Dr. Pirtle grew up in East Lansing, Michigan MI, received her B.A. from Grand Valley State University in MI, and earned her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

Despite growing up in a college town, Dr. Pirtle never thought that someone with her background could be a professor. Her path to professor was neither predictable nor easy, but she credits her life experiences—of growing up poor, of feeling alienated as often one of the few people of color in a classroom, of learning how to cope with stress and racialized traumas—as motivating factors for her mission to make academic and other spaces inclusive, impactful, and justice oriented.

Dr. Pirtle joined the faculty at the University of California Merced in 2014 and is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology and McArthur Foundation Chair in International Justice and Human Rights. She also has affiliations with Public Health and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies departments and directs the Sociology of Health and Equity (SHE) Lab.

As a formative critical race scholar, her research explores issues relating to race, identity, inequality, health equity, and Black feminist praxis. She has published over 17 peer-reviewed articles and written over a dozen essays for academic and public audiences, including The Atlantic, The Griot, and Huffington Post. Her latest work includes writing on Covid-19 pandemic inequities and institutional anti-Blackness. Most impressively, her new, path-breaking co-edited volume Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis is out with Routledge Press.

As a teacher, Dr. Pirtle feels rewarded when students begin to question and critique taken-for-granted assumptions about the social world. She uses inquiry to spark students’ sociological imagination and push them to invent innovative and equitable solutions to problems. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the Sociology of Health, Race and Ethnicity, Black Identities, and Statistics. Finally, Dr. Pirtle finds passion in opportunities to mentor and support students. When training students, she starts by meeting them where they are, motivates them to think big, and guides them to where they need to be. She is current advisor to Afrikans for Retention and Outreach (AFRO) Hall at UC Merced.

Goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are at the forefront of Dr. Pirtle’s research, teaching, and service, and my commitments can be seen throughout her work and at the national and local level. She won the 2020 A. Wade Smith Award for Teaching, Mentoring, and Service from the Association of Black Sociologists and in 2021, she was awarded an inaugural Equity and Justice Award from the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at UC Merced.

She and her family have enjoyed becoming a part of the Merced community over the last four years. Dr. Pirtle enjoys working with local community members and activists to think about how we can make the city a more racially equitable place. She has help hosted the DA Community Forum, Movement for Black Lives Merced rally, and is a member of the NAACP.