Food Insecurity and Community Resilience in Rural Central Texas

• Focus: How rural residents, especially marginalized groups, experience and respond to food insecurity.
  
  

• Methods: In-depth interviews with families, community organizers, food pantry staff, and farmers; ethnographic observation at food distribution centers and markets.
  
  

• Angle: Explore mutual aid networks, community gardening efforts, and gaps in state/federal assistance.
  
  

The Changing Cultural Landscape of Rural Black and Brown Communities

• Focus: Gentrification, land loss, and cultural erasure in historically Black or Hispanic rural communities.
  
  

• Methods: Oral histories, participant observation, archival photo or land record analysis.
  
  

• Angle: Highlight intergenerational narratives of land ownership, resistance, and identity preservation.
  
  

Rural Education Access and Emancipatory Learning

• Focus: Educational barriers and alternative learning models (e.g., homeschooling, community-led education) among low-income or nontraditional students.
  
  

• Methods: Life history interviews with students, educators, and parents; focus groups with youth.
  
  

• Angle: Investigate the role of sociology or social justice education in shaping identity and opportunity.
  
  

Environmental Injustice and Rural Water Struggles

• Focus: Access to clean water, especially in unincorporated or under-resourced rural communities.
  
  

• Methods: Interviews with residents, local officials, and environmental activists; photovoice or community mapping.
  
  

• Angle: Explore perceptions of environmental harm, community advocacy, and intersection with race and poverty.
  
  

Rural Mental Health and Structural Isolation

• Focus: How structural barriers (e.g., lack of healthcare, transportation) shape experiences of mental health in rural areas.
  
  

• Methods: Narrative interviews with residents, social workers, and clergy; case studies of rural clinics or informal support networks.
  
  

• Angle: Examine the intersections of trauma, place, and stigma in mental health narratives.
  
  

The Role of Rural Churches in Social Justice or Social Control

• Focus: How rural faith institutions support or hinder emancipatory efforts in Central Texas.
  
  

• Methods: Ethnography of church services, interviews with clergy and congregants, analysis of sermons or church programs.
  
  

• Angle: Analyze tensions between traditional values and grassroots activism.
  
  

Gender, Labor, and Informal Economies in Rural Central Texas

• Focus: Women and nonbinary individuals’ participation in informal or precarious labor (e.g., elder care, cleaning, food vending).
  
  

• Methods: Life story interviews; observation of work settings; participatory mapping of economic activity.
  
  

• Angle: Highlight how rural residents create work, resist exploitation, and sustain families amid economic instability.
  
  

Reentry and Reintegration: Formerly Incarcerated Individuals in Rural Communities

• Focus: Challenges faced by individuals returning from incarceration to rural areas.
  
  

• Methods: Interviews, life histories, community focus groups.
  
  

  1. • Angle: Explore themes of stigma, employment barriers, and grassroots support systems.
       
       

Migration and Rural Identity in Central Texas

• Focus: The experience of recent immigrants or second-generation families in rural communities.
  
  

• Methods: Oral histories, ethnographic observation at cultural events, and community center interviews.
  
  

• Angle: Identity negotiation, cultural preservation, and rural integration.
  
  

Climate Change, Drought, and Rural Livelihoods

• Focus: How farmers, ranchers, and residents perceive and adapt to environmental shifts.
  
  

• Methods: Interviews, field visits, photo documentation.
  
  

• Angle: Connect cultural understandings of climate with everyday survival strategies.
  
  

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS:

2022            “Vulnerability and Climate Change: The Fallacy of Migration or Adaption for the Many, and the Rise of Eco-elitism.” November 2nd-6th.          Association for Humanist Sociology (annual meeting). Mexico City, MX.

2022            “Women in AHS: A Feminist Critique of Structures and Histories.” November 2nd-6th. Association for Humanist Sociology (annual meeting). Mexico City, MX.

    2022               “Applied Sociology for All” NCSA: Inter-Organizational Applied Sociology,  Guest Speaker. May 19th (Virtual).

