About

About

I am an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Higher Education, Race, and the Economy Lab. I completed my Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

My scholarship addresses class and race stratification in U.S. society, with particular attention to higher education as a social institution where this stratification can be reinforced or ameliorated. I collaborate across disciplines and strive to conduct research that is as relevant to policy as it is to social theory. Methodologically, I apply quasi-experimental designs and other causal inference strategies to U.S. national surveys and large, statewide education databases.

My research has received support from the William T. Grant Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and Institute of Education Sciences through the U.S. Department of Education. My sole- and first-author work is published in Social Forces, Educational Researcher, Research in Higher Education, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Socius, and Social Currents. Other work of mine is published in Sociology of Education, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, and The American Mathematical Monthly.

I am also an enthusiastic teacher who appreciates the learning sciences. My teaching incorporates research-validated practices to reduce stereotype threat, increase active participation, and equalize air time. I have applied these practices in several institutional settings, and am particularly proud to have done so in the unique, justice-oriented setting of Berea College.