In December 2015, I completed my Ph.D in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In my dissertation, I documented the trajectory of California's marriage equality movement from its emergence in the early 2000s through a period of mass mobilization after Proposition 8 passed in 2008, eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry. Using interviews with key activists and leaders, ethnographic data, and an archive of movement documents and media, the research shows how activists used the movement's failure to halt Prop. 8's passage as an opportunity to alter organizing structures, messaging, and strategies and tactics. I am currently working on publishing the dissertation in article and book form.
In addition, I am working with colleagues and students on research which examines domestic violence services in rural communities. We are using participatory action research methodology to assess the network of services available to survivors and the various and often informal means by which survivors access those services. Our goal is to provide data that will be useful to community providers and that will fill gaps in knowledge about the complex needs of domestic violence victims who live in rural communities. More on my research projects can be found here.
I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Studies at SUNY Potsdam. I teach lower-division introductory courses to majors and non-majors and I teach upper division courses in theory, stratification, gender and sexualities and culture. I also contribute to the Women's and Gender Studies program as well as the First Year Experience Program. In all my courses, I invite students to see sociology as an useful tool for understanding the social world and becoming informed, engaged citizens by asking them to consider their personal identities, experiences and observations, learn from others who are different from them, and to employ social theories and data to understand contemporary events. In each course, I emphasize how we construct social hierarchies, pushing students to understand how privilege and opportunities are expanded for some and denied others. By exploring the consequences of these structures on people's everyday lives, I guide students to an understanding of the importance of challenging oppression at interpersonal and systemic levels. Examples of courses and course activities that I have developed and taught and my teaching philosophy can be found on my teaching page.
Finally, I am active community member. My goal is that my research and teaching provide avenues to work with individuals and groups organizing for social change and that being involved in the community grounds me in the complex realities of people's everyday lives, laying the foundation for research and inspiring my teaching.
In addition, I am working with colleagues and students on research which examines domestic violence services in rural communities. We are using participatory action research methodology to assess the network of services available to survivors and the various and often informal means by which survivors access those services. Our goal is to provide data that will be useful to community providers and that will fill gaps in knowledge about the complex needs of domestic violence victims who live in rural communities. More on my research projects can be found here.
I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Studies at SUNY Potsdam. I teach lower-division introductory courses to majors and non-majors and I teach upper division courses in theory, stratification, gender and sexualities and culture. I also contribute to the Women's and Gender Studies program as well as the First Year Experience Program. In all my courses, I invite students to see sociology as an useful tool for understanding the social world and becoming informed, engaged citizens by asking them to consider their personal identities, experiences and observations, learn from others who are different from them, and to employ social theories and data to understand contemporary events. In each course, I emphasize how we construct social hierarchies, pushing students to understand how privilege and opportunities are expanded for some and denied others. By exploring the consequences of these structures on people's everyday lives, I guide students to an understanding of the importance of challenging oppression at interpersonal and systemic levels. Examples of courses and course activities that I have developed and taught and my teaching philosophy can be found on my teaching page.
Finally, I am active community member. My goal is that my research and teaching provide avenues to work with individuals and groups organizing for social change and that being involved in the community grounds me in the complex realities of people's everyday lives, laying the foundation for research and inspiring my teaching.