Sociology News

Nowrin Fatema’s work bridges the gap between academia and community, policy and lived experience, offering a human lens on environmental justice. It’s this work that earned her the 2025 USU Community-Engaged Student Presidential Award.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences congratulates our faculty on their recent promotions! 21 faculty — all of the candidates in CHaSS for the 2025-26 academic year — successfully made it through the promotion and tenure process. Congratulations ...

The National Climate Assessment is set to return in 2027, reaffirming its vital role in shaping U.S. climate policy and adaptation strategies — and two Utah State University faculty will contribute.

Utah State University graduate student Alex Theophilus was recently recognized for his research on the connection between food access, changes in agriculture, and the welfare of communities and individuals.

Utah State University Department of Sociology and Anthropology wishes to highlight Bradley W. Parlin as a gifted teacher and scholar and express their gratitude for the impact he made within the USU community.

USU researchers and students led a project to better understand the impacts of increased tourism on Bear Lake ecosystems and communities.

James Y. Taylor has been named vice president for Statewide Campuses. Taylor has been part of the USU Statewide system since 2016, most recently as senior associate vice president for USU Uintah Basin.

On Friday, April 5, 2024, the USU Board of Trustees approved promotions for 15 faculty in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The newly promoted faculty represent six departments in the college.

Meet Mayu Mecham, a student pursuing a dual major in international studies and sociology, complemented by minors in French and anticipatory intelligence. Mayu is a recipient of the CHaSS Experiential Learning Fund.

Utah State University’s Community and Natural Resources Institute (CANRI) recently released the findings of its 2023 Utah People and the Environment Poll (UPEP).

Sociology's Christy Glass and Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde belong to a team of researchers taking a closer look at race in the NFL.

Research co-authored by Assistant Professor of Sociology Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde and her students to was recently published by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Effective this fall, Utah State University will offer a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science in criminal justice alongside its existing associate degree.

Claudia Wright is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology working on a dissertation project about migrant motherhood, specifically, the experience of Colombian mothers.

Assistant Professor of Sociology Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde is a health disparities researcher and argues that if we shifted attitudes around health from the individual to the community, the chronic issues that lead to health inequities might be improved....

New report from Utah Women & Leadership Project provides data

Professor Rachel Walton travelled to Ottawa, Canada, for 2 weeks in June to teach and assist in the cold case homicide training program for Canadian law enforcement at the Collège Canadien Police.

USU Eastern is using virtual reality to safely train future law enforcement officers in high-risk scenarios.

USU becomes one of just 137 total members having the Carnegie R1 classification in the nation and was one of nine to obtain this status in 2021. This designation shows that Utah State is a national leader in research and graduate education.

Remembering Dr. Bill Stinner, former department head of USU Sociology and Director of the Yun Kim Population Research Lab

Eric Reither, a USU sociologist, has received a $2.1 million grant from the NIH to find links between sleep and weight gain

Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde has been elected as Council Member of the American Sociological Association Racial and Ethnic Minorities Section for a 3-year term.

Be sure to catch the Utah Wellbeing Project (led by USU Sociology professor Courtney Flint) on Fox 13 afternoon news Friday, February 5, 2021.

A new publication from USU Sociology's Dr. Eric Reither and Dr. Sojung Lim highlights black-white disparities for the vaccine during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and what that means for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Schad has been invited to serve a three year term an Associate Editor for the Rural Sociology journal starting in January 2021.

In August 2020, Dr. Jessica Schad was a guest along with Drs. Jordan Smith and Zach Miller on the first Research Landscapes event of the year.

Five members of the Sociology Program recently completed a study of racial and gender bias in Utah's legal profession.

Max Roberts, Sociology PhD student was featured in a Washington Post article about life expectancy and racial disparity between Black and White men in Washington D.C.

Dr. Marisela Martinez-Cola, along with Dr. Ryan Knowles, has been awarded the RC Catalyst SEED Grant

Claudia Méndez Wright created resources for Utah Latinos affected by COVID-19.

Courtney Flint has been appointed to a national committee by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

Erika Lindstrom has received the Whitney Milligan Professional Staff Contribution Award for the second time for her contributions to the Residence Hall Association.

Mudasir Mustafa, a first year PhD student was selected to attend a demography workshop through the University of Cailfornia, Berkeley.

The seed grant supports her efforts to create The Bricks Before Brown Digital Map, an interactive website that provides K-12 students and educators with information on desegregation cases filed before Brown v. Board of Education.

Sociology bachelor's degrees and criminal justice emphasis now available entirely online

True Blue Award Winner Corinna Knowles is the Program Coordinator for the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology.

Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year Peggy Petrzelka joined Utah State University in 2001, after receiving her M.S. in Rural Sociology and PhD in Sociology from Iowa State University.

2020's Giraffe Award Winner Marisela Martinez-Cola pursued equity and inclusion in teaching, research, and service. Marisela found new approaches to engage underrepresented students.

Researcher of the Year, Christy Glass, focuses her work on gender and racial/ethnic inequalities in work organizations.

Marisela Martinez-Cola presents her publication: Collectors, Nightlights, and Allies, Oh My! White Mentors in the Academy

Dr. Mehmet Soyer has been named Utah State's Undergraduate Mentor of the Year.

Research done by Sociology Ph.D. student (Max Roberts) and faculty (Drs. Eric Reither and Sojung Lim) is featured in New York Magazine for its implications for COVID-19 Pandemic.

Researcher Courtney Flint, a natural resources sociologist, will address how understanding the relationship between Utah's lands and personal well being.

Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde and Seth Archer discuss the founding of their Tanner Talk, “Race, Ethnicity, and Health: Historical and Contemporary Disparities.”

2017 graduate Sun Jeon discusses her path to UCSF School of Medicine, where she works as a senior statistician.

Utah State University has announced plans for the next phase of its academic programs and research efforts in the area of gender studies.

2018 graduate Samantha Patterson discusses her path to Horrocks Engineers, where she works as an Environmental Public Involvement Specialist.

Dr. Courtney Flint’s student field team conducted wellbeing surveys across 16 Utah cities.

USU Eastern's Police Officer Academy graduates first class of cadets after the program's expansion to USU Blanding in a new video and hands on format that is the first-of-its-kind.

Professor Eddy Berry, Director of the graduate program in Sociology and the Director of the Yun Kim Population Lab, receives award from the Center for Women and Gender.

The Department of Sociology at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences welcomes two new faculty members, Hyojun Park and Jessica Schad.

Koralene Tapoof, sociology student at Uintah Basin Regional Campus, was named a 2018 Aggie Hero.

Sociology and Social Work faculty members work to advance equity and inclusion at annual symposium.

Nathaniel Boehme, a history alumnus of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, is the nation's first fulltime coordinator for veterans. He works for the Oregon Dept. of Veterans Affairs

Students and faculty reimagined USU's famous song. View the list of winners and read the new lyrics.

Graduates reunite at Yun Kim Population Lab 50th anniversary celebration and a week later publish an article called "Health Informatics Innovations & Applications"

Undergraduate Mary Briggs Ott offers interviewing advice for other sociology students.

Mehmet Soyer, Temporary Assistant Professor of Sociology, has recently helped many USU student present their original research.

Chung-won Lee completed her PhD in 2000 with a focus in demography and public health.

Stephanie Malin speaks with us about her job as Assistant Professor at Colorado State University.

2016 graduate and Fulbright scholar, Sofiya Yuvshanova, discusses her work as a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at the UN.

After earning his BA and MA from USU, Michael Sanderson went on to work at the Utah Department of Health before moving to his current position in the NYC Department of Health. He shares his experience.

Jess Lucero, MSW Program Coordinator and Associate Professor, is recognized for her volunteer work with refugees in Cache valley.

Holly Jeffcoat is named Dean of SMU Libraries. Holly Jeffcoat graduated with an M.S. in sociology from USU before earning her M.A. in library science at Arizona State University.

Students and faculty will present at the 24th International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM).

PhD candidate Kristen Koci wins best oral presentation award at the Break the Cycle of Health Disparities Conference at Emory University.

Dr. Wu Xu is awarded the Governor’s Award for Excellence for outstanding public service.

Joyce Mumah, a 2011 graduate, talks with us about her work as an Associate Research Scientist at the African Population and Health Research Center.

In the social sciences, we research people. It rests right in the name of our college: Humanities and Social Sciences.

Dr. Eric Reither was recently named as Associate Dean of Research by Joseph Ward, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Science.

Dr. Courtney Flint was recently awarded the 2016 Natural Resources Research & Interest Group William R. Freudenburg Award of Merit at the Rural Sociological Society Meeting.

E. Helen Berry's edited book, Rural Aging in 21st Century America, with Nina Glasgow, was called "essential" by the New York Times

Gabriele Ciciurkaite will join our faculty in Fall 2016 after completing her PhD in Sociology at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Mark Brennan, Professor and UNESCO Chair of Rural Community, Leadership, and Youth Development at Penn State University, visited the SSWA Department for a few days in April.

Doug Jackson-Smith has been announced as the 2016-17 President-Elect of the Rural Sociological Society.

Jennifer Givens will also be joining our faculty in Fall 2016. Prior to joining us, Jennifer was an Assistant Professor at Washington State University.