Faculty Updates

Elizabeth Anderson

Elizabeth Anderson enjoyed her first year at KU and is grateful for the warm welcome that she received! She continued her research on gender, health, and social policy. She recently published articles in Health Services Research, the Journal of Postsecondary Education, and a book chapter in the Sociological Study of Mental Health: Theories, Contexts, and Systems. She has been awarded grants from KU's NIH-funded Center for Biomedical Research Excellence focused on Women’s Health for a project focused on new mothers' patterns of sexual and reproductive healthcare utilization and KU's Office of Research for a mixed-method project on pathways into menopause treatment. She is excited to start collecting new data!

Elizabeth taught Research Methods and Gender, Health & Society this past year, and is looking forward to teaching the introductory class for the Health & Society major this coming year. She was also a member of the organizing committee for a new ASA section on Reproduction that will be under formal ASA review this fall and was recently elected to serve on the Nominations Committee for the Medical Sociology section. She shared her research at the Eastern Sociological Society's Reproduction Conference and with KUMC's Department of Population Health. 

Kelly Chong

Kelly has completed the first year of her second 3-year term as chair of Sociology (after serving as Chair for a 5-year term). It has been a very busy year back. This summer, Kelly finished her documentary film on Anti-Asian racial trauma and mental health, Invisibility and Rage: Asian Americans, Racial Trauma, Mental Health. The documentary has been scheduled to air on a PBS station in the fall of 2026 and will play in various film festivals around the country. It is expected to have a wide-ranging distribution, including in the fields of education and mental health. She is beginning a new book project on the topic of immigration, assimilation, and disenfranchised grief. She is also working on several journal articles, including an article on AAPI anti-hate experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic and an article on AAPI mental health. In addition to teaching, mentoring, and a busy schedule of chair duties, Kelly performed a wide array of service for the profession of sociology at national and regional levels.

Brian Donovan

Brian Donovan continues to work on his Taylor Swift fandom research. He is looking forward to seeing two book chapters and a journal article based on this research coming out within the year. He presented some of this work at the MSS and the Southwest Pop Culture conference. In October, Brian’s book American Gold Digger: Marriage Money and Law from the Ziegfeld Follies to Anna Nicole Smith was recognized as a notable “Reader’s Pick” in the New Yorker.

Liz Felix

Over the past year, Liz Felix has continued her research and teaching in the areas of the sociology of mental health, social networks, and crime, law, and deviance. Liz enjoyed teaching undergraduate courses on crime and her first ever graduate course on the sociology of mental health, as well as serving on the committees of several successful graduate defenses, mentoring her first undergraduate honors thesis student, serving on the Publications Committee for the Midwest Sociological Society, and presenting her research at multiple conferences. In the upcoming academic year, she is excited to continue her work with promising graduate and undergraduate students, engage in service work (e.g., work with the Graduate Studies Committee), and further her research agenda.

Eric Hanley

Eric Hanley continues to study political behavior in the United States with a particular focus on voting behavior and the social, political, and religious attitudes that shape electoral choice. During the past year, he published two articles examining abortion attitudes in the United States, one comparing Latino and White Americans ("Abortion Attitudes in the Age of Trump: A Comparison of Latino and White Americans," Social Science Quarterly) and the other exploring demographic and religious divisions in the abortion attitudes of Black and White Americans ("Variations in the Abortion Attitudes of Black and White Americans: Demographic and Religious Divides," Race and Social Problems).

ChangHwan Kim

ChangHwan Kim completed his service as Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in the 2025–2026 academic year, which was his final year in the role. He is grateful to KU graduate students and his colleagues for their support during his service as DGS. This past year was a rewarding one for his research. His 2025 article in American Sociological Review, "Culture and Immigrant Selectivity in Shaping Asian American Education," received three honors: the 2026 James Coleman Best Article Award from the Sociology of Education Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA), an Honorable Mention for the 2026 Louis Wirth Best Article Award from the ASA International Migration Section, and the College Research Product Award from the University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He also published three articles with Andrew Taeho Kim during the year, appearing in International Migration Review, Sociological Methods & Research, and RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, and has an article forthcoming in Social Science History (with Donghyeok Choi). He gave an invited talk at the Center for Population and Development Studies at Harvard University and continues to work on multiple projects related to Asian Americans and Korean studies.

