Graduate Student Alumni
Emory Sociology PhDs of the 21st Century
Our graduate program provides a thorough training in the rigorous and theoretically-informed analysis of evidence, as well as in the clear presenation of such research.
This prepares our graduate students, in turn, for careers within and beyond academia.
Indeed, as seen below, those who have earned their PhDs from Emory Sociology this century have gone on to work in research universities, teaching colleges, and applied research.
2021 Degrees
Elizabeth Alexander
- Dissertation: Colorblind Ideology, Racial Prejudice and Nonresponse in Social Surveys
- Position: Assistant Director of the National Scholarships and Fellowships Program; Emory University
Emily Pingel
- Dissertation: Primary Care and the Reproduction of Health Inequity in a Central São Paulo Neighborhood
- Position: Communications Specialist, Division of HIV / AIDS Prevention; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Dissertation: Gentrification, Aging in Place, and Social Networks
- Position: MD Student, Emory School of Medicine (Completion of Joint MD/PhD Program)
Katharine Tatum
- Dissertation: Sexual Stigma, Minority Stress & Mental Health among Sexual Minority Women and Men across Asia and the Pacific
- Position: Behavioral Scientist / Scientific Data Analysis, Northrop Grumman, Contractor for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investivations Branch, Division of Disease Control and Prevention; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2020 Degrees
Ryan Gibson
- Dissertation: Closure Ideology among Asian Americans: Three Studies on Group Threat, Ideology, and Mental Illness
- Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow (Assistant Professor as of 2022-23), Sociology; University of New Hampshire
Jennifer Hayward
- Dissertation: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education through Hospitableness, Justice, Status, and Identity
- Position: Analytics Specialist; Delta Airlines
- Dissertation: Cigarette Smoking among White and Hispanic Adolescents: Immigrant Assimilation and the Social Causes of Delinquincy
- Position: Private Consultant
Stephanie Miedema
- Dissertation: Sexual Stigma, Minority Stress & Mental Health among Sexual Minority Women and Men across Asia and the Pacific
- Position: Behavioral Scientist, Division of Violence Prevention; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Ju Hyun Park
- Dissertation: Gender adn Networks of Success: The Case of Classical and Film Composers
- Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Sociology; Emory University
Allison Roberts
- Dissertation: Selling Health: The Role of Religion and Innovation in Healthcare
- Position: Statistical Research Specialist, Office of Informatics and Analytics; Tennessee Department of Health
Michael Vaughn
- Dissertation: Tops, Bottoms, and the Ghost of HIV: An Investigation of the Impact of Collective Memory on the Behavior-Group Identity Relationship among Gay Men
- Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow, HIV Center, Division of Gender, Sexuality, and Health; Columiba University
2019 Degrees
John Bernau
- Dissertation: Talk of Death: American Discourse in Three Spheres
- Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Emory Center for the Study of Law and Religion; Emory University
Joon Chung
- Dissertation: Sleep: Studies in Sociology and Machine Learning
- Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Harvard University
- Dissertation: Dynamics and Geographical Diffusion in the Global Metal Music Network
- Position: Lead Consultant at SW Analytics
2018 Degrees
Chris C. Martin
- Dissertation: Three Studies of Psychopathology and Distress among Privileged Groups
- Position: Visiting Asssitant Professor, Oglethorpe University
Marisela Martinez-Cola
- Dissertation: The Bricks Before Brown v. Board of Education: A Comparative, Historical Study of Race, Class, and Gender in Chinese American, Native American, and Mexican American School Desegregation Cases, 1885-1947
- Position: Assistant Professor, Sociology; Morehouse College
Jennifer L. Nelson
- Dissertation: Nonsymmetrical Effects of Racial Diversity on Organizational Minority Members: Evidence from the Teaching Profession
- Position: Assistant Professor, Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Daniel Semenza
- Dissertation: Delinquency and the Digital Domain: The Influence of Online Activities and Victimization Experiences on Offline Crime and Cyber Aggression among Adolescents
- Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice; Rutgers University, Camden
2017 Degrees
Sara Ashlee Bledsoe
- Dissertation: Walk the Line: The Role of Legitimacy, Gender, and Race in the Cultural Consecration of the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame
- Position: Researcher, Texas Department of State Health Services
Oliver Cowart
- Dissertation: Car Wars: Global Automakers, Entrepreneurial Governance, and the Elision of Labor
- Position: Teacher, Social Sciences and Writing; Mount Vernon School
Irem Tuncer-Ebeturk
