Current Courses

Professional Organizations

• Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science . 01/01/2017 - present. Position : Member.
• American Sociological Association, Organizations/Occupations/Work Section. 01/01/2014 - present. Position : Member.
• American Sociological Association, Medical Sociology Section. 01/01/2014 - present. Position : Member.
• American Sociological Association, Inequality/Poverty/Mobility Section. 01/01/2014 - present. Position : Member.
• Population Association of America. 01/01/2008 - present. Position : Member.
• American Sociological Association. 01/01/2007 - present. Position : Member.

Teaching Philosophy

Courses I Teach

• SOC 3112 - Introduction to Social Statistics
  Designed for the math-minded and math-phobic alike, this course will introduce students to the fundamentals of statistics and their application in the social sciences. It is important to note that while some basic math skills are necessary to succeed in the course, emphasis will be placed on the conceptual underpinnings of statistics. Thus, advanced algebra may be helpful, but will not guarantee your success in the course. Efforts to grasp the concepts discussed, and their relationships to one another, will. We will study a wide variety of subjects this semester related (but not necessarily limited to) a.) the importance and language of statistics; b.) tabular and graphical “descriptive statistics” summarizing groups of data; and c.) “probability distributions” linking outcomes to their likelihood of occurrence; and d.) “hypotheses testing” evaluating the existence of a significant relationship between social factors.
• SOC 3380 - Social Inequality
  This course examines the degree of, and processes involved in, inequality along characteristics such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, physical ability and sexual orientation. By describing trends over time within the United States, the class uses a comparative approach to emphasize the societal factors that explain why some groups suffer economic, political and social disadvantage relative to other groups. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the ways that these disadvantages are reproduced both intentionally and inadvertently through actions and interactions at the individual, organizational and institutional levels.
• SOC 3436 - Global Social Structure
  This course is designed to increase students’ knowledge on the subject of income inequality and the closely related topic of poverty both within and between nation-states and world regions. By focusing on developing and less developed countries, in addition to the U.S. and other advanced capitalist democracies, the class uses a broad comparative perspective to highlight the sociological factors that explain why poverty and inequality vary so dramatically over time and space. We begin by discussing various ways that poverty and inequality is conceptualized and measured and proceed to patterns and trends in poverty and income inequality. We then explore various macro-level structures interacting with poverty including the welfare state, globalization & neoliberalism, cultural ideologies and more. We conclude with an examination of some of the consequences of poverty and inequality, including social movements to prevent and eradicate them.
• SOC 6140 - Longitudinal Data Analysis
  Applied in nature, this graduate-level seminar will introduce students to the fundamentals of analytical modeling techniques popular across the social sciences (e.g. –random intercept models, fixed effects, growth curves) to analyze longitudinal ("panel", "time-series cross-sectional", "repeated measures") data. Because much of this data involves multiple units (e.g. - individuals, schools, countries), the class will necessarily cover multi-level modeling as well (where units constitute one level and time constitutes another).

Teaching Projects

• Making the Global Explicit – Systematically Incorporating Global Learning in the Sociology Core Curriculum. Project Lead: Claudia Geist. Collaborators: Marcel Paret, Lazarus Adua, Theresa Martinez. Global Learning Across the Disciplines (GLAD) Award 12/18/2019 - present.
• Gen-2 Online Social Statistics Course. Project Lead: Megan M. Reynolds. Collaborators: Thomas Quinn. CSBS, Dept of Sociology 07/01/2019 - present.

Student Projects

• Gender and Sexual Violence Among the Refugee Population in Salt Lake City, Utah. Katie Rasmussen. 09/01/2017 - 04/30/2018
• Looking at Wellness Benefits of Summer Counseling Services at the Women’s Resource Center. Renee Gilfillan. 05/01/2017 - 08/30/2017
• Gender Minorities and Health Care Inequality: Concerns at the Provider-Level. Calli Jo Bennett. 01/01/2017 - 04/30/2017

Current Students

• Alla Chernenko, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Alla Chernenko, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Luciano Pesci, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Luciano Pesci, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.

Former Students

• Kyl Myers, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Jessica Eckhardt, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Kyl Myers, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Jessica Eckhardt, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Ha Ngoc Trinh, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Martha Menuzhi, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Ha Ngoc Trinh, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Martha Menuzhi, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Thomas Quinn, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.
• Thomas Quinn, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.