Current Graduate Students
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: Cristian Paredes, PhD
Email: knavarrete1@luc.edu
Research Interests: Higher Education; Stratification; Race & Ethnicity; Public Opinion; Public Policy; Poverty, Law & Society; Gender; Sex Ratios
Dissertation Title: Fear of Victimization, Trust, Security, and Public Spaces in Guatemala
Tori Olson
Advisors: Anne Figert, PhD and Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: tolson9@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: Measuring Collective Efficacy and its Relationship to Urban Green Spaces
John Henry Sienkiewicz III
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: jsienkiewicz1@luc.edu
Research Interests: Precarious Labor; Sociology of Organizations; Social Movements
Dissertation Title: Grassroots on Asphalt: An Examination of Uber Drivers and Gig Worker Organizing
Julie Szamocki
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: jszamocki@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: Mapping Motivations: Analyzing Individual Anti-Gun Violence Activist Participation in Chicago
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: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: lwatland@luc.edu
Research Interests: Gender & Sexuality; LGBTQ; Sociology of Higher Education; Sociology of Violence; Policy Studies
Dissertation Title: A Phenomenological Study of Meaning Making in University Faculty Regarding Role Expectations in Response to Student Crises
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
Fatema Zohara
Advisor: Rhys Williams, PhD
Email: fzohara@luc.edu
Research Interests: International Migration, Race & Ethnicity; Sociology of Religion
Dissertation Title: Dating and Courtship Processes among Muslim Bangladeshi North Americans: Navigating Space and Social Identities
PhD Students
Betsi Burns
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: bburns4@luc.edu
Ahmet Ciftcioglu
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: aciftcioglu@luc.edu
Research Interests: Social Movements; Sociology of Religion; Critical Muslim Studies; Comparative and Historical Sociology; Neoliberalism
Dikshya Dahal
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ddahal@luc.edu
Research Interests: Environmental Sociology; Environmental Justice; Urban Sociology; Organizational Sociology; Social Organization of Philanthropy; Qualitative Methods; Asia and Asian Americans
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
Abu Said Juel Miah
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Research Interests:
Email: ajuelmiah@luc.edu
Travis Moody
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Research Interests: Race & Ethnicity
Email: tmoody1@luc.edu
Camillus Njoku
Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: onjoku@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: The Role of Religion in Illness Meaning and Coping among Sub-Saharan African Christian Immigrants (SSACIs) in the US
Kajal Patel
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD and Minwoo Jung, PhD
Email: kpatel54@luc.edu
Research Interests: race/ethnicity with a focus on the South Asian population; sex/gender; digital media; qualitative methods
Lillian Platten
Advisor: Judson G. Everitt, PhD
Email: lplatten@luc.edu
Research Interests: Organizational Theory; Sociology of Education; Socialization; Social Psychology; Social Policy
Master's Thesis: "You can prepare people for harm without exposing them to small doses of it": Institutionalism, Peer Culture, and Cultural Reproduction in Active Shooter Drills
Mamitiana (Jenny) Rakotoarisoa
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: mrakotoarisoa@luc.edu
Richard Rodriguez
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rrodriguez7@luc.edu
Madelyn Shoemaker
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD.
Email: mshoemaker2@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: A Mixed-Methods Case Study of Gender Understandings Among Evangelicals
Sarah Thorngate
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: sthorngate@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Education; Cultural Sociology; Race and Class Inequalities in Higher Education; Sociology of Information
Eyyup Yilmaz
Advisor: Patrick Gilger, SJ, PhD
Email: eyilmaz@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion & Islam; Political Sociology; Social Theory; Historical Sociology
MA Students
Raymond Akumbilim
Advisor: Cristian Paredes, PhD
Email: rakumbilim@luc.edu
Research Interests: Race and Ethnicity; Sociology of Religion
Emily Cynthia Hart
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ehart9@luc.edu
Research Interests: Social policy; political sociology; demography; consumer culture
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
Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: pjackson8@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality; Qualitative Methods
Thesis Title: A Qualitative Analysis of Gender and Power in Bars and Clubs
Jacob Pritchard
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jpritchard1@luc.edu
S Khadija Quadri
Email: squadri3@luc.edu
Jasmine Saunders
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jsaunders2@luc.edu
Research Interests: Community and Urban Sociology; Policy Studies; Environmental Sociology; Social Demography; Political Sociology; Social Change
Jonathan Savidge
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jsavidge@luc.edu
Robert Stevenson
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rstevenson2@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion; American Evangelicalism; Quantitative Methods
Max Xu
Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: mxu9@luc.edu
Research Interests: Race and Ethnicity; Mental Health; Chinese Diaspora; Qualitative Methods
Sabina Zabarte
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: szabarte@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Globalization; Sociology of Religion; Historical Sociology; Application of Sociology within the Sphere of Social Work
BA/MA Students
Gracie Frank
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: gcohen@luc.edu
Anton Jahn-Vavrus
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ajahnvavrus@luc.edu
Kaitlin Jones
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