- Dissertation: Constructing Global Social Problems: The Case of Child, Early, and Forced Marriage
- Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Research Unit Global Governance; WZB Berlin Social Science Center
Megan Smith
- Dissertation: Social Relationships of the Chronically Social Ill
- Position: Adjunct Lecturer, Sociology; University of North Carolina at Charlotte
2016 Degrees
Jared Bok
- Dissertation: Religious Organizations Crossing Boundaries: The Centrifugal Expansion of U.S. Based Mission Agencies
- Position: Assistant Professor, Sociology; University of Nevada, Reno
Natalie Delia Deckard
- Dissertation: The Carceral State, System Avoidance and Bare Life: The Effect of State Policy and Policing on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology; University of Windsor
- Dissertation: The Wages of Parenthood: At the Intersection of Gender, Child Caregiving, and Sexual Orientation
- Position: CoFounder; The Portland Grief House
Alison Heslin
- Dissertation: Three Meals Away: Crisis and Violence in the Global Food System
- Position: Assistant Director, Commercial Real Estate Reseearch; Moody Analytics
- Dissertation: Capital Gains: A Bourdieusian Map of the United States
- Position: Founder and CEO; East African Technology Corporation
Carolyn Robbins
- Dissertation: Identifying and Intervening in the Health Lifestyles of African American Preadolescents and Their Parents
- Position: Health Analyst; Health Resources and Services Administration
2015 Degrees
Fikresus Amahazion
- Dissertation: Human Rights, Epistemic Communities, and World Culture: The Diffusion of Legislation Against the Organ Trade
- Position: Researcher & Teacher; National College of Arts and Social Sciences Adi-Keih, Eritrea
Kate Cartwright
- Dissertation: Social Determinants of Health and Prevalence of Diabetes in Latino Immigrants
- Position: Assistant Professor, School of Public Administration; University of New Mexico
Tressie M. Cottom
- Dissertation: Becoming Real Colleges in the Financialized Era of U.S. Higher Education: The Expansion and Legitimation of For-Profit Colleges
- Position: Associate Professor, School of Information and Library Sciences; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jessica Grosholz
- Dissertation: Code of the Prison: Inmate Culture and Post-Prison Outcomes in the Era of Mass Incarceration
- Position: Associate Professor, Criminology; University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee
Deena Isom
- Dissertation: Race, Racism, & Crime: An Empirical Assessment of African American Offending
- Position: Associate Professor, Criminology & Criminal Justice and African American Studies Program; University of South Carolina
Anne Kronberg
- Dissertation: Modes of Job Entry and Career Outcomes: How Entering a Job via Hire or Promotion Affects Gender Earning and Disparities
- Position: Assistant Professor, Sociology; University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Celeste Lee
- Dissertation: Portrait of Black Millennials' Understanding of Racial Dynamics in the 21st Century
- Position: Assistant Professor, Sociology; University of West Georgia
Yun Tai
- Dissertation: You Can't Always Get What You Want: Gatekeeping and Social Capital in the Live-Music Scenes of Atlanta and Taipei
- Position: Assistant Professor, Communication; Tamkang University
2014 Degrees
Jin Won Chung
- Dissertation: Policy and Competition: The Development of the Cable Television Industry in the United States
- Position: Instructor, Sociology; Catholic University of Korea
Margaret Hagerman
- Dissertation: White Kids and Race: An Ethnographic Study of White Racial Socialization, Privilege and the (Re)Production of Racial Ideology in Affluent Families
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; Mississippi State University
Michelle Manno
- Dissertation: Full Court Press(ure): Negotiating Gender & Sexuality in Women's Collegiate Basketball
- Position: Assistant Vice Chancellor for Diversity Initiatives, Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity; University of Illinois Chicago
Sonal Nalkur
- Dissertation: Moving Newspapers Online: Newspaper Diversification and Visibility 1990-2010
- Position: Lecture-Track Faculty, Sociology; Emory University
Christie Parris
- Dissertation: From Lobbying to Lockdowns: Tactical Choices among Environmental Justice Organizations
- Position: Assistant Professor, Sociology; Oberlin College & Conservatory
Kali-Ahset Amen Strayhorn
- Dissertation: Black Panama and Globalization in the Neoliberal Era, 1990-2012
- Position: Assistant Research Professor of Sociology and Associate Director of the Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts; Johns Hopkins Unviersity
Lesley Watson
- Dissertation: Three Bases of Identity in Global Contex: Transnationalism, Cosmopolitanism and National Identity among International Sojourners
- Position: Senior Research Scientist, Public Health Department; National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
2013 Degrees
Gianluca De Fazio
- Dissertation: Political Radicalization in the Making: The Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland, 1968-1972
