Doctoral Placement
Doctoral graduates since 2009
Ophra Leyser-Whalen, March 3, 2009: “Choosing” Parenthood through Fertility Treatments: The Importance of Biological Children and the Difficult Roads in Their Pursuits
Associate Professor, University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Shelly Koch, April 10, 2009: Shopping is Work: An Institutional Ethnography of Food Shopping
Professor, Emory & Henry College, Department of Sociology
Ayako Mizumura, April 28, 2009: Reversing the Orientalist Gaze: Feminist Approaches to Japanese - U.S. GI’s Intimacy in Post World War II Japan and Contemporary Okinawa
Assistant Director, University of Kansas, Center for East Asian Studies
Loralie Wiebold, Dec. 2, 2009: Safeguarding the Heartland: County Government and Community Survival in the Era of Globalization
Data Coordinator, State of Wisconsin, Department of Children and Families
Melissa Freiburger, April 23, 2010: Mothers as Children's 'First and Best Teachers': An Institutional Ethnography
Director of Programs, Sunrise Project, Lawrence, KS
Elizabeth Legerski, May 7, 2010: Hierarchies of Risk: The Longitudinal Dynamics of Family, Work, Welfare, and Health Insurance in Low-Income Women's Lives
Associate Professor, University of North Dakota, Department of Sociology
Jason Capps, July 28, 2010: Collateral Damage in Iraq and Capital Punishment in the U.S.: How the Public Makes Sense of Extreme Violence and Death
Customer Success Specialist, Crelate Talent
Tori Barnes-Brus, Sept. 23, 2010: Responsible Mothers and Well Born Children: Social Authorities and the Discourses of Nineteenth Century Pregnancy
Professor, Cornell College, Department of Sociology
Evelyn Clark Benavides, Oct. 19, 2010: Victims of Time, Warriors for Change: Chilean Women in a Global, Neoliberal Society
Associate Professor, SUNY Oswego, Department of Sociology
Brian Zirkle, April 7, 2011: Working Temp: How Temporary Employees Find Meaning through Life Course Narratives
Professor, Johnson County Community College, Department of Sociology
Stephanie Decker, August 31, 2012: A Sociology of Public Confessions
Associate Professor, SUNY Cortland, Department of Sociology
Robert Hughes, April 18, 2014: Politics of Ethnic Diversity and Ethnic Rebellion: The Escalation of Ethnic Tensions from 1946 to 2005
Senior IT Manager, Analytic Data Integration Section, Washington State Dept. of Social & Health Services
Lisa-Marie Wright, April 18, 2014: Voices of Empowerment: The Role of Kansas City Based NGOs on Immigrant Women’s Experiences of Empowerment
Associate Teaching Professor, University of Kansas, Department of Sociology
Carrie Wendel-Hummell, April 28, 2015: Journey to Parenthood: How New Fathers and Mothers Make Sense of Perinatal Emotional Distress
Director, University of Kansas, Center for Research on Aging & Disability Options
KuoRay Mao, July 29, 2015: When the Wells Ran Dry: A Treadmill Analysis of Political Capitalism and Environmental Degradation in the Minqin Oasis
Associate Professor, Colorado State University, Department of Sociology
Christy Craig, Aug. 28, 2015: Reading Between the Lines: Social, Cultural, and Erotic Capital in American and Irish Women's Book Clubs
Assistant Professor, Fort Hays State University, Department of Sociology
Aislinn Addington, Oct. 21, 2015: Drawing Lines and Taking Sides: An Examination of Boundary Work among Oppositional Worldviews
Campus Advocate Coordinator, Oregon Sexual Assault Task Force
Jane Webb, Nov. 12, 2015: From Amazon Warriors to Hobbits: Heightism and the Cultural “Staturization” of Identities, Gender, and Sexuality
Therapist, Operation Breakthrough
Nicole Perry, Dec. 4, 2015: Diseased Bodies and Ruined Reputations: Venereal Disease and the Construction of Women's Respectability in Early 20th Century Kansas
Communications Manager, University of Kansas, SWIFT Education Center
James Ordner, Dec. 7, 2015: Grassroots Resistance to the Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska
Lecturer, Humboldt State University, Department of Sociology
Pooya Naderi, April 6, 2016: Gender, Martyrdom, and the Management of Stigmatized Identities among Devout Muslims in the U.S.