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
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: Cristian Paredes, PhD
Email: knavarrete1@luc.edu
Research Interests: Higher Education; Stratification; Race & Ethnicity; Public Opinion; Public Policy; Poverty, Law & Society; Gender; Sex Ratios
Dissertation Title: Fear of Victimization, Trust, Security, and Public Spaces in Guatemala
Tori Olson
Advisors: Anne Figert, PhD and Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: tolson9@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: Measuring Collective Efficacy and its Relationship to Urban Green Spaces
John Henry Sienkiewicz III
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: jsienkiewicz1@luc.edu
Research Interests: Precarious Labor; Sociology of Organizations; Social Movements
Dissertation Title: Grassroots on Asphalt: An Examination of Uber Drivers and Gig Worker Organizing
Julie Szamocki
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: jszamocki@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: Mapping Motivations: Analyzing Individual Anti-Gun Violence Activist Participation in Chicago
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: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: lwatland@luc.edu
Research Interests: Gender & Sexuality; LGBTQ; Sociology of Higher Education; Sociology of Violence; Policy Studies
Dissertation Title: A Phenomenological Study of Meaning Making in University Faculty Regarding Role Expectations in Response to Student Crises
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
Fatema Zohara
Advisor: Rhys Williams, PhD
Email: fzohara@luc.edu
Research Interests: International Migration, Race & Ethnicity; Sociology of Religion
Dissertation Title: Dating and Courtship Processes among Muslim Bangladeshi North Americans: Navigating Space and Social Identities
PhD Students
Betsi Burns
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: bburns4@luc.edu
Ahmet Ciftcioglu
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: aciftcioglu@luc.edu
Research Interests: Social Movements; Sociology of Religion; Critical Muslim Studies; Comparative and Historical Sociology; Neoliberalism
Dikshya Dahal
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ddahal@luc.edu
Research Interests: Environmental Sociology; Environmental Justice; Urban Sociology; Organizational Sociology; Social Organization of Philanthropy; Qualitative Methods; Asia and Asian Americans
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
Abu Said Juel Miah
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Research Interests:
Email: ajuelmiah@luc.edu
Travis Moody
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Research Interests: Race & Ethnicity
Email: tmoody1@luc.edu
Camillus Njoku
Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: onjoku@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: The Role of Religion in Illness Meaning and Coping among Sub-Saharan African Christian Immigrants (SSACIs) in the US
Kajal Patel
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD and Minwoo Jung, PhD
Email: kpatel54@luc.edu
Research Interests: race/ethnicity with a focus on the South Asian population; sex/gender; digital media; qualitative methods
Lillian Platten
Advisor: Judson G. Everitt, PhD
Email: lplatten@luc.edu
Research Interests: Organizational Theory; Sociology of Education; Socialization; Social Psychology; Social Policy
Master's Thesis: "You can prepare people for harm without exposing them to small doses of it": Institutionalism, Peer Culture, and Cultural Reproduction in Active Shooter Drills
Mamitiana (Jenny) Rakotoarisoa
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: mrakotoarisoa@luc.edu
Richard Rodriguez
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rrodriguez7@luc.edu
Madelyn Shoemaker
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD.
Email: mshoemaker2@luc.edu
Dissertation Title: A Mixed-Methods Case Study of Gender Understandings Among Evangelicals
Sarah Thorngate
Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: sthorngate@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Education; Cultural Sociology; Race and Class Inequalities in Higher Education; Sociology of Information
Eyyup Yilmaz
Advisor: Patrick Gilger, SJ, PhD
Email: eyilmaz@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion & Islam; Political Sociology; Social Theory; Historical Sociology
MA Students
Raymond Akumbilim
Advisor: Cristian Paredes, PhD
Email: rakumbilim@luc.edu
Research Interests: Race and Ethnicity; Sociology of Religion
Emily Cynthia Hart
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ehart9@luc.edu
Research Interests: Social policy; political sociology; demography; consumer culture
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
Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: pjackson8@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality; Qualitative Methods
Thesis Title: A Qualitative Analysis of Gender and Power in Bars and Clubs
Jacob Pritchard
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jpritchard1@luc.edu
S Khadija Quadri
Email: squadri3@luc.edu
Jasmine Saunders
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jsaunders2@luc.edu
Research Interests: Community and Urban Sociology; Policy Studies; Environmental Sociology; Social Demography; Political Sociology; Social Change
Jonathan Savidge
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jsavidge@luc.edu
Robert Stevenson
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rstevenson2@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion; American Evangelicalism; Quantitative Methods
Max Xu
Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: mxu9@luc.edu
Research Interests: Race and Ethnicity; Mental Health; Chinese Diaspora; Qualitative Methods
Sabina Zabarte
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: szabarte@luc.edu
Research Interests: Sociology of Globalization; Sociology of Religion; Historical Sociology; Application of Sociology within the Sphere of Social Work
BA/MA Students
Gracie Frank
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: gcohen@luc.edu
Anton Jahn-Vavrus
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ajahnvavrus@luc.edu
Kaitlin Jones
Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
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