Social Science PhD Program Alumni

Social Science graduates, now approaching 500 in number, live in all corners of the globe and hold a variety of professional and academic positions. While the majority of graduates hold academic appointments, others work in public agencies, private firms, NGOs and other non-profit organizations as researchers, consultants, administrators and leaders. Shown below are some examples of alumni and their careers.

Social Science Ph.D.'s teach in a diverse array of departmental and interdisciplinary programs. The most common academic positions are in interdisciplinary programs and departments of Sociology or Political Science. However, graduates can also be found in departments of Economics, Communications, Education, International Relations, Anthropology, Geography, History, Public Affairs, Religion, African-American Studies, Women's Studies, Social Work, Conflict Studies and Public Administration, among other fields.

The selection of universities with faculty from the Social Science program is wide and diverse, and includes or has included Colgate University, the University of Aberdeen, Queens University (Belfast), Princeton University, the University of Washington, the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, Dartmouth College, Rutgers University, San Francisco State University, Georgia State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Washington State University, St John Fisher College, the University of Maryland, Northern Illinois University, Howard University, the University of Hong Kong, the Korea Development Institute (Seoul), the Central European University, Cornell University, Salisbury University, Nova Southeastern University, Webster University, the University of Colorado, Kent State University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Michigan, Syracuse University, and various campuses of the State University of New York (Cortland State University, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and the Upstate Medical University of New York).

In addition, Social Science graduates hold or have held important administrative positions in higher education, as well as in non-academic fields and organizations, where they conduct research, formulate and implement policy, lead and administer agencies and programs, and serve as consultants and advisors to officials and organizations. In government, graduates can and could be found working in the U.S. State Department, the New York State Education Department, as the Associate Director of the National Education Goals Panel, as Program Associate for the J.B. Snow Foundation, as Director of the Swedish Gerontology Center. In the private sector they have served, for example, as President of a major corporation providing medical services, as general manager of professional teams in the National Hockey League, as a psychotherapist in private practice, and so on across many fields of achievement. A number of Social Science graduates come from countries outside the United States. Some now work overseas; living and working in Australia, Brazil, England, India, Japan, Thailand, Israel, Korea, South Africa, Indonesia, Bosnia and Turkey among other places. These scholars have served, for example, as the Representative of UNICEF in Brazil, as Professor of Social Science at the University of Tabriz in Iran, as Deputy Secretary of the Economic Division in Malaysia, and as Professor of History at the University of the Philippines. Some examples, in no particular order, of alumni careers follow.

	Donna Shalala Donna Shalala is currently Trustee Professor of Political Science and Health Policy at the University of Miami, and had been President of the Clinton Foundation until March 2017. She also served as the President of the University of Miami from 2001 to 2015.. She previously served as Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration. Before this she was a university professor and then Chancellor of The University of Wisconsin-Madison. University of Miami
	Diane Lyden Murphy Diane Lyden Murphy is Dean of the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and Associate Professor of Social Work at Syracuse University, having earlier held a number of leadership positions in the course of her academic career. Her research relates mainly to gender and women's issues.
	Michael Smith Dr. Smith is a businessman and a leading figure in the field of professional ice hockey. He has held many responsible positions, having served as associate general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs and as general manager for the Winnipeg Jets and later for the Chicago Blackhawks. He has played a leading role in Team USA Hockey, having served several times as the coach and general manager for the team at the IIHF World Hockey Championships. He has authored 11 books related to coaching in hockey. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Maxwell School.
	Jay Moskowitz Jay Moskowitz is Senior Vice-President Emeritus of the American Institutes for Research (AIR). While at AIR he was responsible for the international development program and the education and human development division. He helped to create the Program for International Assessment (PISA) operated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development which compares student outcomes in more than 50 countries. Since retiring and relocating to Mexico he has been active in local civil society and serves as President of Patronato Pro Niños, a charity providing medical and dental services to needy children. Along with his wife, Debe, he sponsors the newly created chair at Maxwell in contemporary Mexico-U.S. relations.