- Position: Associate Professor, Justice Studies; James Madison University
Selina Gallo-Cruz
- Dissertation: Have Repertoire, Will Travel: INGOs and the Globalization of Nonviolence
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology; College of the Holy Cross
Kevin Greene
- Dissertation: The Complex Relationship Between Race, Gender, and Smoking Behavior
- Position: Regional Public Health Analyst; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Matthew Mathias
- Dissertation: Individual Sacrality, Human Rights, and Abolition of the Death Penalty
- Position: Software Engineer; Google
Adria Welcher
- Dissertation: Chasing the Dream: How Black Middle Class Parents Make Educational Decisions for Their Children
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; Morehouse College
2012 Degrees
Jill Daugherty
- Dissertation: The Influence of Procreative Consciousness and Procreative Responsibility
- Position: Senior Service Fellow, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Christina Steidl
- Dissertation: Intersectionality, Institutions, & Inequality: STEM Majors and Status Competition Processes in the U.S. Higher Education System
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; University of Alabama in Huntsville
2011 Degrees
Laura Braden
- Dissertation: The Persistence of Memory: The Consecration of Artists in the US Field of Modern Art
- Position: Assistant Professor, Arts & Culture Studies; Erasmus University Rotterdam
David Brewington
- Dissertation: International Associations at the Nexus of Globalization, Religion, and Human Rights
- Position: Enterprise Data Analytics Manager; Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Sarah Friedman
- Dissertation: Still a "Stalled Revolution"? Young Adults' Work/Family Plans and Experiences
- Position: Lecturer, Sociology; Georgia State University
Caddie Putnam Rankin
- Dissertation: Giving Back in a Profit-Driven World: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Mutual Fund Industry
- Position: Associate Professor, Business Management; Washington College
Anna Rubtsova
- Dissertation: How to Feed a Baby: Global Processes and Individual Choices
- Position: Research Assistant Professor, Rollins School of Public Health; Emory University
Melissa Scardaville
- Dissertation: A Voice In The Room: The Evolution of Economic and Aesthetic Legitimacies of Daytime Soap Operas in the United States, 1930-2009
- Position: Senior Researcher & Qualitative Methodologist; American Institutes for Research
Heather Scheuerman
- Dissertation: Evening the Score: Factors Affecting Criminal Responses to Injustice
- Position: Associate Professor, Justice Studies; James Madison University
2010 Degrees
Rachel Askew
- Dissertation: Decisions, Decisions: How Professional Affiliation Shapes Mental Health Trainees' Clinical Judgments and Approach to Care
- Initial Position: Postdoctoral Fellow; Psychiatry; University of California, San Diego
Leslie Brody
- Dissertation: On Behalf of Another: Exploring Social Value Orientation and Responses to Social Injustice
- Position: Program Manager; Google
Monique Carry
- Dissertation: "In Spite of It All": Resilience, Sexual Identity Acceptance, and Disclosure among Black and Latina Same-Sex Attracted Women
- Position: Senior Communications Advisor, Global HIV Prevention; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Alison Faupel
- Dissertation: The Transformation of the U.S. Feminist Movement, 1910-2005
- Position: Analytical Methodologist; United States Federal Government
Kendralin Freeman
- Dissertation: Poverty, Inequality, and Children's Early Cognitive Skills
- Position: Associate Professor, Anthropology and Sociology; Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Kristin Gordon
- Dissertation: The Policy Behind the Problem: How Educational Reform Impacts the Teaching Environment
- Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, School of History and Sociology; Georgia Tech
Heather Jamerson
- Dissertation: Wine Tastes: The Role of Service Workers and Consumers in Cultural Production
- Position: Social Impact Consultant; Innovate Memphis
Diogo Pinheiro
- Dissertation: Risky Business: The Social Construction of Country Risk Ratings
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; University of North Georgia
Vaughn Schmutz
- Dissertation: Social Change and Musical Classification Systems: The US, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, 1955-2005
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Sylvia Turner
- Dissertation: Thy Kingdom Come: the Intersection between King Cotton and Immigration Policy
- Position: Director, TRIO Student Support Services Program; Maryville College
Krysia Waldron
- Dissertation: The Emergence of Pre-Professional Identity
- Position: Leadership Coach and Organizational Psychologist; Private Practice
2009 Degrees
Jacob Bucher
- Dissertation: The Camouflage Collar: Examining the Causes of Crime Among the Military
- Position: Founding Dean, College of Applied Social Sciences; Dominican University
Carrie Coward Bucher
- Dissertation: You Are What You Hear: The Relationship Among Race, Class, Gender, and Musical Taste
- Position: Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice; Elmhurst University
Charity Crabtree Van Dyck
- Dissertation: Boundary Work and Legitimating Claims Among Acupuncturists and Physicians
- Position: Administrative Coordinator; Durham Center for Senior Life
Shelley Keith
- Dissertation: Self-Complexity and Crime: Extending General Strain Theory
- Position: Associate Professor, Criminology and Criminal Justice; University of Memphis
Barret Michalec
- Dissertation: Learning to Cure but Learning to Care? Empathy in Preclinical Medical Education
- Position: Associate Professor, Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, and Director, Center for Advancing Interprofessional Practice; Arizona State University
Aristide Sechanidice
- Dissertation: To Look Like a Modern Ruler: Diffusion of Fashion among State Elites
- Position: Professor, Sociology; Tri-County Technical College
Beth Tarasawa
- Dissertation: Fight or Flight? Immigration, Status Competition, and Language Assistance Resources in Metropolitan Atlanta
- Position: Executive Vice President, Research; Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA)
Sherod Thaxton
- Dissertation: The Social Geometry of Death: Social Structure and Capital Punishment in Georgia, 1993-2000
- Position: Professor; School of Law, and Faculty Director, David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy; University of California Los Angeles
2008 Degrees
Franziska Bieri
- Dissertation: From Conflict Diamonds to the Kimberly Process: How NGOs Reshaped a Global Industry
- Position: Faculty; University of Maryland Global Campus and Indiana Institute of Technology
Tomeka Davis
- Dissertation: Laissez Faire Education Policy: Organization and Equity in School Choice
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; Georgia State University
Michael Elliott
- Dissertation: A Cult of the Individual for a Global Society: The Development and Worldwide Expansion of Human Rights Ideology
- Position: Professor; Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice; Towson University
2007 Degrees
Nikki Khanna
- Dissertation: Living Life in Black and White: Identity Formation and Negotiation among Black-White Biracial Americans
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; University of Vermont
Velina Petrova
- Dissertation: The Marshall Plan is Dead, Long Live Foreign Aid: The Shape of Foreign Assistance for Development after WWII
- Position: Knowledge for Impact Director; Oxfam International
Ashby Walker
- Dissertation: Creating Gateways to the Home Circle: Food, Gender, and Domesticity in American Magazines
- Position: Assistant Professor, Health Services Research, Management & Policy, and Director for Health Equity Initiatives, UF Diabetes Institute; University of Florida
2006 Degrees
Anne Borden
- Dissertation: Making Money, Saving Souls: The Emergence and Evolution of Christian Bookstores in the United States
- Position: Senior Instructor and Sociology Faculty; Western Governors University
Belisa González
- Dissertation: Increasing Collaboration or Conflict: The Role of Shared Status in Cross-Racial Organizing between African American and Mexican American Women in Georgia
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology and Director, Center for the Study of Culture Race and Ethnicity; Ithaca College
Cynthia Hinton
- Dissertation: The Effects of Social Forces on Professionalization: Case Studies of Genetic Counselors and Sickle Cell Counselors
- Position: Researcher, Division of Laboratory Sciences; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Kathleen Liddle
- Dissertation: A Shop of Our Own: Feminist Bookstores in North America
- Position: Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Sociology; University of Toronto at Scarborough
Natasha Morgan Ganem
- Dissertation: The Role of Negative Emotion in General Strain Theory
- Location: Founder and Principal Consultant; Lion Leadership
Lauren Rauscher
- Dissertation: Work Makes Life Sweet?: Employment and Mental Health among Black, White, and Mexican-American Women
- Position: Senior Advisor, Institutional Relations; American Heart Association
Kathryn Sweeney
- Dissertation: Negotiating Power: Power, Race and Gender Ideology in Same-Race and Interracial Marriages
- Position: Associate Professor, Behavioral Sciences; Purdue University Northwest
2005 Degrees
Amy Fasula
- Dissertation: Keeping the Girls "Safe" and Powerless: The Sexual Double Standard and African American Girls' Sexual Risk
- Position: Behavioral Scientist, Division of Reproductive Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Michelle Manasse
- Dissertation: Problems in a Problem-Solving Court? Overcoming Operational Obstacles in a Mental Health Court: An Organization Analysis
- Position: Professor, Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice; Towson University
2004 Degrees
Stuart Hysom
- Dissertation: An Experimental Test of the Theory of Reward Expectations
- Position: Assistant Professor, Sociology; Texas A&M
Stuart Hysom passed away in 2011.
