Jennifer Ashcraft (B.A. 1998) earned a Master’s degree in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts and has been working in higher education and international education ever since. Jennifer returned to the College of Arts & Sciences as an Academic Advisor in 2012, was promoted to Senior Advisor in 2014, and her portfolio shifted to include Sociology in October 2018. She also serves as advisor to the Department of Second Language Studies and the College’s Office of International Affairs.
Todd Beer (Ph.D. 2012) is in his first year as a tenured Associate Professor at Lake Forest College north of Chicago. He recently joined the editorial board of Contexts magazine and served as the guest editor for a special edition of the journal Social Sciences on climate justice. His sociology teaching blog, sociologytoolbox.com, receives 20,000-30,000 page views a month. He will be on sabbatical in 2019-2020 conducting more research in Kenya on the spread and adaptation of world culture norms.
Candace Bertotti (B.A. 1996) In addition to running her business, Candid Communications (which translates social science into practical, learnable skills to help people change their lives and results), Candace is now Adjunct Faculty in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, teaching Arts of Communication, and is Adjunct Faculty at Georgetown Law School, teaching Negotiation.
Marni J. Blair (B.A. 2000) has been working at the Office of Admissions here at IU Bloomington throughout her undergrad as a double major in Sociology and Psychology. She has held several roles with the Processing, Diversity and Recruitment Teams and is currently Associate Director of Recruitment, responsible for many on-campus programs with the office. Marni and her husband live in Bloomington and are proud parents to three year old Henry.
Sean Bock (B.A. 2016) currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he is working on a PhD in Sociology at Harvard University. “Recently I’ve been spending much of my time revising a paper for publication that I started as a junior in the sociology Honors Thesis program at IU--four years later, it’s getting there...I hope.”
Jon Bolas (M.A. 2007) lives in Tacoma, WA where he works as the Director of Outcomes, Assessment and Research at Bates Technical College, one of Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges. “I enjoy non-work time with my family of five as we explore the Pacific Northwest and all the natural beauty from the coast to the mountains.”
Claudia Buchmann (Ph.D. 1996) was recently awarded the title of College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor at Ohio State University. Claudia will give a Keynote Lecture at the College for Interdisciplinary Educational Research sin Berlin Germany in April 2019, and this May will be completing her term as Sociology Department Chair preceding a one year sabbatical. “I am looking forward to it!”
John Burge (B.A. 2015) After graduating, John commissioned into the Air Force and moved to Pensacola, FL for Combat Systems Officer training. He was there for about 2 years, then got married to another IU Alum and moved to Little Rock, AR for about 6 months. John now lives in Tucson, AZ, flying the EC-130H Compass Call, an electronic attack version of the C-130. He recently completed a deployment to Bagram, Afghanistan and will deploy again later this year.
David A. Campaigne (A.B. 1966) lives in St. Augustine, Florida with his wife of four years. He currently serves as the President of the Jacksonville, FL Indiana University Alumni Club. Read more about his journey: “I graduated from Indiana for the first time in 1966. The degree in those days was the A.B. My sociology major included a concentration in organization theory with the intention of pursuing the M.B.A. degree. I did that at the Anderson School of Business at the University of California at Los Angeles, receiving the degree in 1967. I spent four years in the marketing department at Stokely Van Camp in Indianapolis. I then joined McDonald’s Corporation where I eventually moved up to National Advertising Manager. I then owned my own business in Jacksonville, Florida before moving back to Bloomington to pursue opportunities in real estate and home maintenance. My late wife, Jane, was the Director of Greek Life at IU in the early 1990’s and after a lot of dinner table conversation about student life, I enrolled in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program at the IU School of Education with a concentration in history of higher education and a cognate in the history of science. When I was enrolled in Professor Gieryn’s Sociology of Science, X766 as I recall, I mentioned my undergraduate sociology degree with a concentration in organization theory. He commented, with warm humor, “I don’t think we do that anymore.” My first position after earning the Ph.D in 1996 was at Georgia Southern University teaching in their education master’s program. While there, I became interested in the first year experience movement. The foundation of that program is the concept that we expend a great deal of resources recruiting new students and then do nothing to assure their success in their first year. When the director of the first year experience seminar position opened at the University of South Florida opened, I applied and was hired. I retired from USF in 2012 after writing their first year experience textbook and coordinating over 100 sections with more than 2,000 enrolled students each fall semester. Four years ago my late wife’s best friend from high school and I were married on the beach here in St. Augustine where we now live, and I serve as the president of the Jacksonville, FL Indiana University Alumni Club. Patience and perseverance paid off in my case as I retired to a beautiful place with a wonderful wife following a varied career path culminating in the best job anyone could want to have.”
Taylor Campi (B.A. 2012) After graduating from IU with a bachelor in Sociology and minors in Spanish and Italian, Taylor served with AmeriCorps in Austin public elementary schools in 2013-2014, then taught English in Qinhuangdao, China, and returned to Austin public schools as regular staff in 2015-2016. In December, she completed her Master’s degree at Portland State University in Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) with a focus on housing, land use, and equity planning (racial/economic justice). She currently works in Area Projects & Planning at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, coordinates a mentorship program and other programming for the Emerging Planners Group (a sub-committee of the Oregon chapter of the American Planning Association), serves on the MURP admissions committee for PSU’s program, and volunteers weekly at the Transition Projects Inc. homeless shelter, where she helps sort and distribute mail.
Shannon (Dahmer) Cunningham (B.A. 2010) went on to obtain her Master’s Degree in Social Work with a Specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Louisville in 2012 and has since become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. “After becoming Executive Director of a foster and adoption agency that works with incarcerated women and their children, I decided to follow my Sociology roots and start focusing on the problems I would so often see and did not have time to intervene: the substance abuse epidemic. I currently am an LCSW at a local doctor’s office in Jeffersonville, Indiana, providing much needed therapeutic processing for women and men who suffer from chemical addiction that is extremely prevalent in the Southern Indiana area especially but also throughout our state and nation. I am creating an innovative, evidence-based program that will focus on Parenting While in Recovery, helping to heal the wounds caused to young ones and their parents by the substance use and issues relating to it as well as put an end to the cyclical nature of substance abuse among families. I love Indiana University and am grateful for my four years of knowledge and experience gained there, especially for my mentality of thinking outside of myself and small circle to make a positive impact in the world! This was greatly influenced and honed through my work as a Sociology Major and I feel blessed to be a part of this amazing field!”
