Link to CV

I currently teach courses in political and environmental sociology, the sociology of health and medicine, as well as research methods. I also teach a field-based course on development in Sierra Leone. I am primarily a macro-sociologist with respect to my research and teaching interests, bringing political economy and comparative institutionalist perspectives to bear on questions of inequality and social change. At present I am conducting a case study of Sierra Leone to examine both the institutional origins of state failure and the present organization of development efforts in a failed state context. That research builds on my continuing cross-national research on the institutional determinants of economic and social development. I am particularly interested in the broad-based impacts of national family planning programs for a variety of development outcomes. Lastly, I remain engaged in an ongoing project on the politics of institutional design of the U.S. welfare state, examining privatization reform efforts of Social Security and Medicare.

Recent Syllabi

SO130 -- Environmental Sociology

SO218 -- Political Sociology

SO229 -- Research Methods

SO290 -- Sociology of Health and Medicine

SO316 -- Development and Underdevelopment in Africa (Sierra Leone Field Course) (Video trailer)