Despite the economic downturn, holiday spending still happens, with shoppers looking for the perfect gift at a good price. As is often the case, the would-be Santas are also buying presents for themselves, many of which will end up in the backs of closets or otherwise never used. This fall, in Anne Choi’s class on “American Consumerism,” students were asked to bring items to class that had caused them to feel buyer’s remorse. The session, which was recorded by American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” aired on Dec. 13.

Graduate student Robert Keel (Class of ’09, B.S., applied studies/public administration, cum laude) received an Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the California Sociological Association at the organization’s annual conference in November. He graduates this month with his master's degree in sociology.

A fourth edition of “Japanese Americans and World War II: Mass Removal, Imprisonment, and Redress” (with Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata; Wheeling, Ill.; Harlan Davidson, 2010) has recently been published by Dr. Don Hata, emeritus professor of history. On Dec. 16, Don Hata visited the Civil Rights Institute in Albany, Ga. for a book signing and presented a talk on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.