Graduate Students
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Interests: Social Justice and Inequality, Social Theory, Development and Global Economy, Race and Ethnic Relations, Sociology of Religion, Latin American Societies
Stephen Armet came to Notre Dame after spending more than ten years working in community development in urban slums in Bangkok, Thailand, San Jose, Costa Rica, and Bogotá, Colombia. A three-year tenure as a research assistant with the Institute of Latino Studies provided ample opportunity to become familiar with the social, economic, political and religious issues affecting the Latino community in the United Sates. The focus of dissertation research explains how Uruguayan society has been a predominately secular society for over a hundred years in spite of being located on a religiously charged continent.
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Interests: Gender, Religion, Marriage and Family, Social Psychology Jade is in her third year of studies at Notre Dame. She graduated magna cum laude from the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University in 2008. Her interests in gender, religion, and social psychology focus especially on young adults' decisions and expectations about work, marriage, and family. |
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Interests: Culture, Cognition, Theories of Action/Motivation, Religion, Islam, Philosophy of Science
Mehrdad joined the Department of Sociology at Notre Dame as a PhD student in Fall 2011. He is a member of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society (CSRS) and works as a Research Assistant (RA) for Professor Christian Smith on topics related to the power of religion in public sphere and desecularization processes in a theoretical level. He plans to write his MA thesis on the persistence of wearing hijab among educated Muslim women in the US using cultural/cognitive models to explain how people are getting motivated to act in certain way.
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Interests: China, Theory and Matatheory, Collective Identity, Social Movements, Religion Cole completed his undergraduate work at Yale University studying History and East Asian Studies (China) and wrote his senior thesis, under Jonathan Spence and Annping Chin, about the emergence and spread of indigenous Christianity in China during the Republican Era (1911-1949, roughly), specifically focusing on the "Little Flock" movement under Watchman Nee. After graduation, he spent two years studying and living in mainland China, and a subsequent year in Taiwan at Tunghai University, Taichung. |
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Interests: Sociology of Organizations, Social Psychology, Sociology of Religion Ellen received her MA from the University of Notre Dame and her BA from the University of Minnesota: Twin Cities. Childs has a solo-authored article in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion examining the relationship between religious attendance and happiness using Structural Equation Modeling. Her dissertation examines questions of organizational structure and leadership in small congregations. |
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Interests: Religion, Theories of Self, Morality, and Social Theory Benjamin is in his first year of graduate study in the Department of Sociology at Notre Dame. He received a B.A. in history and religion from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2009. He spent the last two years in Ethiopia volunteering with the Mennonite Central Committee, where he taught English to college students, worked on a value-chain project in the rice sector, and documented various MCC projects throughout the country. His interests in sociology include religion, theories of self, morality, and social theory, all of which in relation to Christianity and Islam in Ethiopia and the Middle East. |
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Interests: Religion, Cultural Sociology Kari is a fifth year PhD candidate associated with the Center for the Study of Religion and Society (CSRS). She holds a Masters of Sociology from the University of Notre Dame (2010) and a BA in Sociology/Anthropology and Russian Area Studies from Washington and Lee University (2007). Much of her work for the CSRS includes qualitative coding of interview transcripts. |
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Interests: Culture, Sociology of Law, Human Rights, Religion, and Theory. Shanna is a graduate student in sociology and is associated with the Center for the Study of Religion and Society. She holds a master’s degree in international studies from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and English from Grand Valley State University. Her most recent research project examines gender role beliefs held by graduates of different religious school sectors. |
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Interests: Social Movements, Community, Race/Ethnicity, and Religion Bryant is currently in his second year of studies in the Department of Sociology. Before coming to the department, he received his BA from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. His research interests include social movements, community, race/ethnicity, and religion with specific interests in neighborhood change and the enduring effects of social movement activity on local communities. |
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Interests:Religion; including generosity, transitions to adulthood, and gender. Hilary is a sociology doctoral candidate at the University of Notre Dame and member of the Sociology and Religion Working Group funded by a Mellon Grant. \ With Christian Smith she is currently examining the links between generous practices and wellbeing with the Science of Generosity’s 40 Families study. Her dissertation project will draw on the NSYR Wave 4 to explore the role of religion in the American Dream. |
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Interests: Cultural sociology, sociology of religion, social movements, environmental sociology Daniel Escher received his M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and his B.A. degrees (with College Honors) from University of Washington (International Studies, Spanish). As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, he currently researches the social effects of coal mining in central Appalachia. |
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Interests: Culture, environment, religion, social movements Justin is currently a doctoral student at the University of Notre Dame. Most of Justin's research focuses on formulating a better account of the cultural dimensions of humanity's relationship to the natural environment, and he finds it useful to incorporate insights from cultural sociology, environmental sociology, sociology of morality, cognitive sociology, sociology of religion, and social movements. |
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Interests: Religion, Gender, Culture, Emotions Karen received her B.A. from Wheaton College, graduating summa cum laude with a major in sociology. She is in her second year of graduate study at Notre Dame and is working on her master’s thesis. Her thesis looks at the role of emotions in alleviating or exacerbating marital conflict. She is working with Professor Mary Ellen Konieczny directing a project concerning domestic violence and faith congregations. |
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Interests: Religion, Social Movements, Global Stratification/Inequality Stefanie received her M.T.S. in Biblical Studies from Palmer Theological Seminary in 2011, as well as her B.A. from Linfield College in 2006, graduating magna cum laude with majors in sociology and religious studies and minors in Latin American studies and Spanish. She is in her first year of studies at Notre Dame. Her research interests include religion, social movements, and global stratification/inequality. She has lived in Brazil and Mexico and hopes to conduct future research somewhere in Latin America. |
