People

Faculty
Core Faculty

Alyssa Alexander

Alyssa Alexander

Lecturer

location_onAnSo-2220
Alyssa Alexander (PhD, North Carolina State University) is a Lecturer at the University of British Columbia’s Sociology Department. Her research focuses on care work and inequality, the relationship between family structure and child/youth outcomes and military families.

Amanda Cheong

Amanda Cheong

Assistant Professor

location_onAnSo-1318
Amanda Cheong (PhD, Princeton University) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She studies how legal status and documentation shape people's lives, working primarily with stateless, undocumented, and refugee communities in Southeast Asia and North America.

Amin Ghaziani

Amin Ghaziani

Professor | Canada Research Chair in Urban Sexualities

phone604 822 2268
location_onAnSo 2325
Amin Ghaziani (PhD, Northwestern University) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on urban sexualities and elevating the status of sexuality as a centrepoint for thought.

Amy Hanser

Amy Hanser

Associate Professor

phone604 827 3135
location_onAnSo-1319
Amy Hanser (PhD, University of California-Berkeley) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Hanser’s research spans numerous subfields of sociology, from the sociology of work, gender, consumer culture and markets to service work in reform-era China, the regulation of street commerce in China cities, and contemporary street food scenes in North America. Current research includes a study of immigrant Chinese women’s experiences with childbirth and postpartum recovery in Canada, and a new study of public transit and people’s experiences riding the public bus....Read more

Andrew Jorgenson

Andrew Jorgenson

Professor

phone604 822 6683
location_onANSO 3108
Andrew Jorgenson is a Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of the Climate & Society Lab at the UBC. As a macrosociologist working in the areas of environmental sociology and global political economy, he conducts research on the human dimensions of global and regional environmental change, with a primary focus on the societal causes and consequences of the climate crisis....Read more

Anna Dawczyk

Anna Dawczyk

Lecturer

location_onAnSo-1320
Anna Dawczyk (PhD, University of Guelph) is a Lecturer at the Sociology Department in the University of British Columbia. Her research involves enhancing problem gambling interventions to reduce the negative impact of problem gambling on individuals and their families.

Anne Martin-Matthews

Anne Martin-Matthews

Professor

phone604 822 2574
location_onAnSo-3129
Anne Martin-Matthews (PhD, McMaster University) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the provision of health and social care to elderly people, and Finland-Canada comparisons of issues of formal and informal care.

Aryan Karimi

Aryan Karimi

Assistant Professor

Aryan Karimi (PhD, University of Alberta) is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia.

Carrie Yodanis

Carrie Yodanis

Associate Professor

phone604 822 3185
location_onAnSo-3113
Carrie Yodaniss (PhD, University of New Hampshire) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research previously focused on marriage, with a current shift towards the sociology of arts. She is currently working on a project on the social meaning of jewelry.

Catherine Corrigall-Brown

Catherine Corrigall-Brown

Professor and Department Head

location_onANSO-2115
Catherine Corrigall-Brown (PhD, University of California-Irvine) is a Professor and head of the Sociology Department at the University of British Columbia. Her research bridges the subfields of social movements, political sociology, and social psychology – particularly the study of identity.

Chelsea Freeborn

Chelsea Freeborn

Lecturer

location_onANSO 2213

Research Area

Family Studies
Chelsea Freeborn (PhD, University of Alberta) is a Lecturer at the Sociology Department in the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on human ecology, academic decolonization, and family experiences with early learning and child care.

Research Area

Family Studies

Clayton Childress

Clayton Childress

Associate Professor

Clayton Childress is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on topics related to taste-, decision-, and meaning-making.

David Tindall

David Tindall

Professor

phone604 822 2363
location_onAnSo-1317
David Tindall (PhD, University of Toronto) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on contention over environmental issues, with a particular emphasis on environmental movements in British Columbia.

Elic Chan

Elic Chan

Lecturer

location_onANSO-3127
Elic Chan (PhD, University of Toronto) is a Lecturer at the Sociology Department at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the social and economic integration of Asian Canadians and their experiences across Canadian cities.

