faculty
Dr. Gregory Adams
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5641
Office: EN C 023D
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 volunteering for international programs in developing economies. In 1999 Gregory 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. Jon Bloch, Department Chair
Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5685
Office: Engleman C023B
Email: blochj1@southernct.edu
Web page
B.S. Portland State University
M.A., Ph.D., Indiana University
Dr. Jon P. Bloch is interested in sociological theory, sociology of gender, sociological theory, among other areas. Besides researching and teaching courses on these topics, he also teaches courses in criminal justice, research methods, social organization, and micro sociology. Before becoming a professor, his jobs included dishwasher, trash collector, and construction worker.
Dr. Astrid Eich-Krohm
Assistant Professor
Office: En CO23E
Phone: 203-392-5683
Email: eichkrohma2@southernct.edu
BA, MA. Ph.D. State University at Albany New York
Astrid Eich-Krohm is a qualitative sociologist with research interests in gender, international migration, aging and health. Her professional career started in Germany first as a registered nurse and after receiving her degree in nursing education, as a teacher of nursing. This explains her interest in aging and the life-course and the sociology of health and illness. Her Master thesis dealt with the issue of infertility and led to a collaboration with
Dr. Gayle Sulik who's research focuses on breast cancer. A book chapter to
come out later this year compares women's experiences with breast cancer and
infertility.
Dr. Eich-Krohm's own immigration to the United States in 1994 sparked not only
her interest in international migration but also her interest in sociology
overall. Her 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. Germany is experiencing an acute
brain drain of highly skilled migrants to other countries such as the United
States. Therefore, following migration discussions on both sides of the
Atlantic is an important part of her research and teaching.
Dr. Debra Emmelman
Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5686
Office: Engleman C023F
Email: emmelmand1@southernct.edu
B.A., Indiana University M.A., Ph.D., University of California at San Diego
Debra Emmelman is a qualitative sociologist who specializes in the sociology of law, deviance and criminal justice. She received her doctorate from the University of California, San Diego and has written extensively (including several articles and a book) on defense attorneys for the poor. She has also conducted research with a former student on "Students' Expectations of College Courses" (with Michael DeCesare, forthcoming) and is currently developing research in the area of environmental law enforcement. She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of criminal justice, sociology of law, social deviance and social inequality as well as certain core courses in sociology. She is also a faculty advisor for graduate theses and supervises undergraduate interns. On a more personal level, she enjoys the great outdoors and spends as much time as possible hiking, cycling and paddling with
her husband and dogs.
Dr. Shirley A. Jackson
Associate 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, Graduate Coordinator
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Phone: (203) 392-5689
Office: Engleman C 023C
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)