	Colin Irwin Dr. Irwin is Professor in the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland. His dissertation was on the nature of human conflict and how the Inuit developed a culture and society without war. After working for Canadian Native organisations he produced the report Lords of the Arctic: Wards of the State which led to a Royal Commission on the state of Canada’s First People and an Inuit land claim settlement that established the Territory of Nunavut. He was the principal investigator on the 'Peace Building and Public Policy in Northern Ireland' project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. This work is reviewed in his book, The People’s Peace Process in Northern Ireland (2002).
	Ruth E. Dunkle Ruth Dunkle is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Wilbur J. Cohen Collegiate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan. Her research, teaching, and clinical practice focus on gerontology. Recent research projects include "Mothers of Adult Daughters with a Serious Mental Illness: The Experience of African Americans and Whites" and "An Historical Perspective of Social Service Delivery in Detroit in the Twentieth Century." She serves as a project co-director of the National Institute on Aging training program, "Social Research Training on Applied Issues of Aging," with Professor Berit Ingersoll-Dayton.
	Margaret Goertz Margaret Goertz is Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania where she studies state and federal education finance and governance policy. She is a past president of the American Education Finance Association and was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Understanding the Influence of Standards in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education. Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania faculty, she taught at Rutgers University, Princeton University and the College of New Jersey. She has spoken and published extensively on areas of state education reform.
	Seymour Slavin Seymour Slavin is professor emeritus at the University of Louisville, and currently serves as interim director of the Kentucky Labor Institute, a museum of labor and trade union history.
	Joseph E. Zimmerman - zimmer@albany.edu Joseph Zimmerman is professor of political science at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs at SUNY Albany. He is the author of numerous books and journal articles relating to federalism and intergovernmental relations, electoral systems, and public administration. He has served as a consultant in these matters to the United States Government, as well as state and local governments. Curriculum Vitae
	Deborah Alexander Dr. Alexander is a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, recently retiring as a senior policy advisor. She has investigated war crimes in Kosovo and worked towards political reconciliation in the former Yugoslav Republics, among other challenging assignments, including ones in Afganistan and Pakistan. She was a Fulbright Scholar in India, where she interned with Mother Teresa. She is a recipient of the U.S. State Department's Superior Honor Award and the Medal for Exceptional Public Service from the Secretary of Defense.
	Evan Andrews - evandrew@syr.edu My general area of research is subnational political economy. My dissertation examines how electoral rules affect political competition and public spending, using the case of Brazilian municipalities. I also have working papers on local government management of natural resource revenue, and on local-government adoption of own-source tax revenue in a rentier economy.
	Nicholas John Armstrong - narmstro@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Armstrong is the Senior Director of Research and Policy at Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Public Administration and International Affairs. His research interests include organizational issues related to national security policy, focusing on strategic management, U.S. interagency policy-making, and post-conflict reconstruction.
	Maria T. Brown - mbrown08@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Brown is Professor of Practice in the School of Social Work at Syracuse University. A social gerontologist who uses the life course perspective to research the later-life experiences of socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals, women, and racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities, she is also interested in the long-term care experiences of cognitively disabled older adults and their caregivers. A Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellow for 2008-2010, her research interests include the experiences of underserved and underrepresented groups of elderly (racial/ethnic and sexual minorities, the poor and the mentally ill). In 2010, she received the Gerontological Society of America’s Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS) Section Student Research Award at the Dissertation Level. Her work has been published in The Gerontologist, the Journal of Sexuality Research and Social Policy, and the Encyclopedia of Health and Aging.
	Carol Brownstein Evans - cbrownst@brockport.edu Carol Brownstein Evans is Associate Professor of Social Work at Nazareth College and the State University of New York at Brockport. Her research deals with maternal substance abuse and child welfare issues and more generally with women's and children's health, substance abuse, and their interaction with race, class, and gender.
	Brendan T. Casey - Brendan@brendancasey.net Dr. Casey has a private consultancy in media production. His research interests include the social effects of computer-mediated communication, social network analysis in the online community context, the network structure of computer-supported collaborative work, and the role of emergent leadership in ad-hoc virtual teams.
	Ruth A. Charles - rcharles@winona.edu Ruth A. Charles, Professor of Sociology and Social Work, Winona State University. Her primary areas of research and teaching include social welfare reform and student community engagement.