Pedro R. David (Ph.D. 1963) As a Fullbright grantee from Argentina, Pedro studied Sociology and Law under the eminent Jurist Professor Dr. Jerome Hall as well as Professors Albert Cohen, Frank R. Westie, Melvin L. de Fleur, Sheldon Stryker, and Alfred Lindesmith. He has since achieved great things around the world. “I rented an apartment on 325 East University Street with my friend, now Emeritus Professor Klaus Cluever of the IU school of Languages. The dean of students at the time was Prof Leo Dowling. After graduation, I returned to Buenos Aires, Argentina and was appointed Executive Director of the Fulbright Program (1961-1971). In 1972 I was appointed Full Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I had the pleasure then to bring my former professors, Westie and De Flueur to teach there. On 1982 I was appointed director of the United Office on Crime Prevention in Vienna Austria on a leave without pay from New Mexico until 1992. In 1992 I was appointed Justice of the Highest Penal Court of Argentina, the Court of Cassation Penal, until April 11, 2017. Meanwhile from 2005-2011, I was ad-litem Judge of the International Penal Tribunal of the United Nations for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, Holland. Now at 89 years old, I am the Dean of the Law School of the John F. Kennedy Argentine University. I am the cofounder of this University, created in 1963. I have translated most of the Law books written by Professor Jerome Hall into Spanish and I published already 15 books of my authorship in Spanish, English, and Italian. What is my message to students of IU? Study hard, revere your great teachers, and go to the world doing your best.”
Since graduation, Lydia DiSabatino (Ph.D., 2017) has been living in Chicago and working for Chicago Public Schools as a Data Analyst in the Department of Personalized Learning. In addition to assisting with research projects on the personalized learning programs her department runs, she keeps tabs on the more than 150 CPS schools currently implementing them. Lydia also serves on CPS’ Research Review Board, created and runs the department’s Twitter account which she’ll now shamelessly plug (@CPS_PL), and took a slight detour to Hollywood last spring to appear as a contestant on an episode of Jeopardy! She came in second place after being narrowly defeated by just $2, which is fine because she has totally, 100%, completely, almost, kind of gotten over it.
Samantha Fox (B.A. 2010) works in an intermediate care facility for adults with chronic mental illness in addition to her private practice as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Chicago. After completing her BA in Psychology and Sociology and graduating with distinction, magna cum laude, general honors notation, and Sociology departmental honors, she went on to complete a doctorate.
Keith Fernsler (M.A. 1973) completed his PhD at University of Montana in 1979 and went on to become an Emeritus Professor at Dickinson State University. He is currently a resident analyst at DLN Consulting, Inc. “I taught sociology for about 35 years at St. Ambrose College, Christopher Newport College, and mostly at Dickinson State University, retiring from teaching in 2008. I have Emeritus status at DSU. I have been working at DLN Consulting, Inc., for about twenty years. As a resident analyst, here are some of the things I do: I’m an evaluator on a curriculum project linking agriculture programs at Dickinson State University and Dakota College of Bottineau on sustainable agriculture and specialty crops. This project will end sometime this summer. I will be doing the data analysis and report writing on the Wyoming seat belt use survey this summer. I’ve been doing this research project for at least ten years. I’m also working on community studies in western North Dakota which seeks to evaluate conditions that effect attachment to communities and how communities might plan for sustained growth and support for local businesses. This project connects to prior research I’ve done on boom and bust cycles, in that many of these communities are affected by energy development, mostly oil. I’m married to Naomi Thorson and have two grown sons, one living in Fargo, ND and the other in Wilmington, OH. Naomi teaches English at Dickinson High School. My Ph.D. was in criminology and deviance. I wrote two editions of the Teaching Resource Center’s publication on the deviance course. Most of my writing has been on applied topics as part of my work at DLN. I was privileged to be an undergraduate and graduate student at IU at a time when the Sociology Department was one of the best in the country. Professors like Marvin Olson, Irving Zeitlin, Charles Tittle, and many others, provided me with a world class education. Michael Schwartz was one of my advisors. All of them became major figures in the field of sociology.”
David Frantzreb (B.A. 2010) attended IU from 2001-2005, and completed his BA in Sociology and minor in Psychology via transferred credits in 2010. He went on to achieve an MA in Sociology and a Graduate Certificate in Institutional Research at Ball State. At UNC Charlotte, he worked in an administrative capacity and began to teach for the sociology department there. David became one of the first two professional academic advisors in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences serving two majors (Political Science and Sociology) and later transitioned to a position with the graduate school and CLAS Dean’s Office: Graduate Program Manager. In 2017 he began a PhD. program in Educational Research, Measurement, & Evaluation at UNC Charlotte and will be taking his comp. exams in April.
Gary L. Gassman (B.A. 1990) is a shareholder in Cozen O’Connor, a full service international law firm based in Chicago. He is also Co-Chair of the Professional Liability Practice Group and leader of the Cozen O’Connor LGBTQ Attorney Resource Group. For the American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), Gary served as Diversity Officer from 2017-2019, is currently serving as Vice Chair, and will assume positions as Chair-Elect in 2020-2021 and Chair in 2021-2022. Gary lives with his partner and two dogs in Riverwoods, IL – a northern suburb of Chicago.
Pamela K. Gifford (B.A. 1967) went on to earn an M.B.A. from the University of Louisville and has since worked as a group leader and benefit manager in Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas. She and her husband split their time between their homes in Ohio and Texas. They enjoy hunting around the world and playing bridge. “African studies also interested me through anthropology courses at IU. While working in Chicago, Illinois at my first job after graduation, I enrolled as a part-time student in Northwestern’s African studies program. While recovering from a divorce and getting back in the job market after a three-year hiatus, I worked toward and received an M.B.A. from the University of Louisville. I found that my Sociology study at IU was great preparation for my degree and career as a team leader and manager. My second marriage was to a hunter who had been on safari twice to Africa. Instead of an engagement ring, I opted for an African safari. We have been to Africa three times. We have also hunted in Argentina and Austria. Although we have a small cabin in the hills of Southern Ohio, we just purchased a home in Texas for the winter months. As a side note, I played a lot of bridge at IU. Our Texas home is in a community where we joined two duplicate bridge groups. We also play duplicate bridge with a group in Portsmouth, Ohio. We wish more students enjoyed this social and mentally challenging game. Although I married a Buckeye, we return to Bloomington for IU and OSU games with my cousin and his wife. My cousin is also an IU alumnus. I am so happy that IU’s football team is getting competitive and that a football Saturday in Bloomington developed into a fun weekend. Thank you for letting me reminisce. IU did not leave me behind. IU continues with me to retirement.”
Amy Bernstein Gober (B.A. 1977) After completing her degree in Sociology and Journalism, Amy attended the IU School of Law (“before it was Maurer!”) and received her JD in 1980. She has practiced Family Law for almost 40 years, including time spent in private practice, government child support law in Maryland, and contract work in child support policy, program improvement, and training. During her career, Amy has worked with the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement in HHS and several state child support programs. She is considered an expert in child support policy and interstate child support and has provided guidance to states, employers, and the federal government. For the past 5 years, she has been on contract with the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement as a data access/privacy attorney.
Amity (Stamwitz) Good (B.A. 1998) After graduation, Amity went on to earn her MSW at the University of Denver in 2001 and has since practiced as a Licensed Clincal Social Worker. She spent a year in Scotland as a Children and Families Social Worker and learned about the complex family dynamics and impact of these family systems on vulnerable children. Following that experience, Amity followed her passion and has worked at Childrens Hospital Colorado as a Pediatric Oncology Social Worker for the past 10 years. She has also been an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work since 2015. Her work focuses on how family systems are impacted by the nature of health care crises, trauma and psychosocial demands and stress, and working with these patients and families has brought her a very rewarding and fulfilling career. Amity lives with her husband and daughter (7) and they enjoy travel and the outdoors. “Life is good!”
