Degree & Year in Program
7th year in program/5th year PhD Candidate
Advisor
Areas of Specialization
Sexualities; LGBTQ Identities and Communities; Intersectionality; Gender; Inequalities; Qualitative Methods
About Me
I am a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a graduate specialization in Women and Gender Studies. My research focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified (LGBTQ) people’s identities and communities.
For my dissertation project, “Old, Gray, and Gay: LGBTQ Aging and Identity,” I use life history interviews with nineteen lesbians ages 65 and older to explore how lesbian elders construct and reconstruct their sexual identities over the life course in response to aging and sociocultural changes. My dissertation is supported by the J.J. & Eleanor S. Ogle Fellowship, which provides full support for an outstanding sociology doctoral candidate for one semester.
Another strand of my scholarship explores transgender (trans) identities and communities independent of the larger LGBTQ umbrella. In my publication in the Journal of Homosexuality, “‘What Has Kept Me Alive:’ Transgender Communities and Support,” I use in-depth interviews with transgender people living in “Townsville” to examine the support LGBTQ communities provide to trans members. I earned the Dan Hoyt Graduate Student Publication Award for this article. A related project with Emily Kazyak, Kelsy Burke, and Lora McGraw uses mixed methods to explore the logics Nebraskans use to justify their opinion on transgender bathroom use. Our paper, ““Pee in Peace” or “Make Everyone Uncomfortable”: Public Perceptions of Transgender Rights,” is published in Socius. The final strand of my scholarship examines LGBTQ families. In research with Emily Kazyak, Jess Morrow, and Eliza Thor, I explore intergenerational ambivalence among lesbian, bisexual, and queer women who become parents and their heterosexual parents. Our paper, “Two Mothers, One Grandmother: Intergenerational Ambivalence in Heterosexual Mother-LBQ Daughter Relationship," is published in Sexuality & Culture.
At UNL, I have the pleasure of teaching courses in both Sociology and Women and Gender Studies. In Sociology, I have taught Senior Capstone, Sociological Theory, Gender in Contemporary Society, and Drugs and Society. In Women and Gender Studies, I have taught Introduction to Women and Gender Studies and Introduction to
LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies. My excellence in teaching has been recognized by multiple awards including the Department of Sociology Teaching Award, the Cheryl Applegate Teaching Award, and the Sociology TA Professional Development Award.
For three years, I served as the chair of #unrulysociologists, a graduate student-run group dedicated to public sociology and scholar activism. In 2021, I earned an Honorable Mention Student Luminary Award from UNL in recognition of outstanding leadership and a continued commitment to improving campus community. I am also an active member of Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) and Sociologists 4 Trans Justice (S4TJ). I earned my Master of Arts from the UNL in 2016. Prior to starting at UNL, I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Women and Gender Studies from New College of Florida. I still miss the beach, but I am learning to love seasons. In my spare time I enjoy vegan cooking, supporting local mutual aid, crafting, seeing live music, and taking road trips. I have one cat named Klaus. We like watching Star Trek together.
Courses Taught
As Instructor of Record:
• Sociology Capstone
• Sociological Theory
• Gender and Contemporary Society
• Introduction to Women and Gender Studies
• Introduction to LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies
• Drugs and Society
As Recitation Instructor:
• Introduction to Sociology (Spring 2019; Fall 2016; Spring 2015; Fall 2014)
Select Publications
• Kichler, Rosalind. 2021 (Online ahead of Print). “‘What Has Kept Me Alive:’ Transgender Communities and Support.” Journal of Homosexuality. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2021.1943277
• Kazyak, Emily, Rosalind Kichler, Jess Morrow, and Eliza Thor. 2022. "Two Mothers, One Grandmother: Intergenerational Ambivalence in Heterosexual Mother-LBQ Daughter Relationships" Sexuality & Culture 26: 1639–1658. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-09962-w
• Kazyak, Emily, Kelsy Burke, Rosalind Kichler, and Lora McGraw. 2021. ““Pee in Peace” or “Make Everyone Uncomfortable”: Public Perceptions of Transgender Rights.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F23780231211055541