	Changyong Choi - cchoi01@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Choi is currently Assistant Professor at the Korea Development Institute, Seoul, South Korea. His research interests are in market development, democratization, and governance reform in former communist countries. His current work explores the phenomenon of “marketization from the bottom” in North Korea since the mid 1990s and its impact on information flow, behavior and motivation in both the state apparatus and the populace of the country.
	Patrick G. Coy - pcoy@kent.edu Patrick G. Coy is Professor, Center for Applied Conflict Management and Department of Political Science, Kent State University. Most recently, a paper by Professors Coy, Whorley (also an alum) and Maney, Discursive Legacies: The U.S. Peace Movement and 'Support the Troops', Social Problems, 55(2), 2008 received the “Outstanding Published Article of 2008 Award” by the American Sociological Association’s Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict.
	Saheli Datta - sdatta@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Datta's principal research interests are in the areas of Human Rights and International Law. In particular, her research focuses on refugees and human rights in South Asia, looking at the causes of displacement of Rohingya refugees from Burma and exploring possible solutions to the resulting refugee crisis.
	Chris DeMarco Dr. DeMarco is Vice President for Research and Planning at Sage Growth Partners, a health care consulting, technology and marketing firm based in Baltimore, MD.
	Holly A. Dobbins - hadobbin@maxwell.syr.edu In the study of social movements and conflict resolution, I emphasize the role of shared worldviews, life experiences, and the roles of women. My dissertation in progress, Nunavut: A Creation Story. The Inuit Movement and Canada's Newest Territory, addresses how indigenous values and leadership methodologies contributed to movement continuity and the negotiation process in the struggle for the creation of a territorial home for the Inuit people.
	Rachel Goldberg - rmgoldberg@salisbury.edu Rachel Goldberg is Associate Professor of Sociology and of Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution at Salisbury University. She is an award winning mediator and mediation trainer. Her research and professionsl practice include the areas of individual, organizational and multi-party interventions; controversial issues like pro-life/pro-choice activism, police accountability, and Native American land claim conflicts, and includes the study of incipient and active gang related activities, the ways in which worldview and values affect practice, identity effects on data collection, and best practices in environmental and inter-cultural conflict.
	Tim Hentschel - timothy.hentschel@us.army.mil Tim Hentschel is Assistant Professor at the US Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he is curriculum author for the operational level of war course of instruction, which bridges strategic plans and objectives to tactical execution. He is also a Lt. Colonel in the US Army (Retired).
	Matthew Hidek - mahidek@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Hidek is currently Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Cazenovia College, in Cazenovia, NY. He is a U.S. Army veteran and antiterrorism analyst, with extensive leadership and management experience from various assignments in the military, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation.
	Dana Michelle Hill - dmhill@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Hill's research examines how the most marginalized Ecuadorians – rural women of color – understand and respond to a new constitution that grants them full citizenship rights. Its purpose is advancing knowledge about the processes through which women’s consciousness is heightened to make them more critically engaged citizens, a development that is crucial for the full development of democracy and the quest for justice in Ecuador.
	Sam Jackson - sjackson@syr.edu My research focuses on political and religious extremism in the United States. I am particularly interested in the ways that such movements use their understandings of history to support their goals and the sometimes violent actions undertaken to pursue them. Curriculum Vitae
	Shin Yon Kim - skim122@syr.edu My research interests are in the economic, political and diplomatic issues that influence the state of affairs on the Korean peninsula generally and North-South relations particularly. I am especially interested in factors that affect the prospects for reunification.
	Lindsey Kingston - lkingston54@webster.edu Dr. Kingston is currently Assistant Professor of International Human Rights in the Department of History, Politics, and International Relations at Webster University in St. Louis, MO. She also serves as Director of the B.A. program in International Human Rights and as Associate Director of the Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies. Her research interests include citizenship theory, conflict resolution, human rights, and issues surrounding the condition of statelessness.
	Jesse D. Lecy - jdlecy@syr.edu Dr. Lecy is Associate Professor of the School of Community Resources and Development at Arizona State University. His research focuses on economic analysis of non-profit markets, social innovation, organizational effectiveness and community development outcomes.
	Alma Louise Lowry - allowry@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Lowry's research interests include conflict resolution and public participation in the environmental policy process. Of particular interest is the concept and process of public participation in administrative decision making, whether it is effective; what makes it effective, particularly for traditionally disempowered groups; and whether such participation can further environmental justice or other social justice goals.
