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Sociology Department

Faculty

  • Sharon Paterson Ph.D

    Professor, Chair of Sociology

    Sharon Paterson: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Sociology, Specializations: Inequality, Work/Occupations, and Higher Education

    Sharon Paterson: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Sociology, Specializations: Inequality, Work/Occupations, and Higher Education

  • Arthur Scarritt Ph.D

    Professor, and IMSRL  Director

    Arthur Scarritt:  Vita

    Office Hours:   On sabbatical Fall 2022 and Spring 2023

    Research interests: The organization of society perpetuates racial inequalities, and strategies for overcoming these unequal relations.

    Arthur Scarritt:  Vita

    Office Hours:   On sabbatical Fall 2022 and Spring 2023

    Research interests: The organization of society perpetuates racial inequalities, and strategies for overcoming these unequal relations.

  • Rebecca L. Som Castellano Ph.D

    Associate Professor

    Rebecca L. Som Castellano: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: A rural sociologist and agrifood scholar Dr. Som Castellano environmental and agri-food system change, including how stratification and inequality influence experiences with the environment. Current research focuses on 1) well-being among Latina farm workers in Southwestern Idaho, particularly experiences with pesticides and ecological knowledge; 2) land use change and farmland preservation in the Treasure Valley; 3) dynamics of gender and labor among wildland firefighters.

    Rebecca L. Som Castellano: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: A rural sociologist and agrifood scholar Dr. Som Castellano environmental and agri-food system change, including how stratification and inequality influence experiences with the environment. Current research focuses on 1) well-being among Latina farm workers in Southwestern Idaho, particularly experiences with pesticides and ecological knowledge; 2) land use change and farmland preservation in the Treasure Valley; 3) dynamics of gender and labor among wildland firefighters.

  • Spring flowers

    Ginna Husting Ph.D

    Professor

    Virginia Husting:; Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: My work studies how people build and change their senses of self, how political emotions are sedimented in and expressed through institutionalized in social/physical spaces, and how systems of inequalities shape emotions and subjectivities shaped through systems of domination. I am currently interested in two projects; first, thinking through settler coloniality and emotion using the work of Mini Aodla Freeman; second, using Hannah Arendt’s work to model the problems of digital capitalism. My work is informed by feminist, poststructuralist, and decolonial research and perspectives.

    Virginia Husting:; Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: My work studies how people build and change their senses of self, how political emotions are sedimented in and expressed through institutionalized in social/physical spaces, and how systems of inequalities shape emotions and subjectivities shaped through systems of domination. I am currently interested in two projects; first, thinking through settler coloniality and emotion using the work of Mini Aodla Freeman; second, using Hannah Arendt’s work to model the problems of digital capitalism. My work is informed by feminist, poststructuralist, and decolonial research and perspectives.

  • Martin Orr Ph.D

    Professor

    Marty Orr: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Social theory, inequality, social movements, the environment, and the mass media.

    Marty Orr: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Social theory, inequality, social movements, the environment, and the mass media.

  • Dora Ramirez Ph.D

    Professor, and Director of Ethnic Studies

    Dora Ramirez: Vita
    Office Hours:   By Appointment

    Research Interests: Nation-building while examining the internalization of socio-political global effects and the influence of colonization among Latinx and Indigenous populations in the United States and the U.S./Mexico border.

    Dora Ramirez: Vita
    Office Hours:   By Appointment

    Research Interests: Nation-building while examining the internalization of socio-political global effects and the influence of colonization among Latinx and Indigenous populations in the United States and the U.S./Mexico border.

  • Raul S. Casarez Ph.D

    Assistant Professor

    Raul S. Casarez Vita 

    Office Hours by Appointment

    Research Interest: Race, Ethnicity, Immigration, Social Inequality, Boundary Making, Intergroup Relationships, Identity Formation

    Raul S. Casarez Vita 

    Office Hours by Appointment

    Research Interest: Race, Ethnicity, Immigration, Social Inequality, Boundary Making, Intergroup Relationships, Identity Formation

  • Soulit Chacko Ph.D

    Assistant Professor

    Soulit Chacko Vita

    Office Hours by Appointment

    Research Interest: Race and Ethnicity; Immigration; Transnationalism; Work; Gender & Sexuality; Body and Embodiment; Ethnography; Asian & South Asian Diaspora

    Soulit Chacko Vita

    Office Hours by Appointment

    Research Interest: Race and Ethnicity; Immigration; Transnationalism; Work; Gender & Sexuality; Body and Embodiment; Ethnography; Asian & South Asian Diaspora

  • Sarah Mawhirter M.A & M.st

    Lecture

    Sarah Mawhirter: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Sociology, Gender Studies, Focuses on: Critical Higher Education, Embodied Research Methods, Carceral and Mass Incarceration Activists’ Studies, Higher Education in Prison, and Transformative Criminal Justice Law and Public Policy.

    Sarah Mawhirter: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Sociology, Gender Studies, Focuses on: Critical Higher Education, Embodied Research Methods, Carceral and Mass Incarceration Activists’ Studies, Higher Education in Prison, and Transformative Criminal Justice Law and Public Policy.

  • Desiree Brunette M.A.

    Lecturer, and Concurrent Enrollment Liaison

    Desiree Brunette: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Sociology of the family, Sociology of the Sex, Sociology of Religion, and Medical Sociology,

    Desiree Brunette: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Sociology of the family, Sociology of the Sex, Sociology of Religion, and Medical Sociology,

  • Dr. Michael Kreiter

    Lecture

    Michael Kreiter: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Inequality; Critical Race Theory; Cultural Studies: Popular Culture; Neoliberalism; Gender; Intersectionality; Mixed Methods

    Michael Kreiter: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Inequality; Critical Race Theory; Cultural Studies: Popular Culture; Neoliberalism; Gender; Intersectionality; Mixed Methods

  • Carissa Wolf M.A

    Lecture

    Carissa Wolf: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Media Studies, Journalism, Mass media and society, Media Literacy, Sociology of health and medicine, Disability studies, Fringe and extremist groups, Public sociology, Sociology of Food

    Carissa Wolf: Vita
    Office Hours: By Appointment

    Research interests: Media Studies, Journalism, Mass media and society, Media Literacy, Sociology of health and medicine, Disability studies, Fringe and extremist groups, Public sociology, Sociology of Food

Adjunct Faculty

Emeritus Faculty