faculty

Dr. Jon Bloch, Department Chair
Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5685
Office: Engleman C023B
Email: blochj1@southernct.edu
B.S. Portland State University, M.A., Ph.D., Indiana University

Dr. Jon P. Bloch is interested in sociological theory, sociology of religion, and sociology of gender, among other areas. Besides publishing research and teaching courses on these topics, he also teaches courses in criminal justice, research methods, social organization, and micro sociology, among others. Before becoming a professor, his jobs included dishwasher, trash collector, and construction worker.

Dr. Gregory Adams
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5641
Office: EN C 023F
Email: adamsg1@southernct.edu
B.A., M.A., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst

Gregory Adams is a social psychologist in the sociological tradition. He earned his Ph.D. in 2006 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His most recent work, funded by a United States Fulbright Fellowship, explores relationships between social networks, incarceration histories, family systems, and high risk activities among intravenous drug users in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. His research has applications in a broad range of areas including criminology, public health, and social work.

Dr. Adams has a long history in the social sciences and helping professions. He spent much of 1990s working with adolescents, dividing his time between the classroom and helped found the Education Communities Development Initiative (ECDI) which combined the resources of Bulgarian Organizations, including Pro-International Bulgaria and the Center for Psychology Research in Sofia, to enhance the ties of Bulgarian orphans to their communities and to monitor and support their educational experiences. Following the inspiration of his students, ECDI staff and volunteers, he returned to Amherst to pursue his Ph.D. in 2001.

Since 2001, Dr. Adams' training has included a pre-doctoral internship with AHRQ in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a Fulbright award, and international adoption research, allowing him to form scholarly relationships both at home and abroad. He encourages students to cross cultural boundaries and to think about ways they can make a practical difference and improve lives.

Dr. Astrid Eich-Krohm
Associate Professor of Sociology
Office: En CO23E
Phone: 203-392-5683
Email: eichkrohma2@southernct.edu
BA, MA. Ph.D. State University at Albany New York

Astrid Eich-Krohm joined the department in the Fall of 2008. She is a qualitative sociologist with research interests in gender, international migration, aging and health. Her migration research focuses on recent German migration to the United States by comparing settlement/return decisions of German families in the U.S. Most importantly, her research focuses on the larger role of the family especially the spouses who are often considered "tied migrants" without much say in the
decision process of returning or settling. The in-depth interviews conducted separately with wives and husbands showed a shift of women's situations compared to older research. Women's increase in education and participation in the workforce certainly influences how families make migration decisions.

Dr. Eich-Krohm's first career in nursing sparked her interest in aging and the life-course and the sociology of health and illness. Her Master thesis dealt with the issue of infertility. She has recently published a book chapter with Gayle Sulik comparing the experiences of women with infertility and breast cancer in the context of medical consumerism

Dr. Eich-Krohm teaches classical and contemporary theory, sociological research methods and qualitative research methods, gender, and international migration. She supervises internships and independent studies and teaches in the graduate program.

Dr. Shirley A. Jackson, Graduate Coordinator
Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5676
Office: Engleman C 026D
Email: jacksons1@southernct.edu
B.A., Wayne State University, M.A., Ph.D. University of California at Santa Barbara


Shirley A. Jackson's areas of specialization are race/ethnicity, gender, and social movements. Dr. Jackson has done research on race/skin color and class in Cuba since the Cuban Revolution. She has traveled to Cuba several times. She also does work on African American women's organizations, and on race/skin color and class in Cuba, the United States, and Brazil. Dr. Jackson is an active member of several professional sociology associations.

Dr Jackson is currently working on two research projects. The first is a socio-historical exploration of themes of race/ethnicity, gender, and violence in editorial cartoons during WWII and Civil Rights Movement. The second is an exploration into the lives of African American women in a social fellowship organization. Dr. Jackson has conducted research on mentoring programs for African American girls and empowerment in African American women's organizations.

Dr. Jackson served as Department Chair from 2001-2007. She created the Ethnic Studies minor at Southern Connecticut State University which she co-coordinates with Dr. Julian Madison of the History Department. She is a Board member of the National Association for Ethnic Studies and the Society for the Study of Social Problems, has served as President of the New England Sociological Association, Chair of the American Sociological Association's Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and on committees in the Eastern Sociological Association, Association of Black Sociologists, and other organizations. Her community involvement includes serving as both as Family Partner and Family Selection committee member for Habitat for Humanity and on The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven's Women and Girl's Fund committee. She is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who Among America's Teachers.

Dr. Jackson teaches, Racial and Ethnic Relations, Social Problems in the U.S., Women of Color in the U.S., Women of the Third World, Race, Class and Gender, Community Sociology, Introduction to Sociology, Urban Sociology, Social Change, Women in Society, Social Inequality in the U.S., and Seminar in Sociology.

Dr. Jessica Kenty-Drane
Associate Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5689
Office: Engleman C 030B
Email: kentydranej1@southernct.edu
B.S., University of New Hampshire, M.S., Ph.D. Northeastern University

Jessica L. Kenty-Drane holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northeastern University located in Boston , Massachusetts. Professor Kenty-Drane joined the Department of Sociology at SCSU in the fall of 2004. She regularly teaches Introduction to Sociology, Race and Ethnic Relations, Social Research Methods, Quantitative Analysis, and the Sociology of Education. Dr. Kenty-Drane recently won a CSU Research Grant, which she will use to complete her project entitled "Does Homeownership Play a Beneficial Role in Closing the Educational Achievement Gap?" This project stems from her doctoral dissertation entitled "First-Grade Inequality: Disparities in Educational Conditions of the U.S. Public School First-Grade 1999-2000 Cohort." Dr. Kenty-Drane focuses her research in the areas of social stratification emphasizing race and social class inequality, the sociology of education, the sociology of children and childhood, and disparities in wealth. Trained in quantitative methods, she is skilled in the use of large datasets including both the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID).

Dr. Cassi A. Meyerhoffer
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-6289
Office: Engleman C 030C
Email: meyerhoffec2@southernct.edu
B.A., Weber State University, M.A., PH.D. University at Buffalo, SUNY

Cassi A. Meyerhoffer is a qualitative sociologist with research interests in racial residential segregation, urban sociology, race and ethnicity, and gender inequality. Her current research involves studying issues related to race, social class, culture, and immigration status for how people express neighborhood preferences. She is particularly interested in understanding and disentangling the relationship between race and class and how that relationship informs the stereotypes or perceptions that people have of minority neighborhoods. Dr. Meyerhoffer teaches classical theory, sociological research methods, urban sociology, racial and ethnic relations, social change, social problems, introduction to sociology, social psychology, and special seminar courses on racial residential segregation.