by Dora Galván
Assistant Editor
Dan Ross was the only undergraduate student from the University of La Verne who flew to British Columbia, Vancouver to give a presentation on his research paper.
Ross attended the annual Pacific Sociological Association Conference, which is an opportunity for sociologists from the West Coast to gather and present their research papers.
Roughly 600 people attended this year’s conference, which dealt with social justice.
It was held April 18 through 21.
Ross is a criminology major and a senior at ULV.
After a year’s worth of research, Ross brought to the conference “Crime and Unemployment in Los Angeles County: a historical correlation.”
The study was about the relationship between crime rates and unemployment with data collected from 1958 through 1998.
“There’s a very strong correlation between crime rates and unemployment rates in the LA county during that 40-year period,” Ross said.
Once he submitted his paper, Ross waited to receive an acceptance letter to the conference, which assigned him to one of the 150 sessions.
Ross was the only undergraduate student to participate in a panel that included a doctor and two graduate students.
He said his presentation was well received by those in attendance and, as a result, he was given good feedback from those involved.
With a room full of professors, experts and students, Ross gave a 15 minute presentation at the Hyatt Regency.
“I was nervous, but I made a coherent presentation. It went well,” Ross said.
He attended the conference with Sharon Davis and Ann Wichman, who are both professors of sociology at ULV.
Ross is involved also involved on campus, as he is active member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, of which he was president last year.
