As a Turlock native and first-generation college student, I developed a lifetime love of learning here in the central valley schools including several years attending Modesto Junior College and a year at CSU Stanislaus. I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology at UC Santa Cruz and a M.A. and PhD. In Sociology at UCLA.  I came back to Turlock to serve as a tenure track faculty in Sociology at CSU Stanislaus.  Returning to my roots to teach and research in the Central Valley has allowed me to pay forward the wonderful mentoring that was given to me when I attended CSU Stanislaus.  The CSU Stanislaus sociology department has some of the most creative, smart and diverse students, faculty, and staff I have had the pleasure to work with.  

My areas of sociological expertise include qualitative methods, family, gender, and intimate relationships.   More recently, my research has explored size discrimination and fat athletes.   I teach predominately upper division core sociology theory and research methods courses but also occasionally teach other specialized courses such as: the Family, Gender and Power and Thin and Fat: The Sociology of Eating Disorders.  

When I am not working, I am probably bragging about my two talented and smart children on social media, painting, thrifting, volunteering at the local animal shelter, and trying hard not to take home any additional animals from the shelter.  

  • Ph.D. Sociology, UCLA, 2002
  • M.A. Sociology, UCLA, 1994
  • B.A. Sociology, UC Santa Cruz, 1992

  • Intimate Relationships
  • Weddings
  • Gender
  • Family
  • Qualitative Methods

  • Classical Theory
  • Contemporary Theory
  • The Family
  • Hunger and Poverty
  • Thin and Fat: The Sociology of Eating Disorders
  • Gender and Power
  • Research Methods
  • Reserch Analysis
  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Social Change
  • Sociology of Mental Health

  • Pacific Sociological Assocation
  • American Sociological Association
  • California Faculty Association