Elizabeth Hirsh

Elizabeth Hirsh

Professor

phone604-822-1934
location_onAnSo-2204
Elizabeth Hirsh (PhD, University of Washington) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on examining how people identify discrimination on the job, what leads to legal file claims and whether legal intervention and diversity policies reduce discrimination....Read more

Emily Huddart Kennedy

Emily Huddart Kennedy

Associate Professor and Associate Head

phone604 822 1184
location_onANSO 1313
Emily Huddart Kennedy (PhD, University of Alberta) is an Associate Head and Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research explores the motivations behind civic engagement aiming to protect the environment, and how pro-environmental practices reflect and reproduce social differences....Read more

Ethan Raker

Ethan Raker

Assistant Professor

location_onAnSo-2318
Ethan Raker (PhD, Harvard University) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the relationship between climate change and inequalities in human health and community wellbeing.

Gerry Veenstra

Gerry Veenstra

he/his/him

Professor

location_onANSO 1321

Research Area

Sociology of Health
Gerry Veenstra (PhD, McMaster University) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on how social class and racial/ethnic identity are associated with physical and mental health.

Research Area

Sociology of Health

Guy Stecklov

Guy Stecklov

Professor

phone604 822 2660
location_onANSO-2218
Guy Stecklov (PhD, University of California-Berkeley) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the relationship between inequality and an array of social and demographic outcomes.

Jennifer Berdahl

Jennifer Berdahl

Professor

phone604 827 2759
location_onANSO 2212
Jennifer Berdahl (PhD, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the social psychology of gender and power at work, specializing in the relationship between organizational culture and sexual harassment.

Katherine Lyon

Katherine Lyon

Assistant Professor of Teaching

location_onAnSo-2303
Katherine Lyon (PhD, University of British Columbia) is Assistant Professor of Teaching with UBC Sociology. Her research focuses on the sociology of education and scholarship of teaching and learning.

Kathy Greaves

Kathy Greaves

Lecturer

location_onAnSo-1323
Kathy Greaves (PhD, Oregon State University) is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of British Columbia.

Kerry Greer

Kerry Greer

Associate Professor of Teaching

phone604-827-0668
location_onAnSo-3101
Kerry Greer (PhD, Indiana University), is an Associate Professor of Teaching at the University of British Columbia’s Sociology Department. Her work within the department focuses on developing ways of increasing experiential learning and supporting students as they transition to university.

Kimberly Huyser

Kimberly Huyser

Associate Professor

location_onAnSo-3115
Kimberly Huyser (PhD, University of Texas, Austin) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. An enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, her research focuses on combining medical sociology and the sociology of race and ethnicity.

Laura Nelson

Laura Nelson

Assistant Professor

location_onANSO-1314
Laura Nelson (PhD, University of California-Berkeley) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her current research seeks to examine intersectional in US women’s movements, news media coverage of social movements and gender equality in STEM related fields.

Lindsey Richardson

Lindsey Richardson

Associate Professor

phone604-827-5511
location_onAnSo-3125

Research Area

Sociology of Health
Lindsey Richardson (PhD, University of Oxford) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the health consequences of poverty and marginalization, and the upstream determinants of health.

Research Area

Sociology of Health

Nathanael Lauster

Nathanael Lauster

Associate Professor

phone604 827 3083
location_onAnSo-1325
Nathanael Lauster (PhD, Brown University) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on housing, urbanity and immigaration. He is currently the Principle Investigator of the Metro Vancouver Zoning Project.

Neda Maghbouleh

Neda Maghbouleh

Associate Professor

Neda Maghbouleh is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She has provided expertise on race and ethnicity categories to organizations like the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Medical Association, and the Spencer Foundation.

Neil Armitage

Neil Armitage

Lecturer

phone604-822-2632
location_onANSO-123

Research Area

Family Studies
Neil Armitage (PhD, University of Manchester) is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His current research focuses on student-led pedagogy, youth transitions and the sociology of sport.

Research Area

Family Studies

Oral Robinson

Oral Robinson

Lecturer | Honours Chair

location_onAnSo-2323
Oral Robinson (PhD, University of Saskatchewan) is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on intercultural contact and friendship formation in Canada, and migration and identities in the Caribbean.

Phyllis Johnson

Phyllis Johnson

Associate Professor

phone604 822 4300
location_onAnSo-2122
Phyllis Johnson (PhD, Ohio State University) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the allocation of financial and human resources by families coping with stressful circumstances.

Qiang Fu

Qiang Fu

Associate Professor

location_onAnSo-2123
Qiang Fu (PhD, Duke University) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on social interactions, urban space, Chinese societies, and methods.

