Alumni, Theses, and Dissertations

PhD Students

Eliza Thor (Ph.D 2024)

"It's Profound to be Understood": Negotiations of Household Labor in Trans Families

Committee: Emily Kazyak (Chair), G. Robin Gauthier (Co-Chair), Kelsy Burke, Kimberly Tyler, Kathryn Holland

 

Maika Tuala (Ph.D 2024)

Cultivating Academic Achievement: An Updated Social Psychological Explanation

Committee: Regina Werum (Chair), Christina Falci, Wayne Babchuk, Mary Zeleny

 

Jamy Rentschler (Ph.D 2023)

Attitudes Towards Public Basic Needs Programs: An Analysis of Question Order Effect, Period and Cohort Changes, and Differences Across Religious Traditions

Committee: Philip Schwadel (Chair), Jolene Smyth, Julia McQuillan, James Bovaird

 
Angela Adler (Ph.D 2023)

Traumatic Brain Injury and Romantic Relationships: Stigma Experiences and Improving Romantic Relationship Quality

Committee: Christina Falci (Chair), Lisa Kort-Butler, Lory Dance, Sarah Zuckerman

 

Grace Kelly (Ph.D 2023)
A Case for Friendship: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Close Friendships in Adulthood

Committee: Robin Gauthier (Chair), Julia McQuillan (Co-Chair), Emily Kazyak, Kelsy Burke

 

Angelica Phillips (Ph.D 2023)

Coverage Error Properties of Smartphone and Smartphone Operating System Ownership on Web Surveys: A Total Survey Error Perspective

Committee: Kristen Olson (Chair), Jolene Smyth, Julia McQuillan, Andre Maciel

 

Maia Behrendt (Ph.D 2023)

Creating Community and Dismantling Settler Colonialism: Indigenous Women’s Art

Committee: Kelsy Burke (Chair), Julia McQuillan, Lory Dance, Patrick Jones (Outside Member)

First Position: Assistant Professor (St. Norbert College)

 

Rosalind Kichler (Ph.D 2023)

Old, Gray, and Gay: Lesbian Aging and Identity

Committee: Emily Kazyak (Chair), Kelsy Burke, Lory Dance, Loukia Sarroub (Outside Member)

First Position: Assistant Teaching Professor (University of Washington)

 

Josey VanOrsdale (Ph.D 2023)

Adaptive Respondent Driven Sampling of Social Networks: A Simulation-Based Study Using Machine Learning

Committee: Bilal Khan (Co-Chair), Jolene Smyth (Co-Chair), Julia McQuillan, Kimberly Tyler, Shruti Bolman (Outside Member)

 

Marissa Oliver (Ph.D 2022)

Ethnic/Racial Socialization about Race, Racism, and Policing among Black and African American Families in the United States

Committee: Emily Kazyak (Chair), Robin Gauthier, Lisa-Kort Butler, and Jordan Soliz

First Position: Quantitative Research Associate II (Fors Marsh Group)

 

Andrea Johnson (Ph.D 2022)

Are Counselors Enough? Supporting Students' Mental Health in Nebraska Public Schools

Committee: Kristen Olson and Regina Werum (Co-Chairs), Kelsy Burke, and Wayne Babchuk

First Position: Honors Program Director/Sociology Professor (Doane University)

 

Jaala Robinson (Ph.D. 2021)

Housework: Socialization Influences on Individual Performance, Couple Division of Labor and Mental Health

Committee: Christina Falci and Jeffrey Smith (Co-Chairs), Lisa Kort-Butler and Ann Mari May

Current Position: Management Analyst for Sacred Heart Community Service

 

Alice MillerMacPhee (Ph.D. 2021)

Immigration Advocacy in the Midwest: Organizations in Coalition and Contention

Committee: Kelsy Burke (Chair), Lory Dance, Kirk Dombrowski, and Patrick Jones

Current Position: UX Researcher for Adobe

 

