Sociology Graduate
Program Creates
Colleagues Across Miles
 | Alexis Annes recently enjoying the Pyrenees Mountains
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Alexis Annes first came to South Dakota State University in the summer of 2002 as an intern in the Animal Science Department under the supervision of Bob Thaler. Annes, a resident of France, came as part of an exchange program between SDSU and ENSAT ("Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse").
The exchange program between SDSU and ENSAT (an engineering school located in Toulouse, France) began in 1990. Since that time, between 10-20 students from ENSAT have come to SDSU each summer to complete an internship. Until this past year, our own Sociology professor, Dr. Meredith Redlin, served for six years as SDSU's coordinator for the French Summer Internship program.
Annes explains his desire to learn Midwest culture is what led him to SDSU:
"When I came, I was an undergraduate student at ENSAT. I did my internship at the Animal Sciences department where I worked under the supervision of Bob Thaler. At this time, I have to admit that what motivated me to come at SDSU was to get to know better the US culture (more than the internship itself).
I had always been a huge fan of US contemporary literature, especially of Jim Harrison's novels (Dalva was at this time one of my favorite novels). So I decided to get 'a real life experience' of living in the American Midwest (most of Jim Harrison's novels take place in the Midwest).
I really enjoyed my summer experience at SDSU and started considering coming back later on (after completed my undergraduate studies and my masters' degree). Two months was just too short to get this 'real-life experience' of the American Midwest!"
After returning to France, Annes obtained his undergraduate degree and began working on a Masters' degree in Rural Studies. "In the meantime, I applied to SDSU grad school to enter the Sociology Department's PhD program. I was accepted and granted an assistantship in the Sociology Department. After finishing my Masters' degree, I came back to Brookings and started working on my PhD in August 2004."
With Dr. Redlin as his advisor, Alexis completed his studies, defended his dissertation and officially earned his PhD in the Spring of 2009.
He returned to France where, since September 2010, Annes has been working at the Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan (an engineering school that is part of the University of Toulouse and specializes in agricultural and biological sciences) as an assistant professor of Sociology.
Regarding research, Annes states "during the past few years, I have essentially been publishing articles and book chapters from my dissertation (I have been working closely with Dr. Redlin on that)."
"Right now I am looking at developing a new research project on women and agriculture in France and the United States. I will be working on that with Dr Redlin and Dr. Wynne Wright, a colleague of both Dr Redlin and I, from Michigan State University."
Dr. Redlin added, "It was great to work with Alexis through graduate school and it's wonderful to be able to continue to work together! Being able to continue shared research is a great example of how our graduate program allows us to train not only future sociologists, but also future colleagues".
-Joni Mueller
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