for her to return to school, and a scholarship from McDaniel allowed her to achieve that goal. Fortino technically graduated in December, but took part in the May commencement.

Edward L. "Mac" McDill, former chairman of the Johns Hopkins University's sociology department who was also the founding director of the Hopkins Center for Social Organization of Schools, died April 25 of prostate cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Mays Chapel resident was 82. "Mac was a friend and a mentor. He was the pillar of the department and held it together when we went through some pretty rough times," said Karl Alexander, who succeeded Dr. McDill as department chair.

Donald Simon Frank, a retired sociology professor whose combat experiences in World War II led to him becoming a pacifist, died of cancer Wednesday at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville, where he had lived since 1997. He was 80. Mr. Frank was born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park. He was a 1942 graduate of Forest Park High School, where he had played football and earned the nickname of "the Green Hornet." He enlisted in the Army and served with a combat engineering unit in the Pacific.

Cristal Fortino, of Manchester, earned her degree in sociology from McDaniel College, and took part in commencement ceremonies on May 19. Fortino, who was a stay-at-home mom to her two children for 15 years, enrolled at McDaniel College after her husband lost his job due to downsizing. It was around her family's dinner table that the decision was made for her to return to school, and a scholarship from McDaniel allowed her to achieve that goal. Fortino technically graduated in December, but took part in the May commencement.

And now, for those who have mastered the basics of supermarket sociology, a few guerrilla tactics for pursuing an advanced degree:* Before you leave the house, make a detailed list of everything you need to buy. (Later, when you get to the store, you can forget where you put the list.)* Dress for success. Wear a leather vest unbuttoned over your chest. Augment the outfit with lots of gold and silver chains and a prominent tattoo that reads, "Nobody Bothers ME!" This look works especially well for women.

"Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music," by Simon Frith. Harvard University Press. 352 pages. $27.95.One of the great terrors of junior high school math was the proof. As none of us particularly cared what, if y equaled 26, x might turn out to be, the notion of supporting those calculations with layers of mind-numbing logic seemed especially perverse. Sensing this, the teachers tried to put our puny efforts into perspective by observing that university-level mathematicians were expected to work lengthy proofs demonstrating that one plus one did, in fact, equal two.Many of us, I suspect, gave up then and there.

The Rev. Charles Chapman Herrman Jr., a Methodist minister who taught urban sociology at Western Maryland College for 20 years, died Saturday of melanoma at Belle Grade, his home in Pylesville. He was 66. Born in Salem, N.J., the son of a DuPont Co. executive, Mr. Herrman was raised in Pennsville, N.J., and Pensacola, Fla., where he graduated from high school in 1954. Mr. Herrman, who was called "Chap," earned bachelor's degrees in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1958, and divinity from Emory University in Atlanta in 1960.

Edward L. "Mac" McDill, former chairman of the Johns Hopkins University's sociology department who was also the founding director of the Hopkins Center for Social Organization of Schools, died April 25 of prostate cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Mays Chapel resident was 82. "Mac was a friend and a mentor. He was the pillar of the department and held it together when we went through some pretty rough times," said Karl Alexander, who succeeded Dr. McDill as department chair.

Daniel Randall Beirne, a West Pointer and retired Army officer who later had a second career as a University of Baltimore professor of sociology and history and was considered an authority on Baltimore history, died Wednesday of heart failure at his East Lake Avenue home. He was 85. Dr. Beirne, whose parents were both writers, was born in Baltimore and raised on Berwick Road in Ruxton. His father was Francis Foulke Beirne, the longtime Sun and Evening Sun editorial writer, whose Christopher Billopp columns entertained newspaper readers for decades.

John Iverson Toland Jr., a retired sociology professor and former chairman of the department of sociology at Towson University who also volunteered at a Govans food pantry, died Saturday of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease, at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 79. Dr. Toland was born in Birmingham, Ala., and was raised in Atlanta and Columbia, S.C., where he graduated from high school in 1948. After serving in the Navy from 1949 to 1951, he served in the Army from 1953 to 1955.

Professor Richard Vatz complains about the alleged anti-conservative bias in higher education institutions ("The diversity hoax: On campuses conservatives need not apply" June 23). He should look instead at the ideological imbalance in the corporate boardrooms and ask himself one simple question from Sociology 101: which institution carries the most weight in American society? Curtis Price, Baltimore

Marcie Miller Castaneda graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree with a communications major, corporate communications concentration and a sociology minor from Drexel University on June 10. Her mother, Kely Miller, is a resident of Catonsville Manor.

Daniel Randall Beirne, a West Pointer and retired Army officer who later had a second career as a University of Baltimore professor of sociology and history and was considered an authority on Baltimore history, died Wednesday of heart failure at his East Lake Avenue home. He was 85. Dr. Beirne, whose parents were both writers, was born in Baltimore and raised on Berwick Road in Ruxton. His father was Francis Foulke Beirne, the longtime Sun and Evening Sun editorial writer, whose Christopher Billopp columns entertained newspaper readers for decades.

WILLIAM EVAN, 87 Professor and peace activist William M. Evan, 87, a professor emeritus of sociology and management at the University of Pennsylvania and a peace activist, died of kidney failure Dec. 25 at Martins Run, a retirement community in Media, Pa. Dr. Evan joined the Penn faculty in 1966. He taught in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School, and consulted with major corporations and government agencies on issues including organizational design and crisis management.

Joyce Anne Causey, a retired Social Security Administration supervisor who later became a real estate agent, died of cancer Nov. 5 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The longtime Cedarcroft resident was 76. Miss Causey was born and raised in Tarboro, N.C. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C.. in 1955. After earning a master's degree in sociology from North Carolina State University, she worked briefly as a social worker before taking a job with the SSA in North Carolina.

Like most NFL defensive tackles, Haloti Ngata has an insatiable appetite. The 6-foot-4, 345-pound Ravens lineman loves to devour Italian food (except during the season when he tries to keep healthy), anything with curry and his latest favorite - Maryland steamed crabs. At Glen Burnie's Seaside Restaurant, Ngata will go through a dozen of the largest crabs without breaking a sweat. If you try to interrupt him, the affable Ngata has been known to strike a glare that would make Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson shudder, showing he has become a true Baltimore guy. "When he's eating crabs, you don't really get many words out of him," said his wife of two years, Christina.

Anne Arundel Community College sociology professor Stephen F. Steelehas received the first Excellence in Distance Teaching Award given by the Maryland College of the Air Consortium.The award is given to an outstanding college tele-course instructor. Steele pioneered thedevelopment of the user-friendly syllabus to make information comprehensive yet accessible to students.

John Iverson Toland Jr., a retired sociology professor and former chairman of the department of sociology at Towson University who also volunteered at a Govans food pantry, died Saturday of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease, at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 79. Dr. Toland was born in Birmingham, Ala., and was raised in Atlanta and Columbia, S.C., where he graduated from high school in 1948. After serving in the Navy from 1949 to 1951, he served in the Army from 1953 to 1955.