Liz Grauerholz (Ph.D. 1985) is currently a Professor of Sociology at University of Central Florida in Orlando, living in Gainesville FL.
Kerry Greer (Ph.D. 2014) lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada and is a tenure-track teaching faculty member in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia.
Eric Anthony Grollman (M.A. 2009, Ph.D. 2013) was recently awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at University of Richmond in Richmond, VA. They also co-edited an anthology, Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics: Bravery, Vulnerability, and Resistance, with Dr. Manya C. Whitaker.
John H. Hageman (B.A. 2012) In May 2015, John was appointed Chief of Staff to the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Detroit, Michigan, and developed and implemented a financial reform plan to help the City emerge from bankruptcy and exit active oversight from the State. He led numerous high-priority projects focused on rebuilding the City’s financial operations, including the creation of all new financial policies and the design and implementation of a new Forecasting and Economic Analysis Division responsible for revenue forecasting, economic analyses, and long-term financial planning. John also worked to help create a plan to address the City’s legacy pension obligations and participated in multiple bond deals, including Detroit’s return to the capital markets on its own credit for the first time in decades. Prior to his appointment, he served as a consultant for the City of Detroit, where he advised the CFO during the City’s bankruptcy and worked on a project team to restructure grants management and create a new, centralized grants management office that has helped to eliminate questioned costs on Federal funds and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars post-bankruptcy.
Bill and Jan Hammack (B.A. 1971) live in Plano Texas where, following a 35 year career as a tax lawyer, they have retired to a life of travel, reading, and walking. In April they will embark on a cruise from San Diego to Vancouver by way of Hawaii. “We still try to make it back to Bloomington yearly and love to stay in the Union for a few nights. We never tire of our beloved campus and the experiences and memories it gave us.”
Sara C. Hare (Ph.D. 2002) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University Southeast, where she has been teaching since the fall of 2001. She lives in Madison, IN and commutes to the New Albany IUS campus.
Beth Hatt (B.A. 1997) received her doctorate in Sociology of Education from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2004. She is currently an Associate Professor at Illinois State University, where she conducts research on the school-to-prison pipeline and also what she calls a “sociology of intelligence.” “The sociology of education course I took while an undergrad at IU strongly influenced my desire to focus on issues of educational equity.”
Mark D. Hayward (Ph.D. 1981) is a Professor of Sociology and Centennial Commission Professor in the Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the incoming editor of Demography and in 2017 won the Matilda White Riley Award by NIH for outstanding contributions to behavioral and social scientific knowledge relevant to the mission of NIH.
Alison Hill (B.A. 2014) is a civil rights attorney with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. She works in downtown Chicago and resides in the northwest suburbs.
David F. Hittle (M.A. 1975) went on to complete his PhD at Colorado State University and is now an Associate Professor and full time researcher at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. His research currently focuses on health care quality measurement, specifically for home health care. David has contracts with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide research and analytical support for their home health quality reporting program and their home health value-based payment program. He is married, with two children and one grandchild, and has lived in Lakewood, Colorado since 1987.
James Hougland (Ph.D. 1976) became a Professor Emeritus in 2017, having retired from the Sociology faculty at the University of Kentucky after 43 years of service. At the time of his retirement, he and a colleague were honored by the establishment of the Billings-Hougland Graduate Fellowship. During his time as a faculty member, he served as department Chair (eleven years), Director of Graduate Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies, and, at the University level, Director of the UK Survey Research Center and Acting Director of two other multidisciplinary programs. His research and teaching focused on organizational sociology, sociology of work, and sociological practice with an emphasis on evaluation of innovative educational programs. Following retirement, he continued to work as external evaluator of a West Virginia University program (funded by NSF ADVANCE) to improve gender equity with respect to quality of work life and opportunities for career advancement for university faculty members. Jim and Linda Hougland continue to live in Lexington, KY, near one daughter and two grandchildren. Another daughter and three grandchildren live near Charlotte, NC. In 2018, the family celebrated Jim and Linda’s 50th anniversary with a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Timothy L. Howey (B.A. 1980) worked 21 years for Raytheon, a US Government Defense Contractor, and for the past 15 years has lived in the Afghanistan and Iraq War Zones, working on reconstruction projects and in support of the US, Afghanistan, and Iraq Governments. “In 1989, my mother and I donated to the Smithsonian Museum’s American History Museum a bomb shelter that was buried 20 feet underground in my front yard. The shelter was next to the Star Spangled Banner for more than 25 years. I am unsure if it is still there now. I worked for 21 years for U.S. Government Defense Contractor Magnavox, which became Hughes (Howard Hughes, owned by General Motors) which became Raytheon. I was based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For nearly the past 15 years, I’ve been living and working in the Afghanistan and Iraq War Zones. I currently live in Kabul, Afghanistan. I almost never leave the war zones. Since 2006, I only went home one time. That was a short emergency leave in 2011. I was forced to return home, when my neighbors on both sides and behind my house destroyed my property. My permanent home is located on Woodrow Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This has been my formal, permanent address since 1968.”
Lyndsey Husek (B.A. 2005) is a Policy Analyst for the Department of Child Services, Child Support Bureau, where she has worked since 2008. Lyndsey lives in Bloomington with her husband Ewan, son Everett (age 4), and daughter Eleanore (age 6 months).
Howard Iams (A.B. 1967) retired in 2017 from the Social Security Administration after 40 years of service in the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics. He continues to collaborate with colleagues at SSA/ORES. While at SSA, he designed and implemented a microsimulation model (Modeling Income in the Near Term or MINT) using the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation exactly matched to the IRS lifetime earnings records and SSA administrative benefit records. He co-authored a research paper with Ken Couch, Gayle Reznik, and Chris Tamborini entitled “Longevity Related Options for Social Security: A Microsimulation Approach to Retirement Age and Mortality” (published in January 2019 in The Journal of Policy Analysis and Management). He co-authored a research paper with Irena Dushi entitled “Reporting Accuracy of Social Security Benefits and Its Implications in the Health and Retirement Study” (published May 2018 in The Journal of Economic and Social Measurement). Howard also volunteers as an information specialist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Cobi Ingram (B.A. 1993) lives in High Point, NC and works at Wake Forest School of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine – Gerontology and Geriatrics. Cobi is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and recently finished working on a research study providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to people over the age of 60 who suffer from a significant level of worry and anxiety. Cobi was asked to work on this study after providing therapy in an earlier study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26244854) that demonstrated participants made significant improvement and decreased their overall symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Amy Irby-Shasanmi (Ph.D. 2014) co-authored three publications in 2018, including “Are You Accepting New Patients?: A Field Experiment on Telephone-based Gatekeeping and Black Patients’ Access to Pediatric Care” and the forthcoming article, “Recruiting and Retaining Black Adolescent Boys from Under Resourced Urban Neighborhoods: Procedures Used and Lessons Learned.” Both of these articles arose out of Amy’s postdoctoral work at IUPUI Richard Fairbanks School of Public Health, where she was a William T. Grant Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2016). Amy is now working on a project that investigates the informal power of labor and delivery nurses. She is completing her second year as an Assistant Professor at the University of West Georgia in her home state.