Sela Harcey (Ph.D. 2021)

Measuring Social Integration: Linking Personal and Associational Ties in Ego Networks
 

Committee: Jeffrey Smith (Chair), Kristen Olson, Robin Gauthier, and Daizaburo Shizuka

Current Position: Senior Researcher at Fors Marsh

First Position: Quantitative Researcher, Fors Marsh Group

 

Trenton M. Haltom (Ph.D. 2021)

Cover Guys: Masculinity, Sexuality, and Representations of Men's Bodies in Popular Magazines for Men

Committee: Kristen Olson and Kelsy Burke (Co-Chairs), Christina Falci, Emily Kazyak, and Casey Kelly

First Position: Qualitative Methodologist, Methodology & Statistics Core, Center for Innovation in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuEST), Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center; Research Associate in Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

 

Jerry Timbrook (Ph.D 2020)

Using Recurrent Neural Networks to Code Interviewer Question-Asking Behaviors: A Proof of Concept

Committee: Kristen Olson (Chair), Jolene Smyth, Robin Gauthier, Leen-kiat Soh, and Adam Eck

First Position: Survey Methodologist, RTI International, Durham, NC

 

Shawn Ratcliff (Ph.D. 2020)

The Relationship between State-Level Dynamics, Firearm Policies, and County-Level Homicides

Committee: Phil Schwadel and Regina Werum (Co-Chairs), Kristen Olson, Tara Warner, and Amanda Gailey

First Position: Survey Scientist, U.S. Census Bureau, Kansas City, MO

 

Joseph Jochman (Ph.D. 2020)

Do Unto Others’: Religiosity and Bullying in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

Committee: Jacob Cheadle and Philip Schwadel (Co-Chairs), Tara Warner and Sue Swearer

Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of North Dakota

First Position: Post-Doc at University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Sociology

 

Jennifer Andersen (Ph.D. 2020)

How does the social world shape the experience of a rare disease? Social position and the development, progression, and medical care for people with ALS

Committee: Julia McQuillan, Lisa Kort-Butler, Kristen Olson, David Warner, and Angela Palmer-Wackerly

First Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest in Fayetteville, AR

 

Ian Duncan (Ph.D. 2019)

An Examination of Capital in a Network of People Who Inject Drugs

Committee: Kirk Dombrowski (Chair), Bilal Khan, Jeff Smith, and Nichols Guenzel

Current Position: Applied Underwriters

 

Colleen Ray (Ph.D. 2019)

Correlates of the Reporting of and Arrests for Sexually-Based Offenses and Domestic Violence Incidents

Committee: Kristen Olson and Kimberly Tyler (Co-chairs), Amy Anderson, and Lisa Kort-Butler

Current Position: Behavorial Scientist at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

First Position: Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow at CDC in the Divion of Violence Prevention

Research Interest: In my position I will be working on projects related to the prevention of sexual and domestic violence. Primarily I will work on two projects, one about child sexual abuse in youth serving organizations, and one about disrupting the cycle of domestic violence.

 

Brandi Woodell (Ph.D. 2018)

Health in Rural Communities: Variation in Resource Utilization by Sexual Orientation and Gender

Current position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Old Dominion University.

First position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Old Dominion University

Research interests: Dr. Woodell’s research explores how social factors interact to create and reinforce social inequality. Specifically, her research examines the disparities between sexual minorities and heterosexuals within social contexts like religion, family, and health.

 

Jerreed Ivanich (Ph.D. 2018)

Understanding Mental and Behavioral Health of American Indian Youth and Application of the Social Convoy Model.

Current position: Assistant Professor at the Colorado School of Public Health

First position: Post doc, John Hopkins University

Research interests: The focal point of Jerreed's research interest centers on racial disparities, primarily American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) populations.

