MATHIEU DEFLEM, Ph.D. University of Colorado (1996), is Associate Professor. His research areas include sociology of law, historical-comparative sociology, criminological sociology, and sociological theory. His most recent research deals with theories in the sociology of law, the policing of terrorism, international policing, crime control, and abortion policy. He teaches courses on social control, sociology of law, crime and deviance, terrorism, and contemporary theory. 

217 Sloan - (803) 777 6596 - deflem[at]sc.edu  

Curriculum Vitae  - Personal Website  

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CHRISTINE FOUNTAIN, Ph.D. University of Washington (2006), is Assistant Professor. Her work concerns the interplay between institutions and the social structures created by the interactions of people within those institutions. Specifically, she studies the interplay between labor markets, network structures, careers, and hiring processes. She teaches courses in introductory sociology, sociological methods, and economic sociology. 

319 Sloan - (803) 777 4968 - fountain[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae 

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PAUL C. HIGGINS, Ph.D. Northwestern University (1977), is Professor of Sociology. He does field research and teaches field research for graduate students. If you are interested in how people produce social life through interaction, and in the meanings they create as they do so and in order to do so, then field research may interest you. Teaching at any level is demanding and important, and Professor Higgins also offers a course on teaching college sociology. 

306 Sloan - (803) 777 6719 - paulhiggins[at]sc.edu

Curriculum Vitae

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Barry Markovsky, Ph.D. Stanford University (1983), is Professor of Sociology. His research interests include group processes, social psychology, social networks, methods of theory construction, experimental research, and computer simulations. Currently he is engaged in research on social networks, group solidarity, beliefs in paranormal phenomena, and applying complexity theory to social processes. He teaches courses in group processes and theory construction.

322 Sloan - (803) 777 0804 - barry[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae - Personal Website

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PATRICK NOLAN, Ph.D. Temple University (1978),  is Professor of Sociology. He has published on macro-sociology, stratification and ecological- evolutionary theory, and is co-author of several editions of Human Societies. He teaches on social theory, structural sociology, and sociology of science. His most recent research and publications have focused on explanations of the incidence of warfare in pre-industrial societies, the continuing impact of societies' techno-economic heritage on current trajectories of development, and the pitfalls of advertently or inadvertently teaching "benign lies" in introductory sociology.

304 Sloan - (803) 777 7103 - pnolan[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae - Personal Website  

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JIMY M. SANDERS, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara (1984), is Professor of Sociology. He conducts research in the areas of immigration and minority groups, with a focus on socioeconomic stratification and mobility. His primary interest is in the processes through which immigrants become engaged in the labor market of their host society. More broadly, he is interested in how global changes in investment practices, labor-demand and migration, and the organization of production affect socioeconomic stratification and mobility.

216 Sloan - (803) 777 2030 - jimsand[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae   

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BRENT T. SIMPSON, PhD. Cornell University (2001), is Associate Professor. His primary research interests include social psychology and various forms of prosocial behavior (such as altruism, trust, generosity, and cooperation). His research addresses questions such as: what are the antecedents and consequences of altruism? What conditions give rise to social order and under what conditions does social order break down? He teaches courses in altruism and aggression, prosocial behavior, social psychology, and introduction to sociology.  

319 Sloan - (803) 777 6848 - bts[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae 

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SHELLEY A. SMITH, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison (1986), is Associate Professor. She has interests in socioeconomic inequality and stratification. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in these areas. She also teaches undergraduate courses in statistics, introductory sociology, and social structures. Her research currently focuses on industrial changes as they affect employment among urban and rural workers and the elderly, and on racial and ethnic differences in household income inequality since the 1970s.

308 Sloan - (803) 777 2359 - shelley-smith[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae 

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LALA C. STEELMAN, Ph.D. Emory University (1986), is Professor of Sociology and also Chair of the Department. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Emory University. For the most part she teaches courses that focus on the family and education. Her teaching interests are also reflected in the research agenda she has pursued. She has spent most of her career trying to understand the effects of the family on the developing child with a special emphasis on the impact of siblings.

218 Sloan - (803) 777 6988 - steelman[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae  

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IRENA STEPANIKOVA, Ph.D. Stanford University (2006), is Assistant Professor. Her work deals with racial and ethnic bias in medical decision-making. Her areas of specialization include Race/Ethnicity, Social Psychology, Medical Sociology, and Quantitative Methods.  She teaches courses in the sociology of medicine and health as well as introductory sociology. 

307 Sloan - (803) 777 6866 - irena[at]sc.edu

Curriculum Vitae

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SHANE R. THYE, Ph.D. University of Iowa (1997), is Professor. He earned a bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology from the University of Iowa where he also received his PhD. He is interested in a broad array of group processes and quantitative research techniques. He is currently conducting research on commitment in exchange networks, power from status in bargaining relations, status organizing processes, and collective action in social traps. He is also interested in the development and spread of 'paranormal' beliefs.

309 Sloan - (803) 777 5177 - srthye[at]sc.edu

Curriculum Vitae 

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DAVID WILLER, Ph.D. Purdue University (1964), is Professor of Sociology. he focuses his research on the structural determinants of power, exploitation, and domination. His research extends the scope of Elementary Theory of Social Structures to new power conditions and tests those extensions. Recent experimental research finds the benefits gained by gatekeepers, the effect of coalition formation on power structures, and relations between power and influence.

220 Sloan - (803) 777 2209 - dwiller[at]sc.edu 

Curriculum Vitae - Personal Website  

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ANDREW BILLINGSLEY is Professor in the Department of Sociology, the African American Studies Program and the Institute for Families in Society, where his major responsibilities lie. His major research interest is in family studies and the linkages between families and other institutions. 

For more information, go to the African American Studies Program.