Renisa Mawani

Renisa Mawani

Canada Research Chair, Colonial Legal Histories & Professor

phone604 822 6494
location_onAnSo-2315
Renisa Mawani (PhD, University of Toronto) is Canada Research Chair in Colonial Legal Histories (Tier 1) and Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the interface of critical theory and legal history; and the “legalities of nature”, the coalescence of science, law and history....Read more

Rima Wilkes

Rima Wilkes

Professor | Grad Chair

phone604 822 6855
location_onAnSo-1309
Rima Wilkes (PhD, University of Toronto) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the persistence of racial and ethnic inequality despite the fall in overt racism in Western societies.

Sean Lauer

Sean Lauer

Professor

phone604 822 1609
location_onAnSo-3111
Sean Lauer is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His current projects focus on social infrastructure and friendship in complex, diverse contexts.

Seth Abrutyn

Seth Abrutyn

Associate Professor

phone604-822-3845
location_onANSO-2216

Research Area

Sociology of Health
Seth Abrutyn (PhD, University of California-Riverside) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His current research seeks to explain why and how some places, such as a high school, are sites of enduring suicide problems when others that look similar are not.

Research Area

Sociology of Health

Silvia Bartolic

Silvia Bartolic

Undergraduate Chair | Associate Professor of Teaching

phone604 827 0684
location_onAnSo-1315
Silvia Bartolic (PhD, University of Texas, Austin) is an Associate Professor of Teaching at the University of British Columbia’s Sociology Department. Her research focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Sylvia Fuller

Sylvia Fuller

Professor

phone604 822 4837
location_onAnSo-2321
Sylvia Fuller (PhD, Rutgers University) is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on understanding how entrenched patterns of inequality in the labor market develop and erode, and the implications of changing employment relations for workers.

Tony Silva

Tony Silva

Assistant Professor

location_onANSO-2320
Tony Silva (PhD, University of Oregon) is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His reach focuses on gender, sexuality, family and rural sociology through national representative surveys and qualitative interviews.

Yue Qian

Yue Qian

She/Her

Associate Professor

phone604-822-9972
location_onANSO-122
Yue Qian (PhD, Ohio State University) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on gender, family and work, and inequality.
Emeritus

Becki Ross

Becki Ross

Professor | Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice

phone604 822 4389
location_onAnso-3119
Becki Ross (PhD, University of Toronto) is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, both in the Department of Sociology and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. Her research focuses on discourses and practices of identities, families, communities and the nation.

David Schweitzer

David Schweitzer

Associate Professor Emeritus

Dawn Currie

Dawn Currie

Professor Emerita

phone604 822 3576
location_onAnSo-3129
Undergraduate Teaching Areas: Women in Comparative Perspective (Anth/Soc 213) Gender Relations (Anth/Soc 312) Women's Studies in the Social Sciences (WMST 322) Qualitative Research Methods (Soc 382) Feminist Theory (Soc 414) An Advanced Research Seminar in Women's Studies in the Social Science...Read more

Gillian Creese

Gillian Creese

Professor | Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice

Gillian Cresse (PhD, Carleton University) is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, both at the Sociology Department and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. Her research focuses on issues of immmigration, settlement, anti-racism and social justice in Canada.

Graham Johnson

Graham Johnson

Professor Emeritus

Early Life I was born in the northern industrial town of Sheffield, England in May 1941. I grew up in my early years in my maternal grandfather’s house in an inner-city location. My grandfather was a labourer in a large steel firm, chipping the impurities out of molten steel. All but one of my ...Read more

James White

James White

Professor Emeritus

Research Area

Family Studies

Research Area

Family Studies

Martha Foschi

Martha Foschi

Professor Emerita

phone604 822 3396
location_onAnSo-3102

Martin Meissner

Martin Meissner

Professor Emeritus

Neil Guppy

Neil Guppy

Professor Emeritus

location_onANSO-126
I am an emeritus professor in Sociology.  I am currently completing a book manuscript, tentatively titled “Canada’s Ongoing Gender Equity Revolution.”  In 2016, I was recognized with an Outstanding Contribution Award from the Canadian Sociological Association. At the same time an article I c...Read more

Ralph Matthews

Ralph Matthews

Professor Emeritus

location_onAnso-2206
Other Affiliations Faculty Associate, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia Faculty Associate, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia Faculty Associate, Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, University of British Columbia Adjunct ...Read more

Robert Ratner

Robert Ratner

Professor Emeritus

Research Interests Critical criminology; social movements; genocide; mediation and restorative justice; deliberative democracy; long-term group interaction.
In Memoriam

