Degree & Year in Program
4th year PhD
Advisors
Lisa A. Kort Butler; Kimberly A. Tyler
Areas of Specialization
Health/ Criminology, Qualitative/Quantitative, & Mixed Methods; specifically, individual differences produced by institutional response to mental health, problematic/illicit substance use, and their recoveries; Inequalities within the intersection of public health and criminal justice.
Comprehensive Exam
Health
About me
I am PhD candidate here at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), after completing an MBA with an emphasis in Leadership from Doane University in Crete, Nebraska. Previous employment with the federal government and communal non-profits, in both rural and urban areas, developed my deep interest in approaches treating mental health/substance use needs. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s top methodological foundation in Sociology will assist my desire to improve systemic responses to public health crises.
My work as a teaching assistant and instructor of record, at UNL, has received multiple awards and nominations: Department of Sociology Teaching Award (2021), College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant (2021, nominee), Parents Association & Teaching Council Recognition for Contributions to Students (2020). While I attended UNL to study research methods, and their applications to move policy, teaching has become where I’ve felt my impact the most. My pedological approach permits critical discussions connecting theory to our everyday social observations.
In 2020, I began working as a Research Assistant (RA) for the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center (RDAR). As an RA, my contribution to Dr. Roberto Abadie’s Project “Investigating the Barriers to Rural Opioid Assisted Treatment”, my duties included sample recruitment, qualitative interviewing, and data management. I shifted in 2021, performing qualitative data management, statistical analyses, and contributing to empirical writing for Drs. Jefferey Smith and Robin Gauthier investigation of family conflict and psychological distress before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, I was involved in two more RDAR projects. First, I recruited and administered qualitative surveys for Dr. Kimberly Tyler’s investigation in the use of cell-phone crisis intervention for homeless youth. I continue my involvement in research by volunteering to assist in recruitment and message framing for Dr. Drs. Dennis McChargue and Anna Henson project exploring stigma and reduction in the drinking culture on a college campus, using of avatars in narrating stories of recovery from addiction.
My work explores stigmatizing beliefs, feelings, and attitudes of problematic and illicit substance use. Specifically, how such consequential stigma is addressed and the institutional response’s impact on those suffering. This work has received multiple awards in my time here at the UNL. Currently, I am writing my dissertation work, which explores the contextual factors influencing 12-step participants and mandated drug-court attendees. My experience with qualitative, ethnographic, and mixed methods designs attempts to center the voices of illicit and/or complex substance use, describing individuals and judicial influence of stigmatization and coercion. Additionally in this project, I am attempting to contextualize the actualities of identity, support, resource diffusion, and belonging in a time of rising fatalities in overuse and/or illicit substance users at an epidemic proportion.
Courses Taught
SOCI 101 Introduction to Sociology, Graduate Teaching Assistant & Recitation Instructor
SOCI 252 Health, Medicine, & Society, Instructor of Record
SOCI 320 The Sociology of Sports, Instructor of Record
Select Publications
Preparation for Conference and Manuscript
Kaufman, Ryan. “We weren’t told: Opiate agonist treatment and Benzodiazepines risks among people who use drugs in a Midwest setting”.; submitting Aug 2023
Ryan Kaufman & Dr. Lisa Kort-Butler. “An exploration of 12-step groups, stigma, and social support” ; Midwest Sociological Society Annual Conference, April 2023
Ryan Kaufman & Dr. Lisa Kort-Butler. “Stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs, and policy: Blurring the lines between medicine and justice.”; American Society of Criminologist Annual Meeting 2024;
Other Department/Program Affiliations
Rural Drug Addiction Research Center (RDAR)
UNL Alcohol and Safety Council – A JED Campus Initiative
Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts