Karen A. HegtvedtProfessor and Department Chair

• PhD in Sociology, University of Washington, 1984
• MA in Sociology, Washington State University, 1978
• BA in Sociology, Washington State University, 1976

My areas of expertise include social psychology and emotions, with special emphasis on the study of justice processes within groups. I am collaborating on two on-going projects with my colleague Cathryn Johnson and several current and former graduate students.

First, our NSF supported experimental work focuses on the impact of legitimacy processes on perceptions of and responses to distributive injustice. Our second project, supported by the Spencer foundation, involves analysis of longitudinal survey data collected from undergraduates living in “green” and conventional dormitories to examine the impact of sustainability programming on environmental attitudes, identities, and behaviors.

My work has appeared in Social Psychology Quarterly, Social Justice Research,Social Forces, Annual Review of Sociology, Advances in Group Processes, and other journals and edited volumes. I typically teach undergraduate and graduate courses in social psychology and the graduate Teaching Sociology seminar.

I also regularly co-direct the department’s summer study abroad program in London on comparative health care systems.  

• SOC 103: Introduction to Human Socialization
• SOC 245: Individual and Society
• SOC 390: Comparative Health Care Systems (Summer Study Abroad in London)
• SOC 553: Evaluations in Social Interaction
• SOC 590R: Second-Year Research Paper Seminar