2003 Degrees
Maria Amado
- Dissertation: The Strength of Strong Ties: Mexican Origin Immigrants in the Atlanta Labor Market
- Location: Lincoln Financial Professor of Sociology and Anthropology; Guilford College
Thomas Loya
- Dissertation: Global Prodemocracy Movements
- Position: Director and Lead Consultant; Thomas Loya Consulting Ltd
Leslie Martin
- Dissertation: Who are the People in Your Neighborhood? Mobilizing in Response to Gentrification in Atlanta
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology; Mary Washington College
2002 Degrees
Vincent Carter
- Dissertation: Existence and Persistence: The Effects of Institutional Characteristics on Persistence and Graduate Rates at Four-Year Colleges and Universities
- Position: Assistant Director for Evaluation and Survey Research, Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness; Emory University
Alma Idiart
- Dissertation: Neo-Liberal Experiments, State Reform, and Social Policy in the 1980s and the 1990s: The Cases of Argentina and Chile
- Position: Assistant Researcher; National Research Council (CONICIT), Gino Germani Institute in IIGG/UBA Argentina
Cesar Rebellon
- Dissertation: Status Acquisition and Delinquency: A Theoretical Foundation and Longitudinal Test
- Position: Professor, Criminology, Law and Society; George Mason University
2001 Degrees
Linda Beer
- Dissertation: Income Inequality and Transnational Corporate Penetration: A Cross-National Analysis, 1975-1995
- Position: Epidemiologist, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Surveillance and Epidemiology; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nicola Dawkins-Lyn
- Dissertation: Responses to Partner Abuse: Modeling the Paths to Substance Abuse, Suicide Attempts, and Retaliative Partner Violence
- Position: Vice President and Senior Partner for Social Marketing; ICF International
Joanne Kaufman
- Dissertation: Understanding Race and Violence: Why Life Experiences Matter
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; University at Albany-SUNY
Caitlin Killian
- Dissertation: Cultural Choices and Identity Negotiation of Muslim Maghrebin Women in France
- Position: Professor, Sociology; Drew University
Kristin Marsh
- Dissertation: Compromised Revolution: A Political Economic Explanation of Negotiation
- Position: Professor, Sociology and Anthropology; University of Mary Washington
Mamamelela Matlhako
- Dissertation: The Effects of Education on Economic Growth in Southern Africa: The Cases of Botswana, South Africa, and Swaziland, 1970-1994 (2001).
- Position: Director of Post-Graduate Studies; University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa
Lisa Meyer
- Dissertation: International Trade Liberalization and Gender Relations in Labor Markets: A Cross-National Analysis, 1970-1998
- Position: Associate Professor, Sociology; SUNY Geneseo
William Winders
- Dissertation: Welcome to the Free Market: Class Bases of U.S. Agricultural Policy, 1938-1996
- Location: Professor, School of History and Sociology; Georgia Tech
2000 Degrees
Tang Nah Ng
Dissertation: The Democratic Transition Model Revisited: World Bank, Debt, Democracy, and Welfare Effort in Neo-Liberal Context