Walt Jacobs (Ph.D. 1999) In addition to his work as Dean at SJSU, Walt is serving on the Board of Directors for two organizations: StoryCenter, and the Council of Colleges of Arts & Sciences (CCAS). Tiffany Julian (M.A. 2007) is living in Alexandria, VA, where she has worked for the federal government for over a decade as a survey statistician. Currently, she is working at the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, which tracks the STEM workforce and research and development activities performed in the United States and is housed at the National Science Foundation. In addition to designing and managing the data access systems for over a dozen surveys, Tiffany is also in the middle of a year-long appointment as a Presidential Fellow working on the Federal Data Strategy [https://strategy.data.gov/] with the goal of supporting data management, protection, and sharing across the entire federal government.
Azamat K. Junisbai (Ph.D. 2009) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College, Claremont, CA. He will be spending the 2018-2019 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar in Central Asia.
Ann Marie Kinnell (Ph.D. 1997) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she also serves as Director of the Nonprofit Studies Program. Ann Marie worked four years as Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology - including a concurrent year during which she was also Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies – after which she became Co-Director (currently interim) of the new School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professional Development.
Brad Koch (Ph.D. 2009) lives in Athens, GA with his wife and fellow IU alum, four-year-old daughter, and nine-month-old son. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Georgia College. Listen to the song his students created as part of a class exercise at the link below. “I recently did an innovative teaching-thing with my Sociology of Music class. For their final project, the students elected to write, record, and release an original song about a sociological concept. The result was “Stuck,” which can be downloaded/streamed pretty much everywhere people listen to music (e.g. iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc.). All of the proceeds are being donated to a local charitable cause chosen by the class. I’ll be presenting on this at the upcoming annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society. Here is a link with more information, including media coverage.”
Jerome Krase (B.A. 1967) a Brooklyn born and raised Public Scholar, is Emeritus and Murray Koppelman Professor at Brooklyn College CUNY and, despite the “Emeritus” title, is as professionally active as ever. Last May, while on a Fulbright Specialist Assignment at the Charles University in Prague, he gave an Ernest Gellner Seminar, “Seeing the Image of Cities Change. Again,” sponsored by the Czech Association for Social Anthropology and the Czech Sociological Society. While in Central Europe, he gave a Graduate Visual Sociology Workshop, “Seeing Krakow Change: 1997-2018,” at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Among many other recent publications, invited lectures, and papers, were Race, Class, and Gentrification in Brooklyn: A View from the Street (2016/8) co-authored with Judith N. DeSena, and Diversity and Local Contexts: Urban Space, Borders and Migration (2017) co-edited with Zdenek Uherek. Currently Vice President of the CUNY Academy of Humanities and Sciences, he also serves on the Executive Committees of the International Visual Sociology Association, Italian American Studies Association, and the Visual Sociology Research Committee of the International Sociology Association for which he co-authored with Dennis Zuev, “Visual Sociology,” SOCIOPEDIA.ISA,: http://www.isa-sociology.org/en/research-networks/working-groups/wg03-visual-sociology/.
Jaime Kucinskas (M.A. 2009, Ph.D. 2014) is an Assistant Professor at Hamilton College in the Department of Sociology in Clinton, NY. She and her husband have a daughter and are expecting a son this summer. “My book, The Mindful Elite: Mobilizing from the Inside out, was published with Oxford University Press last fall (October 2018). The book examines how a network of professionals and other elites legitimized Buddhist-inspired meditation in healthcare, science, education, business and the military to make it more appealing and accessible to the public. Based on over a hundred interviews with top scientists, contemplative religious leaders, educators, business people and investors, the book shows how mindful leaders’ choices to spread meditation through elite networks in unobtrusive, collaborative ways both facilitated the rapid rise of mindful meditation in a variety of professional fields, yet undermined meditators’ intentions to make society more just, democratic and less materialistic. The leaders of the mindfulness movement popularized meditation by teaching contemplative practices which promised enhanced mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, by using elite networks to promote their ‘interventions,’ and by adapting the practices in manifold ways to each new institutional audience. However, due to their focus on individual transformation and commitment to cater to targeted institutions’ preferences and needs, ultimately mindful interventions did little to alter the organizations they were embedded within. The book offers a critical reflection on how elite institutional insiders can promote spirituality through the many kinds of social and economic power at their disposal, yet remain constrained by the institutions they are a part of. As such tensions unfold and surface, movement organizations can draw upon their spiritual traditions to face such challenges directly through collective processes of reflection and authenticity building. By focusing on the mechanisms which led to the successes and shortcomings of this elite spiritual movement, this case offers lessons on power, cultural change, religious diffusion, and secularization. I have also been publishing other research on how spirituality arises across time, activities, and social settings, using longitudinal app data (Jaime Kucinskas, Bradley Wright, Matt Ray, and John Ortberg. 2017. “States of Spiritual Awareness by Situation, Social Interaction, and Time” Journal for the Social Scientific Study of Religion 56: 2: 418-437) and on how sacred experiences affirm meaning in people’s lives (Jaime Kucinskas, Bradley Wright, and Stuart Riepl. 2018. “The Interplay between Meaning and Sacred Awareness in Everyday Life: Evidence from a Daily Smartphone Study” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion).”
Charles Leinenweber (B.A. 1962) went on to earn his Ph.D. in Sociology at Berkeley and has studied with many great scholars. His love of teaching saw him through 46 years and “a whole phalanx of schools,” and his love of writing has produced several scripts for TV shows such as Miami Vice and Murder She Wrote. “I got my IU B.A. in Sociology in 1962, studying with such wonderful professors as Sheldon Stryker -- my model as a teacher forever -- Albert Cohen, Alfred Lindesmith, Joseph Schneider, Allen Grimshaw and George Psathas. I stuck around for another year or so taking graduate courses, until Karl Schuessler urged me to head to Berkeley, which I did, arriving just as the huge wave of student rebellions began, an absolute tonic to me. I got my Ph.D. in sociology at Berkeley, and the department was sensational. I studied, worked, or crossed paths and occasionally swords, with Neil Smelser, Robert Blauner, Leo Lowenthal, William Kornhauser, David Matza, Franz Schurmann, Herbert Blumer, Nathan Glazer, Seymour Martin Lipset and Erving Goffman. The grad students were tough, and terrific, and the whole culture invigorating. I started teaching in 1968, and working with students has been my greatest joy in that side of my life. I taught for 46 years at a whole phalanx of schools, including U of Essex, in England, SUNY New Paltz, where I got tenure, Cal State L.A. and Long Beach, Chapman U. and UC Irvine, which I live near today. Early in my California return I did some writing – my other creative love – for TV, including Miami Vice and Murder She Wrote. I have returned to that now, with new scripts out on the market.”