	Jack Manno - jpmanno@esf.edu Jack Manno is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Environmental Studies, at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). He has received both the ESF Community and Public Service Award and the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service. He is particularly interested in the issues of sustainability and environmental degradation. He is has published numerous scholarly articles and book chapters, and is author of two books, Privileged Goods: Commoditization and its Implications for Environment and Society (2000) and (with T. Princen and M. Finger) Environmental NGOs in World Politics: Linking the Local and the Global (1996).
	Sarah Ann Marusek - samaruse@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Marusek's work examines the role of charity in Islamic societies, mostly focusing on participatory welfare practices in Iran and Lebanon. Her research medology draws on a critical trans-disciplinary framework and in her dissertation used ethnographic methods to map out the welfare systems in the Shi’i communities of Lebanon, a population that has been historically marginalized by the Lebanese state and society.
	Christine McKenna - mckench@emmanuel.edu Christine McKenna is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Emmanuel College. Her research interests are mainly in the area of social policy, particularly as it bears on child care issues. She has studied the consequences, both intended and unintended, of federal and state policies related to child care and afterschool programming in the postwar United States.
	Michael Messina-Yauchzy Michael Messina-Yauchzy is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology/Criminal Justice at Keuka College. His research interests include gender studies, sexual/domestic violence, social deviance, collective behavior and social movements.
	Todd Metcalfe - tmetcalf@syr.edu My work is broadly concerned with environmental policy and economics. My current research focuses on how climate change policy impacts pollution of waterways.
	Gearoid Millar - g.millar@abdn.ac.uk Dr. Millar is Lecturer in Peace and Reconciliation at Aberdeen University, Scotland. His research focuses on international conflict resolution, post-conflict peacebuilding and reconciliation in light of how alternate concepts of justice, truth, reconciliation, and peace complicate the application of western derived peacebuilding projects constructed on normative western conceptions of these social goods.
	Christopher Morley - MorleyCP@upstate.edu Dr. Morley is Chair of the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Family Medicine at the Upstate Medical University of New York. His main research interests are in health disparities in primary care. He is also active in medical education, and maintains secondary interests in psychiatric genetics, research design, practice-based research networks, and medical ethics.
	Sun Jung Oh - soh14@syr.edu My fields of concentration are education policy/economics, urban policy/economics, and quantitative methods. In addition, I have a Masters degree in both Economics and Public Administration from Syracuse University. My dissertation, which was supported by a grant from the American Education Research Association, focuses on the effects of the removal of school desegregation plans on school segregation, residential segregation, and student outcomes. I already have published in these and related areas.Website: sunoh.weebly.com
	Umut Ozkaleli - uozaklel@gmail.com Dr. Ozkaleli is Assistant Professor at Zirve University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Gaziantep, Turkey. Her research interests are in the areas of Conflict Resolution and Feminist Studies.
	Theodore Poister - tpoister@gsu.edu Ted Poister is Professor of Public Management and Policy in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Much of his research is concerned with results oriented management strategies such as strategic planning and management, performance management, program evaluation, performance measurement, quality improvement methods, and customer/stakeholder credibility in the public sector.
	Louise Quijano - louise.quijano@colostate.edu Louise Quijano is Assistant Professor of Social Work at Colorado State University. Her principal areas of research interest are gerontological social work and social factors affecting the mental health of elderly persons, Hispanic mental health services research and issues in clinical mental health practice. Before joining the CSU faculty in 2007 she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Primary Care Research, Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. She is author of several scholarly articles and the recipient of a number of grants and awards.
	Priti Ramamurthy - priti@u.washington.edu Priti Ramamurthy is Associate Professor of Women Studies at the University of Washington. She is the Director and Chair of the South Asia Center in the Jackson School of International Studies, and is an Executive Board Member of the Simpson Center for the Humanities. Her research interests include Feminist critiques of international economic development, agrarian transitions, and consumption and commodity cultures, areas in which she has published extensively. She won the university's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002, and held a Senior Research Fellowship from the American Institute for Indian Studies during 2006-2007.
	Ujwala Samant Dr. Samant directs the UK based charity, Learning for Life. She recently recieved an Asian Women of Achievement award for her work. Learning for Life is a charity that assists local partners in Afganistan, India and Pakistan to provide education and teacher training to remote areas and impoverished communities. Their main focus is the education of young girls and training of women.
