Just Keep Teaching

By ROBERT MARTINEZ
Contributing Writer

In the small town of Farmington right out of Rochester there is a young girl who will grow up to be a prominent sociology professor.

Professor Stephanie A. Bennett-Knapp is a sociology professor at The College of Saint Rose and she has been teaching here since 2008. She loves teaching sociology and she wants her students to grasp knowledge on the issues that are affecting communities all across America.

This semester she is currently teaching five classes, but she normally teaches four. With the sociology major being cut at the start of 2017 she feels sad and hurt, saying, “No student will get to experience what I experienced in being a sociology major ever again.”

With the budget cuts, a lot of professors have been let go but luckily Bennett will still remain. She is glad though that some sociology courses are going to remain and she will still be able to teach.

With these cuts she is also determined to work harder in her classes and give back more to her students because now that the major is gone she still wants student to learn the fundamental issues that are faced with in sociology.

“Professor Bennett has been helpful in answering any questions that anyone in the class has and she is very engaging in teaching us about sociology,” said Jeffrey Perrotti, a junior at Saint Rose and currently a student of Bennett’s.

Sam Madani, a former sociology major and recent graduate of Saint Rose, said, “Professor Bennett is an amazing teacher and with the experience she had in doing research it is very helpful when she compares that to what we are learning in class.”

When Bennett is not busy grading papers and homework assignments she loves traveling and hiking. She often visits the Adirondacks as she has done a lot of research there.

Bennett loves to travel and she has been to a lot of different areas and communities, ranging from big metropolitan cities to small little communities. She travels a lot because she is always conducting new research in these different communities.

Bennett earned her Ph.D. in sociology, as well as her bachelor and master degrees, from the University at Albany.

It took her 14 years to graduate and receive all her degrees as she had to work during that time. In college she was first a history and political science major but she thought sociology was more interesting and it was fun.

In grad school Bennett was offered a scholarship and she was ready and excited to learn and teach sociology. She was proud of the opportunity she was given because her parents never went to college.

Before teaching at Saint Rose Bennett also taught sociology at SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Oswego.

Before Bennett was teaching she worked for the NY State Prevention Program which was located in the upstate region. During this time she focused on how to help at-risk families as well as victims of child abuse.

Bennett has also done research with a group called the Eastern Sociology Society, which is a group that is located in the Upstate region. The research was centered in the Adirondack and looked at child obesity rates since the recession.

Bennett’s research concluded that minority families with lower income will tend to have more child obesity as they can only afford junk food as healthy food is much more expensive.

With all the years of going to college and then teaching at Saint Rose, Bennett said, “I wouldn’t be teaching sociology today if it wasn’t for the influential faculty members.”