 

Lorri Merchant (Ph.D. 2018)

Stress, The Religious Coping Resources of Meaning Making, Forgiveness, and Divine Reliance and the Mental Health of Seventh-Day Adventists

Current position: Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, TN, faculty

First position: Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, TN, faculty

 

Raeda Anderson (Ph.D. 2018)

Disabled and Out? Social Interaction Barriers and Mental Health among Older Adults with Physical Disabilities

Current position: Research Scientist at the Shepherd Center

First position: Assistant Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University

Research interests: Dr. Anderson’s research interests include survey implementation and biopsychosocial analysis of physical disability.

 

Dogan Hatun (Ph.D. 2018)

Disentangling the Roles of Modernization and Secularization on Fertility: The Case of Turkey

Current position: Usak University / Turkey

First position: The Ministry of Education of Turkey

Research interests: Family, Fertility, and Religion

 

Stacy Tiemeyer (Ph.D. 2018)

Examining Retrospective Measurement of Ambivalence About First Births and Psychological Well-Being Using A Hybrid Cross-Survey Multiple Imputation Approach

Current position: Research Coordinator at University of Arkansas for Medical Services

First position: Research scientist Oklahoma State University

Research interests: My recent research focuses on the interrelationships between social structures, cognitive processes, and behaviors, with a particular focus on maternal and child health.

 

Nathan Palmer (Ph.D. 2018)

Measuring the Sociological Imagination via Undergraduate Explanations of Social Inequality

Current position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Georgia Southern University

First position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Georgia Southern University

Research interests: I research how people explain human behavior and social phenomena. This agenda has two broad focuses: 1. How people explain social inequality. 2. How sociologist's explanations of human behavior and social phenomena differs from the explanations of non-sociologists. This second focus leads me to do research on sociology as a discipline and how sociologists develop from novices to experts.

 

Patrick Habecker (Ph.D. 2017)

Who Do You Know: Improving and Exploring the Network Scale-Up Method

Current position: Research Assistant Professor and Longitudinal Networks Co-Director

First position: Post doc in the Research, Evaluation and Analysis for Community Health (REACH) Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Research interests: Dr. Habecker specializes in survey research and methodology, network analysis, simulation, and quantitative analysis. He oversees graduate student research on projects from Puerto Rico and Alaska, as well as pursuing his own network science-related research here in Nebraska.

 

Lesa Johnson (Ph.D. 2016)

NETWORK SUPPORT VARIATION FOR BLACK WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES: A MOBILITY STUDY OF IMMIGRANT AND NON-IMMIGRANT BLACK WOMEN

Current position: Associate Professor, University of Illinois - Springfield

First position: Assistant Professor, University of California- Chico

Research interests: Dr. Johnson has conducted research on the social support and mental health of Black American and Black Caribbean women by socioeconomic status, on the social support and economic mobility prospects of Black American and South Sudanese women in the U.S., and on the social justice initiatives of university students from marginalized backgrounds at a predominately-white institution (PWI). Currently, she conducts participatory action research with two marginalized communities in Chico and surrounding areas.

 

Laura Simon (Ph.D. 2016)

Sex Across the Life Course: An Examination of Social Influences on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Associations between Sexual Behavior Patterns and Young Adult Health

Current position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Mercer University

First position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Mercer University

Research interests: My dissertation work examined the associations between life course sexual partnerships and mental and physical health outcomes. In this work, I studied the complexities of both adolescent and emerging adulthood sexual patterns and the implications for young adult health. My current research remains centered on the examination of health across the life course and associated risk trajectories. I believe it is important to take a life course approach in the study of the health in order to inform policy and community-based programming that can improve health and well-being for individuals from a variety of backgrounds.

