Graduate Studies
PhD Degrees Awarded from 2000-2009
Margaret Kerr (PhD received May 2009)
Dissertation Title- Autism Spectrum Disorders and Vaccines: The Making of a Health Social Movement
Committee- John Marx (chair), John Markoff,
Keri Rodriguez, Phyllis Coontz, and Matt Schneirov
Position Currently Held-University of Pittsburgh Senior Research Specialist, Center for Research on Health Care and Center for Equity Research Promotion
Maria Jose Alvarez (PhD received April 2009)
Dissertation Title- Contentious Urbanization from Below: Land Squatting in Montevideo, Uruguay
Committee- John Markoff (chair), Patrick Doreian, Kathleen Blee, and Javier Auyero
Position Currently Held-Assistant Professor in Sociology at Universidad del Rosario, Bogota, Colombia
Melissa (Missy) Swauger (PhD received December 2008)
Dissertation Title- “Whatever Her Little Heart Desires: How Class and Race Influence
Adolescent Girls Perceptions of the Future.”
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Cecilia Green, Akiko Hashimoto, and Sharon Nelson-LeGall
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor at Indiana University of PA beginning September 2009.
Christine Anthou Alex (PhD received April 2007)
Dissertation Title- 21st Century Participation in Two US Greek Orthodox Churches
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Peggy Lovell, Lisa D. Brush, and Edward Muller
Position Currently Held- Key Bank, HR Knowledge Management
Ashley Currier (PhD received June 2007)
Dissertation Title- "The Visibility of Sexual Minority Movement Organizations in South Africa and Namibia"
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Akiko Hashimoto, Cecilia Green, Eric Clarke, Paula Davis
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor in Sociology at Texas A&M
Danielle Ficco (PhD received June 2007)
Dissertation Title- "Women Stepping Out: Intersections of Welfare Policy, Work, and Abuse"
Committee- Lisa D. Brush (chair), Kathleen Blee, Akiko Hashimoto, and Maureen Porter
Position Currently Held-Visiting Assistant Professor at Westminster College
Hyung Sam Park (PhD received July 2007)
Dissertation Title-"A Longitudinal Analysis of the Environmental Movement Sector's Litigation Network in the United States 1970-2001"
Committee- Patrick Doreian (chair), Thomas Fararo, John Markoff, and Salvatore Babones
Position Currently Held- Post Doctoral Research Associate at Texas A&M
Monica Solinas Saunders (PhD received December 2007)
Dissertation Title- "Adolescent Antisocial Behavior and Adult Intimate Partner Violence"
Committee- Phyllis Coontz (chair), John Marx, Salvatore Babones, Magda Stouthamer Loeber, and Rolf Loeber
Position Currently Held- Senior Research Associate, Families in the Military Research Institute at Purdue University
Lisa Huebner- Ruchti (PhD received December 2007)
Dissertation Title-"Sexual Harassment, Intimacy, and Migrant Nurses"
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Akiko Hashimoto, Cecilia Green, and Ellen Olshanksy
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor in Sociology and Women's Studies at West Chester University
Dana Reinke (PhD received November 2006)
Dissertation Title- Assessing Place Character in Response to Wal-Mart
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair) Cecilia Green, Patrick Doreian, Sabina Deitrick
Position Currently Held-Research Scientist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Connie Oxford (PhD received October 2006)
Dissertation Title- Gender-Based Persecution in Asylum Law and Policy in the United States
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Cecilia Green, John Markoff, Nicole Costable
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor Women's Studies Faculty, Plattsburgh State University of New York
Francine Bush (PhD received April 2005)
Dissertation Title- Barriers to Treatment: An Ethnographic Study of Substance Dependent Women Seeking Treatment
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Cecilia Green, Vijai Singh, Harvey White
Position Currently Held- Social Security Administration, State of Texas
Kayo Fujimoto (received December 2003)
Dissertation Title- Evolution of Gendered Network Among School Children
Committee- Patrick Doreian (chair), Kathleen Carley, Thomas Fararo, and Kathleen Blee
Position Currently Held- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Gregory Crowley (received October 2003)
Dissertation Title- The Social Production of an Urban Development Policy: An Analytical Outline for Studying the Politics of Pittsburgh's "Renaissance II"
Committee- Thomas Fararo (chair), Burkhart Holzner, Morton Coleman, and Vijia Singh
Position Currently Held- Vice President of Program Development and Evaluation at
Coro Center for Civic Leadership in Pittsburgh
Keri Rodriguez (received August 2003)
Dissertation Title- Primary Care Provider and Elderly Patient Understanding of Veterans Administration Advance Directive Concepts
Committee- Thomas Schott (chair), Amanda Young, Jonathon Erlen, Burkhart Holzner
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, Core Faculty, VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion Core Faculty, Center for Research on Healthcare Affiliate Faculty, Institute for Doctor-Patient Communication Core Faculty, Center for Bioethics and Health Law
Lensa Hailu (received April 2003)
Dissertation Title- Staying in the Race: An Ethiopian Woman in Politics
Committee- Peggy Lovell (chair) Harvey White, Cecilia Green, and Patrick Doreian
Position Currently Held-
Linda Morrison (received March 2003)
Dissertation Title- Talking Back to Psychiatry: Resistant Identities in the Psychiatric Consumer/ Survivor/ Ex-Patient Movement
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), John Marx, Mark Ginsburg, and Joseph Alter
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Duquesnse University
Christopher Wienke (received December 2002)
Dissertation Title- Making Responsible Fathers Out of Troubled Men: Self-Change, Family Formation, and the US Fatherhood Movement
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Lisa D. Brush, Akiko Hashimoto, Joseph Alter
Position Currently Held- accepted a tenure track position at Southern Illinois University
Elizabeth Larsen (received November 2002)
Dissertation Title- Parker Out or in the Lightening Lane? Maintenance and Erosion of Occupational Sex Segregation in the Family-Oriented Business of Harness Racing
Committee- Kathleen Blee (chair), Lisa D. Brush, Akiko Hashimoto, and Joseph Alter
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor and Director of Applied Sociology, Department of Justice, Law & Society at the University of California, PA
Cathleen Appelt (received April 2002)
Dissertation Title- As the Den Turns: Pack Status as an Emergent Property of Interpack Mating Alliances and Occupation of Territory Among Wolves in Yellowstone National Park, 1995-2000
Committee- Patrick Doreian (chair), Thomas Fararo, Norman P. Hummon, and Richard Grannis
Position Currently Held- Post Doctoral fellow University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Graduate School of Public Health and Research Specialist Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Veterans Administration Pittsburgh
Norman Conti (received December 2000)
Dissertation Title- Creating the Thin Blue Line: Twenty-One Weeks of Police Socialization
Committee- Patrick Doreian (chair), Norman P. Hummon, John Marx, and Phyllis Coontz
Position Currently Held- Assistant Professor in the
Department of Sociology and the Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy at Duquesnse University