SPECIALIZATIONS

  • Sex/Gender Systems
  • Sexuality
  • Social Problems
  • Criminology
  • Conflict Resolution

My interests lie with conformity and deviance in social institutions. The social process begins with rule making and ends with sanctions, so I explore how people define deviance, assign labels to people, organize punishments, and cope with the outcomes. Once social problems arise on the micro and macro levels, how do groups and communities design solutions and act collectively to remedy those problems?


TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

During my undergraduate education, learning provided a series of "ah hah!" experiences for me, epiphanies of understanding humanity and society. Beginning with the first time I taught a course in graduate school, I have sought ways to challenge students intellectually while respecting their diverse life experiences and abilities. The classroom is a forum for presenting ideas, research, theories, and histories that filter through the students' individual belief systems into knowledge. I teach sociology courses by emphasizing macro level social structure and micro level interaction, critical thinking skills, and race, class, and gender. Believing everyone can orient to information in their own ways, I use a variety of writing assignments, projects, presentations, and testing formats to help students relate to sociological material.


ABOUT ME

I moved to Rock Hill eleven years ago to work at Winthrop University. Though I am a native southerner, I had been living in Minnesota for 2 years - and I was cold and thirsty for some sweet tea. The opportunity to live and work in the Carolinas was too good to pass up, and I'm still here and still enjoying the area.
Being raised in the mid-South, I am a fan of Elvis, bar-b-q, and SEC sports. If you want to talk about any of those subjects, I'm available and willing!
My favorite hobbies include making beaded jewelry, reading, cooking, and cuddling with my weiner dog. Very time consuming stuff, which explains why I am a slow grader of student work. Be patient, Scholars!