 

Dane Hautala (Ph.D. 2016)

Three Studies Examining the Mechanisms Linking Stress Exposure to Delinquency and Substance Use among North American Indigenous Adolescents

Current position: Assistant Scientist, John Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health

First position: Post Doc, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus

 

Lina Stover (Ph.D. 2016)

Latino/a students maneuvering through the admissions and retention systems

Current position: UNO Associate director of Admissions

First position: UNO Associate director of Admissions

Research interests: Education/stratification/race and ethnicity

 

Scott Adams (Ph.D. 2015)

Examining the Interplay Between Spousal and Non-Spousal Social Support and Strain on Trajectories of Functional Limitations among Married Older Adults

Current position: Northwestern Mutual

First position: Data Scientist at Nielsen, Chicago, IL

 

Rachel M. Schmitz (Ph.D. 2015)

On The Street and On Campus: A Comparison of Life Course Trajectories Among Homeless and College Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Young Adults

Current position: Associate Professor of Sociology, Oklahoma State University

First position: Assistant Professor, University of Texas Rio Grand Valley

Research interests: Dr. Schmitz’s work examines nuanced aspects of intersecting social inequalities within the realms of gender, sexuality, social class, and family using primarily qualitative methods, with complementary work using quantitative techniques. Currently, she is conducting a qualitative interview study that examines LGBTQ Latinx young people’s subjective interpretations of health within dominant societal frameworks that emphasize the risks they face.

 

Megumi Watanabe (Ph.D. 2015)

Faculty Parental Status: An Investigation of Network Homophily, Marginalization, and Supportive Work-Family Academic Culture,

Current position: Associate Professor in the Office of University Strategy at Hiroshima University; Hiroshima, Japan

First position: Position in Hiroshima, Japan University Education

 

Deadric Williams (Ph.D. 2015)

CONTEXTUALIZING COUPLES: THREE ESSAYS ON INEQUALITY, STRESS, AND DYADIC FUNCTIONING AS A LONGITUDINAL AND RECIPROCAL PROCESS

Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee Knoxville; Knoxville, TN

First position: Post Doctorate University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Research interests: My research focuses on the intersections of families, health, and inequality. More specifically, I am a quantitative sociologist with research interests in the consequences of stress for health and health risk behaviors within families and among peer groups. My work emphasizes three general themes: reciprocity between stress and relationship health in couple dyads; stress exposure and mental (and physical) health outcomes; and, health risk behaviors.

 

Alian Kasabian (Ph.D. 2015)

Capturing the Gendiverse: A Test of the Gender Self-Perception Scale, with Implications for Survey Data and Labor Market Measures

Current position: Director of MERC and ORED's Research Data and Security Liaison

First position: Evaluation Project Manager, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Research interests: My research focus is on gender and survey methodology – particularly data quality. My training is in gender and research methods, with a minor in survey methodology, and the majority of my work focuses on the measurement of sex and gender in surveys

 

Anna Bellatorre (Ph.D. 2014)

WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW CAN HURT YOU: EARLY LIFE COURSE RACIAL HEALTH DISPARITIES IN UNDIAGNOSED DIABETES

Current position: Assistant Director of Data Operations for the Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity & Diabetes Center

First position: Postdoctoral Researcher, National Institutes of Health, Washington, D.C.

Research interests: Medical Sociology, Quantitative Methodology, Biosociology, Survey Research and Methodology

 

Keri Gentzler (Ph.D. 2014)

A Stress Process Model of Arrest among Homeless Women: Exploring Risk and Protective Factors

Current position: Assistant Professor; Doane College, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Crete, NE

First position: Associate Professor; Doane College, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Crete, NE

 

Kayla Pritchard (Ph.D. 2013)

Multiple Motherhoods: An Examination of Mother Status on Life Satisfaction and Psychological Distress

Current position: Associate Professor; South Dakota School of Mines, Department of Social Sciences; Rapid City, SD

 

Grant Tietjen (Ph.D. 2013)

Exploring Educational Pathways: Reintegration of the Formerly Incarcerated through the Academy

Current position: Associate Professor; University of Washington Tacoma, School of Social Work and Criminal Justice; Tacoma, WA