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Graduate Students

name + contact	personal statement	research interests
Current Students
Shannon Bell send email Curriculum Vitae Personal Webpage Photovoice Project	The overarching goal of my intellectual pursuits is social justice. Understanding the circumstances that lead to social inequality is a primary interest of mine, and discovering how those inequalities can be fought at the grassroots level has been a central motivation for my research. Feminist insights about the gendered nature of social practices, structures, and identities inform my theoretical and methodological approaches. In my dissertation I examine the process of mobilization against environmental injustices through a case study of the southern West Virginia coalfields, where the increasing frequency of coal-mining-related flooding, sickness, and water contamination has led to the emergence of a grassroots, working class, environmental justice movement – mainly comprised of women – that is confronting the coal industry, regulatory agencies, and local, state, and national governments, demanding protection from and accountability for the destruction and pollution. Data for my dissertation come primarily from 13 months of field research and include in-depth interviews, questionnaires, participant observation, content analysis, and the feminist participatory action research method of “Photovoice,” which involves the use of participant-produced photography and narratives, coupled with regular group reflection meetings, to identify community concerns and promote group action.	Gender Environmental Sociology Social Movements/Social Change Feminist Theory and Methods Community Sociology Social Inequalities
Brandon Olszewksi send email Curriculum Vitae Personal Webpage	Broadly speaking, I am a social psychologist interested in how organizations and organizational change affect individual participants, social groups, and policy. My dissertation examines the relationship between the politics of high school change, or the degree to which change is democratically instituted, and the changes teachers experience regarding their workload and work environments.	Organizations, occupations and work Social psychology Sociology of education Sociology of culture Qualitative and quantitative methods
Lara Skinner send email	Lara Skinner received her B.S. in Sociology in 2001 and her M.S. in Sociology in 2003, both from the University of Oregon. Lara is currently working on her dissertation, titled "Is it Just Sustainability? The Politics of Urban Sustainability and Social Justice." Her research examines how social equity, including race, class, and gender inequities, are constructed and contested in various U.S. cities' sustainability programs and policies. Lara has been the Graduate Research Fellow for the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center since 2006. She is also a Certificate candidate for the University of Oregon Nonprofit Management Program.	Urban and economic development/Inequality Labor movements/Urban social movements Urban sustainability/Green jobs Global economy and neoliberalism Intersection of race, class, gender and sexuality Pedagogy Nonprofit Organizations/Role of Nonprofits in social change
Xiao-e "Elaine" Sun send email Curriculum Vitae	Elaine's main area of interest is the sociology of women and gender. She has written three papers that have applied feminist theory to study the gendered reality in China: The All-China Women's Federation: the Party-State Institutional Articulation of Gender Equality in China (1995-Date), Domestic Violence in Contemporary China, as well as The Gendered Division of Childcare between Chinese Couples. Other key areas are international migration and race and ethnicity studies. She has written a couple of papers that explore inequality and racial issues in the US, using Chinese immigrants as a case study group: The Matrix of Internet Technology and Racial Inequality, and YJ Chinese Church: Christianity and Racial and Ethnic Dynamics.