Ke Li (Ph.D. 2015) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York. In 2018, Ke received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies and she is currently a Luce/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow in China Studies.
Greer Love (B.A. 2005) “After a 13-year career in investment banking and private equity, I left the Wall Street world last February to start Lenox Partners - a family office that manages the various agency, endorsement, and investment opportunities for Mo Bamba of the Orlando Magic. Our website is www.lenox-partners.com and the best email for me is glove@lenox-partners.com these days. It’s been quite a journey (more info here, if interested) but I’m excited about what’s on the horizon and I hope to keep in touch with you guys. My sociology degree definitely laid the foundation for the many different people-management situations I’ve faced throughout my career.”
Amy D. Lykins (B.A. 2001) is an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of New England in New South Wales, Australia. She is the Deputy Chair of the University’s Academic Board, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of a new Springer Nature initiative, the Encyclopedia of Sexuality and Gender. The bulk of her research has explored topics related to human sexuality, such as cognition and sexuality, sexual attraction and orientation, and sexual risk-taking, but Amy has also delved into topics associated with environmental psychology, such as climate change and mental health, decision-making associated with natural hazard exposure, and food choices related to both animal ethics/morality and environmental impact of current farming practices. “Doing well and enjoying my work! Here is my staff university page if interested: https://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/psychology/alykins
Kendall Machledt (B.A. 2016) before graduating with a BA in Sociology and a certificate in Journalism, Kendall was hired as a Research Associate at Centerstone Research Institute in Bloomington, IN, a position she has held ever since. In May, Kendall will complete her Master of Public Health from IU SPH with a concentration in “behavioral, social, community health” and a certificate in sexual and reproductive health. “I have kept my sociology focus with a new public health twist. Upon graduation, I will move to Aurora, Colorado where I hope to begin a career in sexual health research.”
Maddern-Deckard (B.A. 2013) and her partner recently bought a home south of Bloomington, where Emily works as an academic advisor for the University Division at IU. “Every once in a while I get to work with a student who is perfect for sociology but has no idea what it is – those are some really fun conversations! … It’s so incredibly rewarding to see a student find a niche to thrive in that offers what they need, whether that be a fruitful career path, a curiosity to satiate, or a risk worth taking.”
Erin J. Maher (Ph.D. 2000) went directly into applied research and worked seven years as a Research Scientist at the University of Washington in a center affiliated with the Evans School of Public Affairs. She then took a job as Director of Program Evaluation at Casey Family Programs, a large national foundation started by United Parcel Service founder, Jim Casey, with headquarters in Seattle. After eleven years in this role, she transitioned to Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Oklahoma. “I applied in response to an interdisciplinary early childhood initiative at OU. Moving from Seattle, WA to Norman, OK has been quite an adjustment, but my colleagues and the work I’m engaged in have been great. OU has a strong research partnership with the state child welfare agency, and I’ve been able to develop new evaluation projects focused on serving some of the state’s most vulnerable children.”
Bianca Manago (Ph.D. 2018) is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, TN.
Garth Massey (Ph.D. 1975) Over ten years ago, Garth left his position of thirty-three years at the University of Wyoming in Sociology & International Studies. He has since written Ways of Social Change (Sage) which is in its second edition, and just completed the 9th edition of Readings for Social Change, co-edited with Tim O’Brien, a fairly recent graduate of IU’s Sociology department who is now at UW-Milwaukee. This fall, he will resume teaching Sociology on the Semester-at-Sea through the Institute of Shipboard Education, Colorado State University. Garth will voyage from Poland to Portugal and Spain, Croatia, Morocco, Ghana, Brazil, the Caribbean and Panama Canal, Ecuador and finally Costa Rica.
Megan (Russell) Mcginn (previously Russell) (B.A. 2014) went on to earn an M.A. in Forensic Psychology, married her best friend, and had a beautiful son. She is currently pursuing a career in public service as a firefighter.
Linda Megan (B.A. 1978) has gone on to a career in Healthcare, Program Development/Sales &Marketing. She is Vice President of Hospice Access for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and lives in the Bronx, Riverdale New York.
Tamara A. Miller (B.A. 1993) went on to law school at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and is now a shareholder/partner specializing in trademark law at Leydig, Voit & Mayer, where she has worked since graduating in 1996. Her professional bio: https://www.leydig.com/professionals/tamara-miller/. She has been married 21 years to Mike Miller, her college sweetheart who graduated in 1994 with a degree in political science. They have two kids, Emmett (14) and Erica (11).
Adam Mills (B.A. 2011) After completing his BA in Sociology and minor in Social Advocacy through the School of Social Work, Adam bought a home in Ellettsville and began working as a Research Compliance Associate in the Human Subjects Office here at IU.
William A. Mirola (Ph.D. 1995) is now in his third year as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Marian University, Indianapolis. He has also put out a book this year: William A. Mirola, Michael O. Emerson, and Susanne C. Monahan (eds.). 2019. Sociology of Religion: A Reader, 3rd Edition. Routledge/Taylor Francis.
Edward Moor (M.A. 1987) “Practicing law: freeing the wrongfully accused and obtaining compensation for the wrongfully injured. Yes, this is looking at social problems on a case by case basis, but notwithstanding Weber and C. Wright Mills, there was always a place for small group theory in sociology so I do not feel as if I have betrayed the discipline. See www.moorlaw.net
Shibashis Mukherjee (Ph.D. 2016) is an Assistant Professor in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management with Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. His university, IIM, Bangalore has been ranked in the top 100 Business Schools of the World (among the top 15 in Asia and number 1 in India): https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2019/business-management-studies
Shibashis teaches the course Organizational Design to students in the “Masters in Management” program, which ranks 22nd globally (and 1st in Asia) in the 2019 QS rankings: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/business-masters-rankings/management/2019 Shibashis continues to work with professors, alumni, and graduate students of the IU Sociology Department, including Professors Keera Allendorf and Fabio Rojas, Clay Thomas, and Dr. Emily Meanwell, the latter three of whom published a paper with him this year in Journal of Professions and Organization.
Janet J. Myers (Ph.D. 1998) “We are wrapping up the evaluation of a federal demonstration project assessing whether culturally-specific service delivery models focused on improving health outcomes among Latinx populations living with HIV can improve linkage and engagement in care. Nine demonstration sites across the US used innovative methods to identify Latinx who are at high risk or living with HIV and improve their access, timely entry, and retention in quality HIV primary care. This initiative is one of the first public health adaptations of the transnational approach, with interventions targeting Latinx subpopulations living in the U.S., notably Mexican and Puerto-Rican identified people living with HIV. The University of California at San Francisco’s Center for AIDS Prevention Studies serves as the Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center (ETAC) for this initiative (Myers, Principal Investigator). Results are forthcoming! More here: https://hab.hrsa.gov/about-ryan-white-hivaids-program/spns-latino-populations
Lori Nickel (B.A. 1992) In November, Lori was named Sports Columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where she has been a sports writer since 1997. She lives in Milwaukee with her family “and I miss Bloomington a lot.”
Lisa (Olson) Norton (B.A. 1992) recently celebrated her 20th year working in the Admissions Office at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where she is currently Dean of Admissions. She is married with two children, Paige (14) and Jacob (11).
Evelyn Perry (Ph.D. 2010) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. Her book, Live and Let Live: Diversity, Conflict, and Community in an Integrated Neighborhood, University of North Carolina Press, won the 2017 Jane Jacobs Award through the Urban Communication Foundation.
Matthew Oware (Ph.D. 2002) is a Full Professor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, living in Indianapolis. “As a sociology graduate alum, I write to inform you of my new book, I Got Something to Say: Gender, Race, and Social Consciousness in Rap Music by Palgrave Macmillan (2018).” “What do millennial rappers in the United States say in their music? This timely and compelling book answers this question by decoding the lyrics of over 700 songs from contemporary rap artists. Using innovative research techniques, Matthew Oware reveals how emcees perpetuate and challenge gendered and racialized constructions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality. Male and female artists litter their rhymes with misogynistic and violent imagery. However, men also express a full range of emotions, from arrogance to vulnerability, conveying a more complex manhood than previously acknowledged. Women emphatically state their desires while embracing a more feminist approach. Even LGBTQ artists stake their claim and express their sexuality without fear. Finally, in the age of Black Lives Matter and the presidency of Donald J. Trump, emcees forcefully politicize their music. Although complicated and contradictory in many ways, rap remains a powerful medium for social commentary. : https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319904535
Steven C. Riser (B.A. 1968) “After a career writing and speaking, I retired 11/11/11 @ 11:11am. I am currently living in Tellico Village, TN on the corner of healthy and happy - a place where heaven is a local call. I have been writing for the internet for over a decade and am currently involved in a seminar called, “The Truth Project”. I swim an hour each day. In the last six years I have swam over 3,000 miles. I enjoy playing golf 3 or 4 Daly’s a week at one of our three golf courses. I have been blessed by being a life long student averaging two books per week. I graduated from IU with a BA in Soc.&Psy. in 1968, I received an M. Div. in 1971 from Trinity Divinity School and a D. Min. from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1981. It’s been a great life and I am still actively seeking to serve others. Sola Deo Gloria, Dr Steven C. Riser
Eric Scott Robertson (B.A. 2007) is a Family Support Specialist at Centerstone in Lawrence County, and lives near Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, IN. Eric is a single father to three pre-adoptive foster sons, ages 16, 13, and 12. In his church, he plays piano for the worship team and serves on the church board, and he is active in politics and gay rights issues in his larger community.
Mark O. Rousseau (M.A. 1966) “Happy to say my wife Marion Pruss and I are doing well. We still love the international travel. Just got back from London and today we leave for 2 weeks in Egypt to see all those things one only sees in pictures. We are traveling with a group from University of North Carolina, where I received my PhD. So I believe all those years of work are paying off, not to mention being enjoyable. My son and family in New Jersey are well and we will visit then again in summer. We’re planning an Adirondacks fishing trip. My work in the Sociology Department at University of Nebraska—Omaha is pretty well wound down, and I can’t complain.”
Nicholas J. Rowland (Ph.D. 2007) lives in a small historic town, Hollidaysburg, PA. This year, he will become the youngest chair of the University Faculty Senate in the history of Penn State University. He was also named the University’s first “Faculty Scholar” for student engagement and “Faculty Fellow” for the University’s (Schreyer) Institute for Teaching Excellence, both starting in 2017 and ending in 2019. In 2016, he won the University’s highest teaching honor, the Atherton Award for teaching excellence. Nicholas will also serve as Chair of the Program Committee for the Engagement Scholarship Consortium annual meeting, which Penn State will host in 2020.
Helen (Pirrie) Roy (B.A. 2008) is a Senior Corporate Recruiter at Beacon Hill Staffing Group. After eight years living in Chicago, she and her husband now reside in Fort Wayne, IN with their three daughters, Jules (10), Louise (4), and Johanna (3 months).
Linda Keller Runden (B.A. 1963) and her Depauw U. husband moved to Meadowood in Bloomington last year. Linda enjoyed a fulfilling career in clinical social work, in spite of the disappointment of her beloved advisor, Allen Grimshaw, at her choice of careers. “I worked in Cabrini-Green Housing Project in Chicago, for VNA, Hospice of Louisville, and in private practice in the tiny town of Corydon IN. I taught in family practice residencies in both Chicago and Louisville. My great education on sociology helped me in every endeavor. Thanks, IU!”
Andreas Schneider (Ph.D. 1997) In recent years, Andreas has been consulted and featured in several National Geographic documentaries exploring religious experiences and practices in different regions around the world. Those who remember Andreas Schneider as a student might also recall the warning: “careful, he has a camera.” Linking Affect Control Theory with Visual Sociology, he later published an image of religious self-flagellation in the Philippines on the title page of SPQ; the article “The Rhythm of the Whip” interpreted the corresponding affective meanings. During a Fulbright scholarship Andreas investigated religious flagellants in Thailand measuring affective self-meanings. Here he identified an affective pattern of submission that was complimentary to a pattern of dominance cherished in mainstream Western culture. While the photographs he took in the field were displayed at exhibitions (e.g. the Kinsey Institute) their main purpose was to link gestures of different contextual frames (e.g. religious and sexual) and their corresponding measures of affective experiences. Andreas was contacted in 2017 by National Geographic to consult on a documentary about his research site in Thailand, and he agreed to be on an episode of The Story of God with Morgan Freeman. In October 2018, he investigated the subjective experience of receiving a divine calling on a National Geographic documentary in Kenya. In his latest National Geographic documentary in December 2018, Andreas interviewed shamans of the Hmung minority during a ritual at the remote North Vietnamese border to Laos and China. It is amazing what you can do with a professional camera crew traveling with five mini vans compared to being by yourself in the field with a small nonintrusive camera. This fall, Andreas will use his professional development leave from Texas Tech University to go back to Thailand looking at a new phenomenon: the increasing participation of female Ma Song (a religious minority in Phuket, Thailand) in rituals of extreme submission.
Richard T. Serpe (Ph.D. 1985) For the past 14 years, Richard has chaired the Department of Sociology at Kent State University. He will retire in July 2019 after forty years in higher education and plans to move to San Diego, CA. “I intend to continue to be active in research and scholarship in retirement following my mentors and role models, Sheldon Stryker and Peter Burke, in ‘How to Be an Active Sociologist in Retirement.’”