	Michael Schoonmaker - msschoon@syr.edu Michael Schoonmaker is Chairman of the Television-Radio-Film Department at Syracuse University's Newhouse School. He began his production career at MTV, then moved to NBC’s Olympic Unit for their coverage of the 1988 Games. He teaches courses in TV and film production, and is author of the book Camera in the Classroom: Educating the Post-TV Generation.
	Bandita Sijapati - bsijapat@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Sijapati is Assistant Professor at the University of Nepal. Her principal research interests are in the areas of political socialization, citizenship and immigration, as well as conflict studies, democratic transition, and identity politics.
	Todd Sodano - tsodano@sjfc.edu Todd Sodano is Associate Professor, and Director of Film and Television Studies at St. John Fisher College. His research examines the production, distribution and reception of the HBO series The Wire and the influence of television critics during its five-season run. His general areas of research interest are in the social impact of mass media and include cable television's fragmentation of the TV viewing audience and how this has influenced television industrially, artistically and socially.
	Gae Hee Song - gasong@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Song's research interests are in international migration and refugee movements, particularly those from North Korea to South Korea.
	Vivek Srinivasan - vivekdse@stanford.edu Dr. Srinivasan manages the Program on Liberation Technology at Stanford University. The research center is concerned with the role of technology in fostering democracy, human rights and development. His primary research interest is on India’s public services and in his current role he is experimenting with ways of making government transparent to people in rural areas through mobile phones.
	Kathryn R. Stam - stamk@sunyit.edu Dr. Stam is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica, New York. She is a faculty member in the Masters Program in Information Design and Technology.
	Tamara Steger - stegert@ceu.hu Tamara Steger is Assistant Professor and Programs Director in the Center for Environmental Policy and Law at the Central European University. Her research interests are in environmental justice, environmental racism and environmental rights and current projects include studies of environmental movements, environmentalism and political regimes, environmental governance and the role of civic networks.
	David Van Arsdale David Van Arsdale is Assistant Professor of Sociology at SUNY Onongaga Community College. He works in the fields of political and economic sociology and is interested in urban studies, race, class and gender studies, and labor and globalization. He has methodological interests in qualitative and ethnographic research methods.
	Lili Wang - lwang05@maxwell.syr.edu Dr. Wang is Instructor in the Mathematics Department at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.Her research interests are in information technology application and management, user-centered evaluation of IT initiatives, and the experimental study of IT implementation within organizations.
	Bill Warters - w.warters@wayne.edu Bill Warters is Assistant Professor, College of Urban Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, and Associate Director, Program on Mediating Theory and Democratic Systems, Wayne State University. His Main research interests are in conflict resolution and mediation.
	Nicole Watson - newatson@syr.edu My primary research interests lie in understanding the role of law in fostering or hindering public policies that seek to remedy historical social wrongs. I am particularly interested in education, employment and urban policies.
	Craig R. Watters - crwatter@syr.edu Dr. Watters is Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurial Practice in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. He works with SU's South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Project, advising teams of undergraduates and MBAs as they help small business owners and minority entrepreneurs on Syracuse's South Side grow their ventures. Watters was formerly dean for advancement in SU's School of Information Studies and director of its economic stimulus center, the I-Launch Pad.
	Brandy Witthoft - bwitthof@maxwell.syr.edu Brandy Witthoft is currently the Director of USAID (United States Agency for International Development). Her primary research interests are in the areas of forced human migration, refugee resettlement in the United States, and United States immigration policy and practice. Her secondary interests are in social and economic development, especially with regards to Africa.
	Lynne Woehrle - woehrlel@mtmary.edu Lynne Woehrle is Associate Professor of Sociology at Mount Mary College. Her principal areas of research interest are in peace and conflict resolution studies and social justice. Her books include Contesting Patriotism: Culture, Power, and Strategy in the Peace Movement(with Patrick Coy and Gregory Many) and her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
	Jeanette Zoeckler - jmzoeckl@syr.edu I am interested in the social and behavioral dimensions of work and health over the life course – and in the prevention and amelioration of occupational disease burdens through social change and policy reform. Curriculum Vitae