2019            “Truth Be Told – Restorative Justice in a Small Texas Town.”  Oct. 29th – Nov.3rd.  Association for Humanist Sociology (annual meeting).  El Paso, Texas.

2017            “Neoliberalism, Post-Feminism, and the Profit of Positivity.”  November 1-5. Association for Humanist Sociology (annual meeting).  Havana,         Cuba.

2016            “A Retrospective - The Academic Life and Work of T.R. Young.” November 2-6.  Association for Humanist Sociology (annual meeting). Denver,           CO.

2015            “Art Builds Solidarity” October 21-25.  Association for Humanist Sociology (annual meeting).  Portland, OR.

2014            “Intersections of Oppression in Immigrant Detention Debates: Women Becoming Victims to Escape Victimization.”  October 8-12.  Association for         Humanist Sociology (annual meeting).  Cleveland, OH.

2014            “Critical Race Theory and the Expanding Criminalization of Ethnicity in the United States.”  April 17-19.  Southwestern Sociological Association       (annual meeting).  San Antonio, Texas.

2014 "Immigration Detention and the Expansion of Ethnic Criminality in 21st Century Internment Camps." April 17-19.  Southwestern Sociological                           Association (annual meeting).  San Antonio, Texas. 

2013            "Immigration Detention and the Expansion of Ethnic Criminality in 21st Century Internment Camps." Nov. 7-11.  Association for Humanist                 Sociology (annual meeting).  Arlington, VA.

2012            “Equal Pay for Equal Work:  The Plight of Contingent Faculty in Institutions of Higher Education.”   Nov. 7-11.  Association for Humanist         Sociology (annual meetings).  Nashville, TN.

2011            “Toward a Sociology of Oppression:  From a Disparate View to a Broad Theoretical Understanding.”  Oct. 13-16.  Association for Humanist         Sociology (annual meeting).  Chicago, Ill.

1996            Roundtable Discussant:  “Education and Research for Liberation:  Scholar and Grassroots Activists in the Struggle for Race, Class and Gender Equality.”  August 16-20.  Race and Ethnic Refereed Roundtable, American Sociological Association (annual meeting).  New York, NY.

1996            “Bridging the Gap between Scholar and Activist.”  Aug. 12-16.  American Sociological Association (annual meeting, Racial and Ethnic Minorities         Section, Session: Research for Liberation).  New York, NY.

1996            “Resolving Controversy among Feminists in a Feminist Classroom.”  Aug 15-18.  Society for the Study of Social Problems (annual meeting,         Education Problems Division, Session: Education and Research for Liberation).  New York, NY.

1995            “Collective Behavior in a Postmodern Modality.”  Oct. 10-14.  Association for Humanist Sociology (annual meeting).  Columbus, Ohio

1995            “Women for Intellectual Emancipation:  TWU a Case Study in Protest.”  June 22-25.  National Women’s Studies Association (annual meeting).  Norman, OK

1995            “The Social Construction of Whiteness” May 19-21.  Gregory Stone Symposium (Session: Postmodern Approaches to Mind, Self and Society).  Des Moines, Iowa.

1995            “Texas Women’s University Preservation Society.”  March 20-22.  South Central Women’s Studies Association (annual meeting).  Denton, TX.

1995              “Hull House Theory” March 15-18.  Southwestern Social Science Association

TALKS AND WORKSHOPS:

2017            “Exploring a Women’s Faculty Association at ACC.”  Workshop presented during Spring Faculty Development Day for Austin Community College           Faculty and Staff.  Austin, Texas.

2010            “Gender Equality in the Office:  Exploring the Feminist Workplace.”  Workshop presented during Spring Faculty Development Day for Austin           Community College Faculty and Staff.   Austin, Texas.

1996            “The Role of Art in the Settlement Movement.”  Workshop presented at the annual meeting of the United Neighborhood Centers of America, Inc.  September 26-28.  Phoenix, AZ.

1996            “Student Activism.”  Workshop presented for the Women’s History Month – Speakers Series, University of North Texas.  Denton, Texas.

1995            “Recognizing Sexism in Ourselves and Society.”  Workshop presented at the Residence Hall Association, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.