Tracey LaPierre

What a way to cap off 20 years at KU! In Spring 2026, Dr. Tracey LaPierre was promoted to full professor, honoring her dedicated work in research, teaching, and service. She also completed her third and final year as the Patrick & Vicki Malone Honors Faculty Fellow for the University Honors Program. Her first-year honors seminar on “The Social Cure” examined how meaningful social connections function as "medicine" for both individuals and communities and explored current trends and contributors to social connection and loneliness. Up next? Dr. LaPierre was awarded a sabbatical for Fall 2026 where her primary research focus will be a longitudinal and comparative analysis of reproductive decision making, desires, and intentions among people with disabilities.

Kevin McCannon

Kevin spent the last year becoming reacquainted with first year students. After a long hiatus from introductory courses, teaching Self and Society and Social Problems more frequently has presented welcome challenges to his approach to student learning and engagement. He had the pleasure of being asked to be the faculty sponsor for a new student organization, Partners in Health Engage. A former student in his Global Health course championed creating a chapter of this organization at KU which provides an amazing opportunity for students to gain meaningful experience in health policy and advocacy work. 

Taking a step well outside of his comfort zone, he brought an experience typically reserved for his Death and Dying class to the university community: Death Café. Students from across KU had a lively and supportive discussion on everything death over cheap snacks and beverages. He plans to do this annually for the foreseeable future, hopefully close to Halloween, because, why not? Lastly, Kevin enjoyed reconnecting with peers at this past Midwest Sociological Society meeting, especially those on the newly formed First Generation and Working Class Issues committee of which he is a founding member.

Tyler Myroniuk

Tyler Myroniuk had a productive first year at KU, including winning a College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Research Excellence Initiative award ($15,000) for pilot research, being elected to the Faculty Senate, and mentoring a McNair Scholar—aside from getting to know his colleagues and graduate students, prepping new courses, and continuing to publish on sub-Saharan Africa demographic research. 

This summer, Myroniuk, along with colleagues at KUMC and UMass Boston, fielded a survey called the Cape Cod Aging Needs, Community Health Outcomes, & Resources (ANCHOR) Study. Myroniuk and colleagues used the pilot funds to invite 1,000 randomly selected individuals from the 60+ year old population in Sandwich, MA, hire an undergraduate research assistant, and travel to Sandwich for survey promotion and stakeholder engagement ahead of an NIH R01 submission stemming from this pilot. 

Myroniuk is enthusiastic about this upcoming academic year.

Joane Nagel

Should I stay or should I go? This feels like the wrong time to step away from the discipline while we are facing an attack on sociology, social science, and science and in light of increasing limits on faculty position replacement. Even though I’m retiring, I will do my best to make a final contribution in a book on Rethinking Race & Ethnicity due next year and help a few students complete their degrees. It has been an honor to work with colleagues and students on shared projects over the past decades, and amazing to witness the diversification of the field and academia during my career. Sociology offers a unique and valuable perspective on our lives and the worlds we inhabit. Our critical analyses of micro and macro systems of meaning and power are not universally welcomed but are essential to resistance and change. I am confident that we will continue to expose the links between the personal and the political. Keep committing Sociology!

Mehrangiz Najafizadeh

Mehrangiz Najafizadeh has been continuing her research and teaching on global issues and continues to be active in various aspects of KU’s area studies programs, including the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the Center for Global and International Studies, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Further, Mehrangiz presented a research paper on Azerbaijani IDP and refugees and enduring war trauma, and she organized a formal paper session, “Development Issues in the Global Context,” for the 2026 Midwest Sociological Society Meetings. She also published a review of Daniel Hammet’s Global Development (Routledge) in the Journal of Global South Studies, and she continues to serve as a member of the Azerbaijan Steering Committee of the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). Her on-going research activities include both research on contemporary issues pertaining to Azerbaijanis who were displaced from their homelands during the first Nagorno-Karabakh War and social historical archival research on gender and social change. 

Most notably, Mehrangiz was nominated and was a semi-finalist for the University of Kansas 2025 Honorable Outstanding Progressive Educator (HOPE) Award, and she is recipient of a prestigious 2026-2027 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award.

Jarron Saint Onge

Jarron Saint Onge continues to study the social determinants of health with several ongoing projects examining health lifestyles, rural health disparities, and neighborhood impacts on health behaviors. This past year he was on sabbatical for the Spring and enjoyed a productive break from campus and Lawrence. Professor Saint Onge has spent the past year working on projects related to health lifestyles, community social capital, time use, and mortality. He recently published papers focused on: recurrent climate change and mortality, domestic violence during covid, and race/ethnic mortality. He is currently working on new projects related to internal U.S. population change and health behaviors. Saint Onge is currently co-directing the Kansas Population Center, an IPSR center focused on integrating big data efforts to study the importance of population processes in the Midwest. The KPC is an institutional member of the Association of Population Centers. Saint Onge looks forward to a series of events to develop collaborations across KU and the region this coming year as well as increased student involvement in the KPC.

