Professor of Sociology Stephen Papson helps his students use every learning tool available. Using technologically advanced classrooms, equipped with laptops for every student and a wireless intranet system, Papson uses resources available on the Internet and PowerPoint presentations as much as textbooks to teach his sociology students about popular culture.

Papson's most recent writings have been published on the Internet. He is the co-author of a Web book, Landscapes of Capital, which is a collection of advertisements that "…study how corporate television commercials portray the world shaped and defined by global capitalism." His students create their own Web sites in his upper-level classes as a way to publish their papers on the Web. In the fall of 2005, Papson received the J. Calvin Keene Award, established in 1975 and is given to a faculty member in recognition of "high standards of personal scholarship, effective teaching and moral concern."

The opportunities available to St. Lawrence students to learn in non-traditional, hands-on ways and to pursue studies in areas of interest to them is the reason Papson has been at St. Lawrence for over 25 years. He says, "I came to St. Lawrence on a one-year position, and stayed. I was interested in teaching at a university dedicated to teaching. St. Lawrence is dedicated to the academic life of its students – with international and other off-campus programs, summer fellowships, travel fellowships, and other special programs," he explains. "St. Lawrence provides excellent support for student work."