Sociology Faculty

Chair
Karla Erickson
Professor
Karla is a feminist ethnographer of labor. She studies interaction and community in market exchanges. In her first book, The Hungry Cowboy she studied Cheers-like community building in a Tex-Mex restaurant as a way of thinking about how connection was offered and sometimes found in the marketplace...
J.M. Bacon
Assistant Professor
J. M. Bacon (Jules) is a Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Sociology Department. Their area of specialization is environmental sociology. During their time at Grinnell they have taught: Introduction to Environmental Sociology Sociology of Climate Change Indigenous Approaches to Sociology...
Xavier Escandell
Associate Professor
Xavier Escandell's research explores immigration, transnationalism, and race/ethnic relations in the context of Western and Eastern Europe and Latin America. His published work appears in journals such as Annual Review of Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Social...
Susan Ferguson
Professor

Director of Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Susan Ferguson (she/her) is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at Grinnell College, where she has taught for over 30 years. Ferguson regularly teaches Introduction to Sociology, and her critically acclaimed anthology, Mapping the Social Landscape...
Assistant Professor
Sara Francisco received her PhD in Sociology and Social Data Analytics from the Pennsylvania State University. Her research and teaching interests include studying the intersections between gender and race/ethnicity, health disparities, and quantitative methods. Her research often uses a myriad of...
Ross Haenfler
Professor
Ross Haenfler is Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College where he teaches Social Movements, Deviance and Social Control, Sociological Theory, Men and Masculinities, and introductory sociology courses. He loves teaching and tries to teach classes that create possibilities for students to live more...
Christopher Hunter
Professor Senior Faculty
My academic interests currently focus on the organizational analysis of nonprofit organizations. In the past, I have served as Grinnell College's coordinator of the American Sociological Association's Minority Opportunities through School Transformation Program, as a member of the college's...
Dr. Lara Janson
Assistant Professor
Lara Janson (’05) is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College. A sociologist specializing in gender, sexuality, law, and qualitative/mixed research methods, she is interested in researching and teaching about intersections of inequality. Dr. Janson enjoys implementing...
Kent McClelland
Professor Emeritus

Member, Peace and Conflict Studies Committee

I’m a retired faculty member with a continuing research interest in Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) as a lens for understanding sociology. PCT provides an alternative view of human psychology that takes into account the feedback effects of our own actions on our perceptions of the world around us...
Sharon Quinsaat
Associate Professor
Sharon Quinsaat received her PhD in Sociology from University of Pittsburgh. Her research and teaching interests include social movements, migration, Southeast Asia, and Asian Americans from a global and transnational perspective. Sharon’s projects and courses to date reflect her intellectual and...
Kesho Scott
Senior Faculty
She is an internationally renowned Diversity Trainer/Consultant, an Associate Professor of American Studies and Sociology at Grinnell College, and an award-winning writer. Kesho was a founding member of International Capacity Building Services, a cultural competency training team that specializes in...
Jennifer Snook
Lecturer
I was born and grew up in Germany as an Army brat. I spent most of my childhood there, but after traveling the U.S., I consider Colorado my home. I received my B.A. from the University of Augusta, in Georgia while my dad was stationed at Fort Gordon. I moved to Colorado and received my Ph.D. from...
A photo of Wenqi sitting on a chair
Lecturer

Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow

As a dedicated qualitative scholar, my focus is centered on exploring the evident and latent forms of gendered violence experienced by Chinese and Chinese American populations. I have presented my findings in three peer-reviewed articles and presented at numerous conferences. I started my scholarly...

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