PhD Candidates

Moriah Johnson

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: mjohnson58@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Race/Ethnicity; Sociology of Education; Homeschooling; Black Feminist Thought

Dissertation Title: Black Homeschooling Moms in Community: How Black moms are impacting the racialized educational terrain

Melissa Kinsella

Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: mkinsella1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Gender; Sociology of Masculinities; Medical Sociology; Qualitative Methodology  

Dissertation Title: A “Scary Time” to Be a Man? Comparing Men’s Engagement with Sexual Violence and Anti-Sexual Violence Discourses in the Private and Public Spheres  

Dana LaVergne

Advisor: Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: dlavergne@luc.edu

Research Interests: Medical Sociology; Embodiment; Gender and Sexuality; Qualitative Sociology   

Dissertation Title: "Buying Time or Doing Harm?”:  Tracing Contestation and Consensus in Debates on Puberty Blockers for Trans Youth

Keyla Navarrete

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: knavarrete1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Higher Education, Stratification, Race & Ethnicity, Public Opinion, Public Policy, Poverty, Law & Society, Gender, and Sex Ratios

Tori Olson

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: tolson9@luc.edu

John Henry Sienkiewicz III

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: jsienkiewicz1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Precarious Labor; Sociology of Organizations, and Social Movements

Dissertation Title: Grassroots on Asphalt: An Examination of Uber Drivers and Gig Worker Organizing

Julie Szamocki

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email:  jszamocki@luc.edu

Samir Talati

Advisor: Peter Rosenblatt, PhD
Email: ftalati@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Education; Ethnicity; Tribal Sociology; Political Sociology

Dissertation Title: Ethnicity through Education: An Analysis of the Influence of Formal Education on Ethnicity in Garo Hills

Juanita Vivas Bastidas

Advisor: Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: jvivas1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Urban Sociology; Environmental Sociology; Sociology of Mental Health; Intersectionality; Research Methodologies

Dissertation Title: Transforming Latine Barrios in Chicago: How Residents Appraise and Cope with Neighborhood Stressors

Leslie Erin Watland

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: lwatland@luc.edu

Research Interests: Gender & Sexuality, LGBTQ, Sociology of Higher Education, Sociology of Violence, and Policy Studies

Ryan SC Wong

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rwong1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of religion; deviance and social control; social movement; public sociology
Dissertation Title: Return of the Religious: The Untold Story of Reaffiliation in the US

Website

Fatema Zohara

Advisor: Rhys Williams, PhD
Email: fzohara@luc.edu

Research Interests: International Migration, Immigration & Policy, Sociology of Religion, South Asian Culture & Identity, Colonialism, Race & Ethnicity, and Qualitative Methods

PhD Students

Betsi Burns

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email:;bburns4@luc.edu

Ahmet Ciftcioglu

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: aciftcioglu@luc.edu

Stacey Jaksa

Advisor: Teresa Gonzales, PhD
Email: sjaksa@luc.edu

Research Interests: Policy Studies; Demography; Sex, Gender, and Sexuality; Race and Ethnicity; Medical Sociology; Urban Sociology

Travis Moody

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Research Interests: Race & Ethnicity

Email: tmoody1@luc.edu

Camillus Njoku

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: onjoku@luc.edu

Kajal Patel

Email: kpatel54@luc.edu

Lillian Platten

Email: lplatten@luc.edu

Richard Rodriguez

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rrodriguez7@luc.edu

Sarah Thorngate

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: sthorngate@luc.edu

Eyyup Yilmaz

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: eyilmaz@luc.edu

MA Students 

Aaron Holzmueller

Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: aholzmueller@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Sports, Sociology of Disability
Masters Thesis Topic: Analysis of media coverage of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Phoebe Jackson

Email: pjackson8@luc.edu

S Khadija Quadri

Email: squadri3@luc.edu

Madelyn Shoemaker

Email: mshoemaker2@luc.edu

Robert Stevenson

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rstevenson2@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Religion; American Evangelicalism; Quantitative Methods

Maxwell Xu

Email: mxu9@luc.edu

BA/MA Students 

Kaitlin Jones

Email: kjones6@luc.edu

Doctoral Degrees Earned in 2024

Christopher Hansen

Advisor: Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: chansen6@luc.edu

Research Interests: Survey Methodology; Sexual and Gender Minority Population Research; Sex, Gender, and Sexuality; Race and Ethnicity  

Dissertation Title: Gender diversity in U.S. adolescents: an exploration of multidimensional survey measures of gender and their associations with health and social outcomes using a national sample of adolescent-parent dyads.

Joseph Butler

Advisor: Peter Rosenblatt, PhD
Email: jbutler2@luc.edu

Dissertation Title: Racialization's influence on African American male university attrition: Is it culture shock or is there more to the story?

Michelle Dodson

Advisor: Rhys Williams, PhD
Email: mdodson@luc.edu

Dissertation Title: Race and Multiracial Congregations: Transformative of Status Quo

Stephanie Jean-Baptiste

Advisor: Rhys Williams, PhD
Email: sjeanbaptiste@luc.edu

Dissertation Title: Ou pa Moun Bo Isit: Local Haitians' Attitudes Towards NGO Representatives