Faculty

Michael Sauder, Ph.D.

Department Chair
Professor

Michael Sauder is Chair and Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Iowa, specializing in the sociology of organizations, theory, culture, and inequality.

Mark Berg, Ph.D.

Professor and Collegiate Scholar
Interim Director, Public Policy Center

mark-berg@uiowa.edu

319-335-2495

Professor Mark Berg’s primary research and teaching interests include criminology and the social determinants of health. His recent research examines interpersonal disputes, the developmental pathways of antisocial behavior, and the life-course determinants of physical health and well-being.

Alison Bianchi , Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Director of the Center for the Study of Group Processes

alison-bianchi@uiowa.edu

319-335-2512

Alison Bianchi is a structural social psychologist who specializes in group processes and in nomothetic theory construction and its concomitant quantitative methodology.

Stephanie DiPietro, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

stephanie-dipietro@uiowa.edu

319-467-4520

Dr. DiPietro has been engaged in an ethnographic study of Bosnian refugees and nationals who experienced the Bosnian war and genocide (1992-1995) in early childhood.

Jennifer Glanville, Ph.D.

Professor

jennifer-glanville@uiowa.edu

319-335-2498

Jennifer Glanville’s recent and ongoing research contributes to two main lines of inquiry: (1) the consequences of social capital (social connections that enhance the capacity of individuals and communities to achieve goals) and (2) the sources of generalized trust (trust in strangers).

Sarah Harkness, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

sarah-harkness@uiowa.edu

319-335-2485

Sarah Harkness's work centers on the social psychology of inequality, specifically related to the study of status, morality, health stigma, and intersectionality.

Jennifer Haylett, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Instruction
Director of Undergraduate Studies - Sociology

jennifer-haylett@uiowa.edu

319-335-2902

Jennifer Haylett conducts research and teaches in the areas of gender, family, medical sociology, sociology of reproduction, economic sociology, and qualitative research methods.

Karen Heimer, Ph.D.

Professor
Collegiate Fellow

karen-heimer@uiowa.edu

319-335-2488

Karen Heimer is Professor of Sociology & Criminology, Collegiate Fellow in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Public Policy Center at the University of Iowa. She also holds a courtesy appointment in the Boyd College of Law.

Steve Hitlin, Ph.D.

Professor

steven-hitlin@uiowa.edu

319-335-2499

Steve Hitlin's interests include social psychology, self and identity, values, morality, social theory, and gender.

Michael Lovaglia, Ph.D.

Professor

michael-lovaglia@uiowa.edu

319-335-2494

Michael Lovaglia's interests include social psychology, especially power and status processes, the reciprocal effects of evolution and physiology on social behavior, social factors that affect academic performance, theory construction, and the sociology of science.

Freda Lynn, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Studies

freda-lynn@uiowa.edu

319-335-3745

Freda B. Lynn is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Iowa and a faculty affiliate of Iowa’s Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Informatics.

Mary Noonan, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

mary-noonan@uiowa.edu

319-335-2490

Mary Noonan's research interests include gender, work, family, and quantitative research methods.

Amber Powell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

amber-powell@uiowa.edu

319-467-3034

Amber Joy Powell received her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Minnesota in 2022. Her research examines the intersections of gendered racialized violence, law, and the carceral state.

Victor Ray, Ph.D.

F. Wendell Miller Associate Professor

victor-ray@uiowa.edu

319-467-1703

Victor Ray’s research applies critical race theory to classic sociological questions. He is currently working on two book manuscripts: a project focused on race and organizational theory and an edited volume (co-edited with Jennifer Mueller) on race and sociological theory writ large.

Meghan Rogers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

meghan-rogers@uiowa.edu

319-467-4513

Meghan Rogers is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology and Criminology Department at the University of Iowa.

Michaela Ruppert, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Instruction
Director of Undergraduate Studies - Criminology

michaela-mcgivern@uiowa.edu

319-335-2505

Michaela Ruppert is a criminologist whose teaching and research interests include delinquency, justice, and criminal punishment.

Louise Seamster, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

louise-seamster@uiowa.edu

319-467-1704

Louise Seamster is an Assistant Professor in Sociology and Criminology and African American Studies at the University of Iowa.

Yongren Shi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

yongren-shi@uiowa.edu

319-467-0645

Yongren Shi is a computational sociologist working in the areas of social networks, organizations, social psychology, and culture. He is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Iowa.

Ion "Bodi" Vasi, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

ion-vasi@uiowa.edu

319-335-2484

Bogdan Vasi's research focuses primarily on how social movements contribute to the diffusion of technological innovations, organizational change, and policymaking.

James Wo, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

james-wo@uiowa.edu

319-467-0056

James Wo’s research and teaching interests are in criminology, collective mobilization and social action, research methods and statistics, and urban sociology with an emphasis on neighborhoods and crime.

Marina Zaloznaya, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Director of the European Studies Group

marina-zaloznaya@uiowa.edu

319-335-3793

Marina Zaloznaya joined the Sociology faculty at the University of Iowa in 2012, after she received a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University.