Department of Sociology

2022 News Archive

Check out Professor Brent Simpson's new research on radical protest tactics!

Professor Brent Simpson's new research on radical protest tactics covered in an article in the Guardian and other outlets about protesters throwing soup on Van Gogh painting.

Professor Mathieu Deflem's work on the political abuse of Interpol discussed in news report!

Professor Mathieu Deflem's ongoing work on the political abuse of Interpol by authoritarian regimes was discussed in a news report about China targeting dissidents to its communist regime who are located overseas.

Check out Professor Jaclyn Wong's new paper!

Professor Jaclyn Wong just published a paper in Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project COVID-19 Study to explore how the pandemic changed relationship quality among partnered older adults.

Check out Sociology's new research lab launched by Professor Jennifer Augustine!

The Sociology Department now has a new research lab called Family Inequality Research Lab (FIRL). FIRL aims to provide fresh scientific knowledge on inequalities in and between American families.

View our exciting employment opportunities!

The Sociology Department is seeking two new faculty: an Assistant Professor and an open rank professor (Assistant, Associate or Full professor) who use Social Networks in the study of Family &Gender, Health and Wellbeing and Methods.

Kudos to PhD student Victoria Money!

Victoria Money's manuscript titled "Demonstrating anticipatory deflection and a preemptive measure to manage it: An extension of Affect Control Theory" will be published in the current release of Social Psychology Quarterly.

Check out Professor Jennifer Augustine's article posted in Demography!

Associate Professor Jennifer Augustine's article "Gender Disparities in Increased Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Research Note" was recently published in research journal Demography.

Professor Mathieu Deflem interviewed about Paris Syndrome

An article in Live Science, featured Professor Deflem discussing the so-called Paris syndrome, whereby visitors to the French capital feel disappointed. It has been found to be more common among tourists from Japan, because of the confrontation of Japanese exceptions with French reality.

Sociology has been awarded McCausland Grant for summer minor creation!

Under the lead of instructor Hanne van der Iest, Sociology has been awarded $25,000 by the College of Arts and Sciences McCausland Innovation Fund (Track IV Phase 2) for setting up Summer of Sociology, an accelerated minor program!

Kudos to PhD student Nik Lampe!

The American Sociological Association Sociology of Sexualities Martin P. Levine Memorial Dissertation Fellowship Award Committee has selected Nik's dissertation proposal, "Healthy Aging Beyond Sex and Gender Binaries," to receive an honorable mention for this year's award!

Professor Jaclyn Wong interviewed for article in the MIT Technology Review

Check out Dr. Wong's interview featured in article "Chore apps were meant to make mothers' lives easier. They often don't."

PhD student Nick Harder will be awarded a Bilinski Dissertation Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year for his project "Heuristics and Cultural Competition: How the Status of Cultural Objects are Formed and Status Influences Survival."

Using music as a cultural object, Nick's dissertation project proposes that individuals use status value as a cognitive shortcut during interaction, and that status value's function as a cognitive shortcut has consequences for the success of music genres in terms of gaining listenership and maintaining listenership investment. The project utilizes a series of 3 studies (a survey and two simulations of music consumption over time) to expand existing knowledge about music consumption and listenership, test new theory, and provide grounds for a wider research program on cultural objects and their valuation.

Great news! Sociology has been awarded the College of Arts and Sciences McCausland Innovation Fund!

Sociology has been awarded $30,000 by the College of Arts and Sciences McCausland Innovation Fund (Track IV, Phase 1) to develop three stellar online courses over summer 2022. The team consists of Hanne van der Iest (Project Lead), Dr. Andrea Henderson, Dr. Jaclyn Wong, Dr. Matthew Brashears (Faculty Experts), and Nick Heiserman, Nick Harder, Meg Routh, Samantha Moser, Morgan Koziol, Valerie Barron, and Atticus Wolfe (Graduate Assistants and Course Developers). Be on the lookout for our online, new and / or improved SOCY 360 Medicine and Health, SOCY 561 Integrative Research Experience, and SOCY 392 Elementary Statistics for Sociologist courses.

Department will welcome Kathleen Broussard as Assistant Professor!

Kathleen is a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin and fellow at the Population Research Center. Her research interests include sexual and reproductive health, fertility, gender, social networks, and social policy.

Kudos to PhD student Nik Lampe!

Nik Lampe will be joining Vanderbilt for Fall 2022 semester to begin their postdoctoral appointment! Congratulations Nik!

Kudos to Professor Jaclyn Wong

Professor Jaclyn Wong has been selected as a Work and Family Research Network (WFRN) Early Career Fellow for 2022-2023

Kudos to PhD student Nick Heiserman on his most recent publication!

"Ideology Shapes How Workers Perceive and React to Workplace Discrimination: An Experimental Study on Parenthood Discrimination." by Nick Heiserman was recently published in final form in Social Science Research.

Happy Twosday!

Why numbers have 2/22/22 have been too fascinating for over 2,000 years

Department will welcome Joe Quinn as Assistant Professor!

We are very happy to announce that Joe Quinn (Ph.D. candidate at Duke) will be joining us Fall 2022! Joe has teaching and research interests in social networks; social psychology, social cognition; stratification and inequality; group processes; quantitative and computational methods; and field- based randomized controlled trials.

Kudos to Nick Harder and Megan Routh, winners of SPARC dissertation grant!

Congratulations to Sociology PhD students Nick Harder and Megan Routh on receiving SPAR grants for the 2021-2022 academic year! Nick's proposal is titled "Heuristics and Cultural Competition: How the Status of Cultural Objects are Formed and Status influences Survival" and Megan Routh's proposal is titled "What We Say in the Shadows: Whisper Networks Among Women and Gender Minority Individuals in STEM."

PhD student Nik Lampe is an invited speaker for a virtual conference sponsored by Monmouth University School of Social Work's LGBT+ Older Adult Project

Nik Lampe presented their dissertation research on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (T/GNC) older adults' perceptions of advance care planning for aging and end of life care experiences. The conference was help on January 29,2022.

Check out Professor Mathieu Deflem's recent media appearance in Archyde!

Professor Mathieu Deflem was interviewed in several media about the recent election of the new President of Interpol, who has been accused of complicity in police torture and human- rights abuse. One news story was written for the French press agency, another for the magazine L'Express. Both circulated widely in several languages, including Yahoo News and Archyde.

Professor Jaclyn Wong interviewed for NPR's Code Switch episode "Ask Code Switch: Parents Just Don't Understand"

Assistant Professor Jaclyn Wong interviewed on her research in Sage journals article "Better Together? Interracial Relationships and Depressive Symptoms" on NPR's Code Switch podcast.

Former PHD student Anna Rogers and Professor Mathieu Deflem publish book on women in heavy metal

The new book, Doing Gender in Heavy Metal, by former Sociology PhD student Anna Rogers and Professor Mathieu Deflem was featured in a news story by Lucas Daprille in The State newspaper. It recounts how the two collaborated to study gender in a music scene they both also participate in.

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