Sinikka Elliott

Sinikka Elliott

Associate Professor | In Memoriam

Dr. Sinikka Elliott, dear colleague, friend, mentor, and teacher, was found deceased on May 15, 2021, after going missing on Salt Spring Island, BC. Dr. Elliott had an international reputation as a scholar of family, inequality, and health.  Elliott was an Associate Professor in the Department o...Read more
Postdoc Research Fellows

Nicolas Graham

Nicolas Graham

He/Him

Postdoctoral Fellow

location_onANSO 125
Nicolas Graham is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at UBC Sociology. His research focuses on the political economy of decarbonization and energy transition and seeks to understand the forces and actors enabling and obstructing effective climate action.
Sessional Instructors

Ali Kaveh

Ali Kaveh

he/him

Sessional Instructor

location_onANSO 125
Ali Kaveh is a sessional instructor at the sociology department of the University of British Columbia. He has been teaching undergraduate sociology courses mainly social theories, research methodologies, sociology or gender, migration, ethnicity, and religion since 2010. His recent research focused on migration and identity, diaspora, and transnationalism....Read more

Ana Vivaldi

Ana Vivaldi

Sessional Instructor

location_onAnSo-157
Bio: My interdisciplinary research brings politics of indigeneity and race into inquiries on the production of space, (im)mobilities and embodiment. Through the use of ethnographic and visual methodologies, it clarifies questions surrounding indigenous sovereignties, and emergent forms of urban con...Read more

Brandy Wiebe

Brandy Wiebe

Sessional Lecturer

phone604 822 8621
location_onANSO-156
Dr. Brandy Wiebe has always been excited by the prospect of sharing her academic explorations not only with undergraduate students but also with the broader community. Her concurrent work as a sexuality educator in the community has allowed her to create highly engaging academic learning contexts th...Read more

Chris MacKenzie

Chris MacKenzie

Sessional Instructor

phone604 822 3760
location_onAnSo-149

Craig Meadows

Craig Meadows

Sessional Instructor

Dan Small

Dan Small

Sessional Instructor

location_onANSO-153

Research Area

Sociology of Health
Biographical Statement Dan Small is a medical anthropologist and Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. He has a PhD in medical anthropology (University of British Columbia), an MPhil in circumpolar studies (University of Cambridge), an undergrad...Read more

Research Area

Sociology of Health

David Ryniker

David Ryniker

Sessional Instructor

location_onAnSo-149
Education Ph.D. UBC, 2001

Debra Pentecost

Debra Pentecost

Sessional Instructor

phone604-822-5625-5
location_onAnSo-156
Education Ph.D., 2002, Simon Fraser University M.A., 1989, York University B.A., 1983, Simon Fraser University

Donna Lester-Smith

Donna Lester-Smith

Sessional Instructor

location_onAnSo-3126

Lily Ivanova

Lily Ivanova

PhD Candidate

Lisa Richlen

Lisa Richlen

Sessional Instructor

phone236 838 5644
location_onANSO-124
Lisa Richlen, a Canadian citizen through her mother, is a Seattle native. She lived in Israel from 2000-2021 and, from 2004-2021 worked as an employee of and a consultant for tens of social change and human rights organizations. In 2021, Richlen completed a PhD at Ben Gurion University of the Negev ...Read more

Nathan Vadeboncouer

Nathan Vadeboncouer

Sessional Lecturer

Rafael Wainer

Rafael Wainer

Sessional Instructor

location_onAnSo-157
I am a Doctor in Anthropology with a specialization on medical anthropology. My main interests are biomedical knowledge and practices, especially paediatrics; children’s experience of cancer treatment, end-of-life and palliative care, medical assistance in dying, chronicity and disability, and re...Read more

Stefano Gulmanelli

Stefano Gulmanelli

Sessional Instructor

location_onAnSo-3108
Education Ph.D. in Sociology and International Relations, University of South Australia, 2014 M.A. equivalent in Economic Sciences, Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy, 1984 Scientific Liceum, Liceo Scientifico Maria Luigia, Parma, Italy, 1973-1978   Fields of Interest Stefano’s m...Read more
Visiting Faculty

Suowei Xiao

Suowei Xiao

Visiting Associate Professor

location_onAnSo 125
Suowei Xiao (PhD, University of California-Berkeley) is a Visiting at the Sociology Department at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on gender, family and migration.