Judy Shaw (B.A. 1973) “What a joy IU was for me!” Judy has had a dynamic career in education, environmentalism, and writing. “I grew up in Bloomington as my father, J. Jeffery Auer, was chairman of the Department of Speech and Theater. I shared my courses there with amazing people like the inimitable Kevin Kline. As for Sociology, I decided to add a second major after I experienced tragic live racism with colleagues from the YWCA Board when we attended our national convention in Cleveland. My professors were exceptional people and it was a glorious experience. I graduated with a B.A. in 1973. Today? Well, funny how one’s path turns left then right then loops in a completely different direction. My other major was Zoology and I was certain I’d become a marine biologist, but not quite. I taught middle school science, math and social studies in a rural Michigan school near my home in Ann Arbor for 10 years. Then I reconnected with my childhood crush and discovered he, too, has been trying to find me! Love hit us like a ton of bricks (limestone?!). We married and moved to New Jersey where he worked with RCA. I thought I’d retire to be a stay-at-home mom, which only lasted two weeks. I saw a job posted with the Science To Go program at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute and they jumped at the chance to have a seasoned science educator on their team. We trained elementary school teachers who had essentially no science experience, so it was a treat for all of us to send them back to school with their kits. Then, I found a job with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Who did they want? Someone who understood science. Someone who wasn’t afraid of conflict. Someone who knew how to work with all kinds of people. I got lucky because I was just what they needed. Spent the better part of 20 years there and after many years as a research scientist, was promoted to a staff position in the Commissioner’s Office. I was appointed the 1st Urban Coordinator and I set up teams from across the Department to work with challenged cities on issues affecting their environmental quality. That led me to also serve on Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s Urban Coordinating Council, created to pursue overall improvements in our largest and poorest cities. Flash forward, after earning my Ph.D. in Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, I took a research position there where I served for 8 years. Major accomplishment? I launched the Sustainable Raritan River Initiative which sought to create a shared sense of environmental responsibility across the 97 municipalities in the watershed. It was a magical project and as a university person, I frequently served as an impartial third party in conflicts among politicians and citizen leaders. In the end, I found myself longing for a coffee table book that showcased the majesty of the region. I wanted people across the country to say, ‘This is my New Jersey. Not the turnpike or the intense industrial development, but the glorious woodlands and villages along the Raritan.’ And? In 2015, Rutgers University Press publishes my first book, The Raritan River: Our Landscape Our Legacy. It’s filled with stories and photographs from the many who love the river and I’m proud to say writing the book was a joyful labor of love. Here’s the link: https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-raritan-river/9780813565415 Finally? We moved home to Kent, Ohio leaving a stupendous team to continue the Initiative and now? I’m writing another book! On the mighty Cuyahoga River! It should see print by the end of the year, making me a happy author and making the people of northeast Ohio prouder than ever of their corner of paradise.”
Stanley K. Shernock (M.A. 1971) retired in June 2018 from Norwich University after 33 years of service, over 30 of which he spent as chair/director of the Department (and later School) of Justice Studies and Sociology. His career in total spanned 42 years as a full-time college faculty member. He is now Charles A. Dana Emeritus of Criminal Justice.
Robin Simon (Ph.D. 1992) has been a Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University since 2009. Her research examines the consequences of gender and other social inequalities for men’s and women’s roles and relationships, identities and emotions, and mental and physical health. Robin is involved in a few new studies including a cross-national analysis of marital status disparities in happiness, and a book project on the culture of intensive parenting and middle-class mothers’ and fathers’ stress and emotional well-being. She teaches courses on Health Disparities, Sociology of Emotions, the Social Psychology of Inequality as well as Gender, Social Relationships, and Well-Being Over the Life Course. “I have many fond memories of my time in the Sociology department at IU where I formed some of my most important and long-lasting personal and professional relationships.”
Julie D. Singer (B.A. 2010) lives in Indianapolis, IN where she is a Certified Financial Planner professional at Raymond James. She focuses on socially and environmentally responsible financial planning strategies for individuals, families, and nonprofit organizations. She currently volunteers as chair for the Emerging Leaders of the United Way of Central Indiana, she’s an Advanced Canine Companion with the Humane Society of Indianapolis, a Starfish Initiative Mentor, and an IUAA / Women’s Philanthropy at Indiana University volunteer. She has two degrees from IU – 2010 BA in Sociology and Religious Studies; 2013 MPA in Comparative and International Affairs.
Michelle Slaughter (B.A. 2012) Having studied Criminal Justice and Sociology, Michelle utilizes her Sociology degree as a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), Certified Internet Recruiter (CIR), and Certified Higher Education Professional (CHEP) in the Career Services Industry. Since 2015, Michelle has successfully assisted 600+ individuals with obtaining employment within their desired industry throughout the United States, Germany, and Italy by traveling and instructing civilians and transitioning service members on how to properly navigate the job search process. Michelle currently resides in Dallas, Texas with her Dachshund, Cooper, and is a member of the DFW Hoosiers Facebook group.
Kim (Saliba) Smith (Ph.D. 2000) “Kim’s PhD through IU’s Sociology department and SPEA program has led to a great deal of success. In addition to teaching, she works with the United Nations and projects related to education for sustainable development (ESD), including frequent presentations and mentoring around the world. I owe so much of my life and work success to my IU professors and I want to honor their inspiration and contributions… each and every one of you made a deep impact on my intellectual development and ability to make sense of our complex world. I will always cherish my time in your classes and want you to know the scale and scope of your impact.”
Shawna Smith (Ph.D. 2014) is in her second year as Research Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. She currently holds appointments in the Medical School (Department of Psychiatry and General Medicine) and the Institute for Social Research (Quantitative Methods Program, Survey Research Center). Her research focuses on using novel methodologies to improve implementation and delivery of health care evidence-based practices in community settings.
Jessica Sprague-Jones (Ph.D. 2012) is an Assistant Director of the Center for Public Partnerships and Research, a multi-disciplinary research center within the University of Kansas with a mission to optimize the well-being of children, youth, and families. She directs a team of PhD- and masters-level researchers on several applied research and evaluation projects in the content areas of services to children and families, early childhood education, child abuse prevention, and professional development for family support workers. Jessica is also currently working on a series of articles on developing and validating the Protective Factors Survey, 2nd Edition, a revision of a survey widely used in child abuse prevention programs to support evaluation and case management. The first article was recently published in Child Abuse & Neglect. “I work remotely for KU so I can live in my favorite place in the world: Milwaukee. I live with three family members I got during my time in Bloomington -- my husband, Scott, my 8 year old daughter, Ramona, and my ancient dog, Miller – and have since added another: my 4 year old son, Rusty.”
Brian Starks (Ph.D. 2005) this month received the Departmental Outstanding Teaching Award for the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Kennesaw State University. His book, American Parishes: Remaking Local Catholicism, is forthcoming on July 2nd with Fordham University Press. Brian also recently completed a National Study of Catholic Campus Ministry with a report and presentation to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The report is accessible on the USCCB’s website: http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catholic-education/campus-ministry/upload/A-National-Study-on-Catholic-Campus-Ministry.pdf
Jenny Stuber (Ph.D. 2006) is currently an Associate Professor at the University of North Florida. She is working on a book under contract with University of California Press tentatively titled Aspen and the American Dream: Class, Culture, and the Politics of Community.
Rachel Stuckey (B.A. 2013) went on to attend law school at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. After graduating in 2016, she began practicing in Elkhart with her firm, Warrick & Boyn, where she focuses mostly in business and corporate law as well as alcohol licensing law. “I am getting married June 1! I will always cherish my time at Indiana University Bloomington and have wonderful memories from those 4 years.”
Alicia Suarez (Ph.D. 2006) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at DePauw University, where she has worked since 2008. Alicia is Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program and the incoming Chair for the Sociology and Anthropology Department. “I consider myself a teacher/scholar/activist. After teaching a course at a women’s prison and doing volunteer work there, I began my most recent research about pregnant and postpartum women who birthed while incarcerated at a state prison. I hope to get involved in proposed legislation in Indiana next year to ban shackling of women during transports and during labor in state prisons and jails. My previous researched explored how midwives working in “prohibition” states grappled with having a career that was illegal. In my commitment to social change, I was an expert witness at the Indiana Statehouse for a legislative bill that passed in 2013 legalizing midwifery here.”
Josua Sung (B.A. 2008) graduated in December 2008 with a double major in Sociology and Criminal Justice with a minor of Phycology and has lived in Bloomington ever since. After graduating the IU Police Academy, he was hired by the IU Police Department in 2009 and currently holds numerous roles, including Field Trainer, Bicycle Officer, Head Defense Tactics Instructor, and CIRT (SWAT) team member. “I have a wife and three kids and have really enjoyed working in Bloomington.”
Erik Thorelli (B.A. 2011) continued his studies at the University of Hong Kong, then pursued Masters Degrees in Lund, Sweden and Shanghai, China. “I moved into the professional world first at a nanotech & machine learning startup out of Northwestern University, in Evanston, IL. Then I moved back to Sweden for a few years, founded a machine-learning software company focused on biodiversity and species identification. Now, I am back in the States, living in sunny Florida, working as a senior software engineer at a publicly-traded financial technology company.”
Ryotaro Uemura (Ph.D. 2010) is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy at Keio University in Japan.
Tamara van der Does (Ph.D. 2018) is a postdoc at the Santa Fe Institute, a research center focusing on complexity science in New Mexico. She works with Professor Mirta Galesic on modeling belief change and identity signaling. “We use theories from statistical physics and game theory to model and predict individual behavior. The institute is up in the mountains and has a very inter-disciplinary faculty: mathematicians, physicists, biologists, etc. I am learning a lot about networks, information theory, and modelling. I am very curious to see how I can take in this new knowledge and bring it back to my own sociological research on immigration and incorporation. When not at my desk, I go hiking, skiing, or dancing!”
Jane and Tom Van Heuvelen (Ph.D.’s 2016) are transitioning in the next academic year from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to their new jobs at the University of Minnesota.
Yvonne Vissing (B.A. 1974) went on to complete her M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology at Western Michigan University before embarking on a dynamic career with focuses on child abuse, child rights, human rights, and homelessness. “My IU days are sweet memories of days in transformation as I discovered Sociology. I never knew what Sociology was when I arrived as a first year student. Then (I graduated in around May 1974) students couldn’t declare a major until the end of their sophomore year. We were all in University Division taking gen-eds. I think that program is gone (?) but it was great because it operated under the assumption that new college students - especially first generation ones like me - wouldn’t know what they liked or were good at until we were exposed to lots of different types of courses. It was in that context that I took Intro to Sociology. While it was at first to fulfill a gen-ed, I took another, and another, and my love of sociology has shaped my life path. After graduation I worked with River Region mental health services in Louisville for several years. Then I got a full-ride to Western Michigan University and graduated with a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology (1980). I also got specialist degrees in substance abuse and holistic health. I taught at Ferris State where I was tenured and had children, then left my tenured position for a NIMH post-doctoral research fellowship in child abuse and family violence at the University of New Hampshire. I found New England to be beautiful with lots more to do so I let my tenured position go to start a new life there. I am former chair of Salem State University’s sociology department and was recently asked to help build them a new interdisciplinary Department of Healthcare Studies. I am founding director of the SSU Center for Childhood & Youth Studies. I received a Whiting Foundation fellowship to study child rights programs and am the US policy chair for the Hope for Children for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Policy Center in Cyprus. I have advanced training in research, human rights, homelessness, child abuse, and child rights. With 7 books out and 3 coming, my areas of specialty are fighting for the underdog. I do a significant amount of international work now in human rights and am happy to work with departments and organizations to help them evaluate and embed human rights frameworks in their institutions. I am also a consultant with the American Sociological Association’s consultant resource group and do strategic planning and program reviews for departments around the country. My time at IU and in Sociology have been the making of me. I continue to watch every IU ballgame on TV and wear my hat everywhere with pride, as you will see from my attached photo.”
Tanja Vuckovic Juros (M.A. 2007, Ph.D. 2012) is a post-doctoral researcher at University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, at the Interdisciplinary Research Center on Families and Sexualities (CIRFASE). She lives in Brussels, Belgium. “At this moment I am at the final stage of my project, funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, that is looking at transnational families of LGB migrants from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) who are now married or are raising children with a same-sex parent in Belgium or the Netherlands (“Transformation of Family Norms in a Transnational World” (TransNorm)). More specifically, the project is examining how the move to a more permissive socio-institutional context transformed family trajectories of LGB migrants, and it is also examining how exposure to new institutional models of same-sex marriage and family might be changing family norms of non-migrant family members in CEE home communities.”
Lisa Weber-Raley (M.A. 2004) lives in Edgewater, MD with her husband and 8-year-old twins. She is Senior Vice President at Greenwald & Associates in Washington DC, a private market research firm specializing in financial services, employee benefits, and healthcare. “I’ve been working there since 2006 and truly love what I do! It’s exciting to take my solid research skills and medical sociology background, both honed at IU in the PhD program, and apply these to real-world research for clients. My coworker, Doug Kincaid, also is a grad of the IU sociology program (M.A.)… Note: our firm is always looking for talented researchers with a passion for applied research in our subject areas. Happy to connect with anyone who might be interested in talking about jobs in the private firm setting, either with our company or generally about that decision making process.”
Regina Werum (Ph.D. 1995) While living in Berlin with her family in the coming year, Regina will lead the UNL program for students in Berlin in Spring 2020 and, while on sabbatical, will focus on her ongoing projects in Sociology of Education (NSF funded), social movements (DoD funded) – and initiate a new project on parental time use and children’s educational outcomes involving her collaborator at the University of Rostock, Prof. Dr. Heike Trappe.
Julie Ranz Wilson (B.A. 2000) is the Associate Director of Development at the School of Education after five years at the IU Libraries as Advancement Associate. “I was a first generation college student in my family (my mother was raised in an orphanage so we’re only moving up!) … I have a 16 year old daughter who will likely attend IU as a 2nd generation, now legacy, college student.”
Stephen Zehr (Ph.D. 1990) is a Professor of Sociology at University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, IN and received the Distinguished Professor Award for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The College of Arts