I joined the Randolph faculty in 2011. I am Chair of the Sociology department, Director of the Summer Research Program, and I coordinate the Gender Studies and Human Services minors. Before coming to Randolph, I was at the College of William & Mary for three years and Radford University for four years. I earned my PhD in Sociology and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Connecticut in 2004. My dissertation was entitled “Gendered Athletes” and in it I examined the different way women and men athletes experience the hyper-masculine world of college sports. Over the years I have won various teaching awards, including the Distinguished Teaching Award at Randolph in 2015.

In my teaching and research I focus on issues of intersectionality and inequality, with an emphasis on gender and sexuality. I teach a wide variety of undergraduate courses including Sociology of Gender, Qualitative Methods, Social Theory, Sociology of the Family, and Sport Sociology. I am also faculty in the Master’s of Coaching and Sport Leadership program, teaching the History of Sport and Research Methods and Inquiry.

My areas of research include hookups among college students, sexual violence, gender and sport, and participation in social movements such as the Women’s March in 2017. I have done several multi-method research projects and have had many students work with me to learn researching techniques and develop strong analytic and writing skills.

My interdisciplinary publications include a book chapter entitled “Feminist Pedagogy” (2021), a co-authored book chapter with a political science colleague about women’s issues in national elections (“The Social Construction of Women’s Interests in the 2014 and 2010 Midterms”), a peer-reviewed article about hookups (“Strategic Ambiguity”, 2013), and a variety of book reviews addressing the topics of hookups, family dynamics and violence, and violence against women. I regularly go to sociology and gender studies conferences and take students whenever possible.

In my spare time, I love to travel, kayak, hike, read, and watch crazy series on Netflix. In 2018, I completed a bucket list item and drove around the entire United States, visiting every national park I could and visiting every state except Alaska (which is next on my list).