Dr. Rik Newtson

Courses and syllabi

Student's Evaluation of Faculty

About Dr. Newtson

Dr. Rik Newtson, Professor of Sociology, earned a B.S. in Psychology and a M.A. in Sociology (Aging and Organizational Systems) from Indiana State University, and a Ph.D. in Sociology (Family, Life Course, Aging, and Social Psychology) from Iowa State University. Prior to coming to Columbus, Dr. Newtson held a one year sabbatical replacement position in Eastern Oregon and then spent two years teaching graduate sociology and social work courses at the National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy in Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine.

Aside from having lived and taught in the former Soviet Union for two years, Dr. Newtson has traveled extensively throughout Eastern, Central, and Western Europe delivering guest lectures and participating in higher education reform initiatives and program development. Sponsored by various organizations that include the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Protection, Crimean Ministry of Social Protection, T.A.C.I.S., the Civic Education Project, the Open Society Institute, and the U.S. Department of State (H.E.S.P.), Dr. Newtson has collaborated with many institutes of higher education to reform sociology programs, to develop graduate programs in social work, and specifically in Macedonia, to help universities begin the transformation to a credit system that would be in compliance with the Bologna Declaration.

Here at CSU, Dr. Newtson teaches a wide-range of classes including Sociology of Deviance, Sociological Social Psychology, Research Methods, Domestic Abuse, and Occupations and Professions.  Additionally, Dr. Newtson teaches Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Holocaust.  Bringing in material from social psychology and sociology of deviance, the class answers questions about what happened and why it happened.  The course also counters revisionists, among them hate-groups (e.g., White Supremacists, neo-Nazis, KKK, Aryan Nation, etc.), and exposes students to the mechanics of hate and intolerance.

Dr. Newtson has been nominated for Educator of the Year a number of times since coming to CSU and received the award for the academic year 2005-2006.