David Smith

At the end of this past academic year, I graduated – from regular faculty status to professor emeritus. But my 36th year at KU was not a farewell tour. It was, overall, a year much like any other. I taught a memorable graduate seminar and three enjoyable honors courses. I published a book chapter, “Authority-Bound, Other-Directed: Adorno, Riesman, and the Surrender of the Will,” in The Anthem Companion to David Riesman. My book on Marx’s Capital was translated into Arabic. With my colleague and long-time collaborator, Eric Hanley, I drafted a research proposal for the American National Election Study: “Authoritarianism and Affective Polarization.” With our PhD students Brenden Oliver and Chris Altamura, Eric and I submitted a proposal to the General Social Survey, “Support for Domineering Leaders.” I was interviewed on that subject by the Associated Press, and I presented related papers at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association and the Midwest Sociological Society, and at a forum of the Cross-Border Network in Kansas City, Missouri. A true highlight of the year was seeing my doctoral student Tony Feldmann complete his thesis (on mid-20th century conspiracy theories) and receive his richly deserved PhD. Another highlight was the successful completion of the faculty-academic staff union campaign which, after five-plus years, culminated in the ratification of our first contract. I owe a debt of solidarity to all the many, many colleagues in United Academics of KU (UAKU, AFT/AAUP) who contributed to that hard won outcome. And, even though I’m now officially and truly retired, I remain active on several ongoing graduate committees.

Paul Stock

This past year has been a whirlwind – in addition to my normal teaching routine of Environment, Power & Justice and the Sociology of Global Food, I had the pleasure of mentoring three honors students who all presented their work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in April. Further, I am delighted that Walter Goettlich completed his dissertation this past fall. 

In August and September 2025, we hosted fellow sociologist Pilar Morales Giner from Spain as a visiting professor. We were excited to have her present some of her current work during our colloquium series. She has since gladly helped some of our undergraduates navigate their upcoming study abroad experiences. 

Research-wise I had a busy summer in 2025 presenting work in Paris and Morocco while then transitioning to work on a book that has been percolating for the better part of a decade. More to come next newsletter. In February, I visited Houston where some of my collaborative work from the New Farmers Project was on display as part of the traveling exhibition Mud + Corn + Stone + Blue. I was part of a panel discussing the historical similarity of rural decline in the United States and Central America. The exhibition will again be on display in Charleston, Illinois, at Eastern Illinois University’s Tarble Arts Center from August 4, 2026-October 31, 2026. Let me know if you get a chance to check it out!

The biggest news of the year is that, in March, I was honored to receive the Midwest Sociology Society’s inaugural Teaching Excellence Award for Full Time Faculty. I am grateful to those that nominated me and wrote letters of support. 

Fithawee Tzeggai

In addition to teaching a full slate of courses on race, education, and sociological theory, I spent this past year developing my core research projects and completing two journal articles. My work on the intellectual origins of contemporary school reform will be featured in an upcoming volume of American Studies, and my paper on the role of experts in the history of welfare reform will be published in Social Science History. This summer, I am continuing to develop my book manuscript for publication and beginning preliminary research on two related projects.

Lisa-Marie Wright

Lisa-Marie Wright has had a rewarding academic year in both teaching and research. Most notably, she and Dr. Tracey LaPierre were awarded the American Sociological Association’s Carla B. Howery Teaching Enhancement Grant to advance their work on utilizing a multi-dimensional teaching evaluation rubric to foster a more holistic pedagogical training of graduate students. Professor Wright has also partnered with Professor LaPierre to launch a new project that will explore how gender attitudes are evolving among young adults in Generation Z with particular focus on the influence of online phenomena such as the “tradwife” movement. As part of the project, they are building a research team of undergraduate and graduate students and will also investigate the pedagogical impact of collaborative research experiences in graduate training. They presented their work on both of these projects at the Midwest Sociological Society in St. Louis this past spring.

In her teaching, the past year brought new classroom experiences as Professor Wright taught Sociology of Immigration in the Fall and Spring semesters. This year also marked a decade of teaching the large, amphitheater style section of Elements of Sociology, which she continues to thoroughly enjoy. The academic year concluded with her participation in the inaugural Student Success Academy with the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), followed by participation in the three-day Course Design Institute at CTE, where she explored innovative approaches to helping students understand the broad applicability of sociology across diverse career paths. She is looking forward to implementing new assignments and instructional strategies in her large, lecture-based course next Fall.