Adjunct Instructor, Willamette University, Critical Studies Program
Emily Kennedy, May 4, 2016: Digital Desire: Commercial, Moral, and Political Economies of Sex Work and the Internet
Criminal Justice Data Analyst, City of Lawrence
Kyle Chapman, July 14, 2016: Determining Diabetes: The Role of Educational Attainment and Race/Ethnicity in the Link Between Health Behaviors and Diabetes
Associate Professor, Oregon Institute of Technology, Sociology & Population Health Management
Kevin McCannon, Sept. 30, 2016: Challenges of Health Care Devolution: Problems of Legitimacy, Consumer Knowledge, and Work Transfer in Kansas Medicaid
Assistant Teaching Professor & Academic Program Associate, University of Kansas, Department of Sociology
Brock Ternes, Nov. 28, 2016: Sustainable Practices in the High Plains: A Study of Water Conservation Efforts and Well Ownership
Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Department of Sociology
Rachel Craft, Dec. 2, 2016: Making the Choice to Use Herbs: Pathways to the Practice of Herbalism
Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Missouri St. Louis, Gerontology Program
Jorge Thieroldt Llanos, June 9, 2017: The Local Dimension of Transnational Activity in Environmental Conflicts: Tambogrande, 1961-2004
Docente, Univresidad de Lima, Communication Studies
Anna Kern, July 2, 2018: Gender and the Green Economy
Natalie Jansen, November 30, 2018: Women’s Hypertension in Indonesia: The Role of Religion, Trust, and Community Involvement
Medical school student, University of Illinois at Chicago
Andrea Gómez Cervantes, April 4, 2019: Inflexible Illegality: Immigration and Integration Processes of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Latina/o Immigrants in the Midwest
Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University, Department of Sociology
Lukas Szrot, April 26, 2019: America versus the Environment? Humanity, Nature, and the Sacred 1973-2014
Assistant Professor, Bemidji State University, Department of Sociology & Communication Studies
Daniel Alvord, June 13, 2019: Reversal of the Kansas Tax "Experiment": The Social Limits of Supply-Side
Visiting Assistant Professor, Bucknell University, Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University, Department of Sociology (starting fall 2023)
Hanhao Wang, December 13, 2019: Producing for what? GDP and Well-being in China's Economic Policies
Jacob Lipsman, April 8, 2020: Investigating Structural Barriers to Community Participation: A Political Ecology Analysis of Risk Reduction in Coastal Louisiana
Impact Analyst, LifeCity
Byeongdon Oh, April 17, 2020: Is College Still the Great Equalizer? Three Essays on Social Stratification among College Graduates in the Twenty-first Century
Postdoctoral Fellow, Portland State University, Department of Sociology. 2020-2022
Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Berkeley, Social Science D-Lab. 2022-present
Assistant Professor, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Department of Sociology (starting spring 2024)
Joelle Spotswood, April 16, 2021: There and Gone: A Portrait of How Social Class Shapes Educational Outcomes in America's Heartland
Instructor, Fort Hays State University, Department of Sociology
Emily Morrow, April 30, 2021: Which Meritocracy? An Exploration of Gender Differences in Meritocracy Belief and Experiences in Relation to Advancement in Academic Medicine
Associate Professor, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Department of Sociology
Sarah Smith, June 4, 2021. Hispanic Health Lifestyles in the US: Associations with Acculturation, Gender, and SES
Social Science Research Analyst, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Evaluations and Inspections
Matt Comi, Jan. 24, 2022. Do Farmers Know Better? Exploring Innovation, Environmental Change, and Rural Livlihoods among US Hop Growers
Koller Postdoctoral Fellow, National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute
Assistant Professor, Utah Valley University, Department of Behavioral Sciences, starting Fall 2023
Pam Rooks, April 22, 2022. The “Jayhawk Nazi” of Kansas: Gerald Winrod, Antisemitism, and the Evangelical Far Right, 1925-1944
Lecturer, University of Kansas, Department of Sociology
Basil "Bo" Cassell, April 26, 2022. Consumer Individualism and Community Orientation Among Protestant Churches: A New Typology
Program Administrator, Salvation Army
Elyse Neumann, July 21, 2022. The Phenomenology of Fat Men’s Health
Assistant Professor, Winston-Salem State University, Department of Behavioral Sciences
Gregory Goldman, September 6, 2022. Civil Judaism in Crisis: Antisemitism, Israel, and American Jewish Identity Politics
Posthumous degree awarded fall 2022
Alexander Myers, December 13, 2022. Laboratories of Bureaucracy: The Development of Labor Market Institutions in Wisconsin, 1900-1940
Lecturer, Washburn University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Melissa Irwin, May 4, 2023. Gen X Views on Mourning 2.0 and Continuing Bonds between the Living and the Dead on Facebook
Matt Erickson, May 8, 2023. Changing Marriage Dynamics in the United States, 1990s to 2010s
Survey Statistician, Census Bureau, Population Division, Local Government Estimates and Processing Branch
Scott Tuttle, May 10, 2023. Degrees of Separation: The Impact of Race and Immigration Status on Professional Career Paths
Management Analyst, Jackson County Circuit Court
Andrew Kim, May 11, 2023. Three Essays on the Intersection of Race and Gender in the Labor Market
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Population Studies Center
Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Department of Sociology (starting fall 2024)
Kafayat Mahmoud, July 21, 2023. Associations between Family Structures, Formal Social Participation, and End-of-Life Care Quality
Postdoctoral Scholar, Boston University, Center for Innovation in Social Science