The keynote speaker was Dr. Victoria Johnson from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  Dr. Johnson spoke on some of her most recent research, an analysis of television coverage of the Iraq war by the British and American media.  Dr. Teresa Guess of the University of Missouri-St. Louis spoke on the effect of ethnocentrism in foreign and domestic race relations, citing the work of Dr. Audrey Smedley.  This was followed by presentations by the 2007 winners of the MSA Student Paper Competition.  The undergraduate awards went to Tiffany Essenpries (1st Place) of the University of Central Missouri and Nicki Morgan (2nd Place) of Truman State University.  The winner of the graduate student competition went to Yoshie Udagawa of Central Missouri State University.  These papers can be accessed through links on the Missouri Electronic Journal of Sociology.  The Round Table facilitated a discussion of ways sociologists can work to facilitate peace and global stability, with Betty Cooper, Teresa Guess and Victoria Johnson giving their perspectives, followed by comments from various MSA members.  The conference concluded with the annual meeting of the Executive Board.  The agenda included approval of amendments to the MSA Constitution, a discussion of the future direction of the Missouri Electronic Journal of Sociology, possible venues for the 2008 conference and election of new officers.  Bill Kristen assumed the position of President, Richard Miller will continue his tenure as Secretary, Robin Amonker was elected to another two-year term as Treasurer and Gary Brinker was elected to serve as the new Editor of the Missouri Electronic Journal of Sociology.  Gary Brinker will also continue to serve as webmaster.  The positions of President-Elect and Student Chair were not filled, but should be shortly.  View a slide show of conference moments here.

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