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Interests: Religion, Urban Sociology, Microsociology, Culture, and Social Movements/Social Change Amy received her B.A. from Calvin College in 2008 with a combined major in international development and sociology. She is in her second year of study at Notre Dame under a University Fellowship. Amy is currently working on her master's thesis, which applies interaction ritual theory to the study of organizational dynamics and empowerment in a Catholic Worker initiative. |
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Interests: Religion and culture Linda earned her MA in Religious Studies from John Carroll University of Ohio in 2009, as well as her BA in Religious Studies and Political Science from JCU in 2007. Her research interest is in sociology of religion, with a particular interest in emerging Catholic religious communities. Linda is currently working with Kraig Beyerlein on a project studying activist churches on the Arizona/Mexico border. |
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Interests: Religious persecution, role of religion in peace building and conflict HyunJin Deborah Kwak is earning a doctoral degree in sociology and peace studies. She holds an M.A. in peace studies from Notre Dame and a B.A. in political science and French from Calvin College. Debby has conducted research on the relationship between Christianity and politics as well as religion and civic responsibility. She also worked as a Kroc intern in Jerusalem. For her doctoral research, she plans to examine the role of religion and ethnicity among individuals and groups in contributing to peacebuilding. Her research interests include religious violence and peacebuilding, religious participation and persecution, and state strength. |
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Interests: Sociology of Religion, Cultural Sociology, Qualitative Methods Peter Mundey received his BA from Bridgewater College, an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his MA from the University of Notre Dame, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology. His dissertation explores the relationship between religion and consumerism, focusing on how American religion may encourage and counteract consumerism. Other research interests include megachurches, religious giving, church financial decision-making, prosperity theology, emerging adults, and social networking sites. |
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Interests: China, religion, and culture Megan began studying Chinese language and culture the summer before her freshman year in the University of Mississippi’s Chinese Flagship Program, studies that she continued in the Ohio State University’s Chinese Flagship master’s degree program after graduating from Ole Miss with degrees in international studies and Chinese. Her interest in the growth of religion in post-Mao China began early on in her studies, and both her undergraduate and OSU master’s theses focused on the topic, as does her master’s thesis here at the University of Notre Dame, which involves an examination of the applicability of sociological definitions of religion to the contemporary Chinese context. Since arriving at Notre Dame, her interests have expanded to include religion and culture more broadly. |
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Interests: Religion, Social Movements, Theory, Culture Peter graduated from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands in 2002 with an emphasis in Literature and Creative Writing. He has spent the interim decade working in the nonprofit world, helping to set up volunteer programs in Syria and the Palestinian Territories. His research interests include new religious movements, Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations, religious minorities, social movements, human rights and social conflict. |
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Interests: Social Networks, Religion, Culture, Social Theory, and Social Psychology Brandon is a first year graduate student and an affiliate of both the Center for the Study of Religion and Society and the Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications. He recently graduated from Centenary College of Louisiana (magna cum laude, 2012) with a B.A. in philosophy and sociology, and his interests lie primarily in social networks, belief systems, social psychology, cognitive sociology, and social theory. Broadly conceived, Brandon wants to know why and how certain belief systems evolve and how to assess the fitness of different systems. As a result, Brandon is currently interested in how beliefs structure adherents' networks and in the role identity plays system evolution. Feel free to visit his website or contact him for more detailed information. |
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Interests: Religion, Culture, Immigration, Identity, Theory and Metatheory
Email: ksorrell@nd.edu
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Interests:Sociological theory, sociology of religion, and economic sociology Brandon is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and a graduate research fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. His dissertation looks at how religious institutions and practices both shape and are shaped by new forms of capitalism in rapidly globalizing cities such as Dubai and Bangalore. Previous research projects have examined volunteers in Canada and Italy; call center workers in India; religious practices of American young adults; corporate giving in the US; financial giving in American congregations; and causality in American sociology. |
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Interests: Sociological Theory, Sociology of Religion, Social Movements, Culture, and Human Social Institutions Justin graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a B.S. in Sociology and B.A. in Psychology. He joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame in 2012. His areas of interests are primarily in sociological theory, religion, social movements, and culture. Past work includes a project focused on explaining the emergence of institutional entrepreneurs and the role of social institutions in the Soviet Union. An affiliate of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society and the Center for the Study of Social Movements, Justin retains an interest in new religious movements and social change. |
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Interests: Religion, culture, social theory, emerging adulthood, organizations Brad graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan in 2008 with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Philosophy. As a Presidential Fellow at Notre Dame, he is currently working as a research assistant in the Center for the Study of Religion and Society. Brad’s research centers on religion, culture, emerging adults, and faith-based organizations, along with particular attention to the philosophy of social science. |
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Interests: Religion and gender Meredith's primary research interests include gender, culture, social theory, and religion. Her master's thesis examines the symbolic significance of domestic violence and its perceived connection to gender ideology for two evangelical Christian organizations that have argued against each other's differing conceptions of gender throughout their histories. |
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Interests: Politics, Culture, Religion, and Movements/Social Change, with particular enthusiasm for the sociology of American politics. David is a second year graduate student in the Department of Sociology. Originally from Alaska, he received his Bachelors in Sociology from Washington State University, where he mainly studied the Canadian environmental movement and its relationship to parliamentary activity. |
