Assistant Professor

About

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  • Role:

    Faculty

  • Position:

    • Assistant Professor

  • Concentration:

    • Critical Criminology
    • Gender
    • Qualitative Research Methods
    • Social Justice

  • Department:

    • Sociology

  • Education:

    • PhD, Criminology, Law, and Justice, University of Illinois Chicago
    • MA, Criminology, Law, and Justice, University of Illinois-Chicago
    • BS, BA Psychology, University of Cincinnati

  • Curriculum Vitae:

Biography

Erin O'Callaghan is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati, and received her Master's and Ph.D. in Criminology, Law, and Justice from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Erin's research broadly is rooted in abolitionist feminisms and critical criminology, primarily using qualitative interview methods, but with a secondary interest in quantitative survey methods. Specifically, her research focuses on sexual violence and gender-based harm in two main areas: substance-involved sexual violence and sexual violence in the workplace. A secondary piece of her research focuses on anti-carceral policy and organizing as it relates to gender-based violence. Her dissertation was a qualitative interview study with survivors of substance-involved sexual assault, and it examined their descriptions of impairment during the assault, their substance use behaviors more generally, and their sex lives, including what survivors like about sex. With two other colleagues, she is currently working on a grant-funded project through the Center for Institutional Courage investigating experiences of survivors reporting sexual violence in the workplace and institutional betrayal. Erin's publications include work in Violence Against Women, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Violence and Victims, and Journal of Family Violence. You can also find her discussions of her research in the media, such as KQED and Truthout. She teaches undergraduate courses in Criminology, such as Introduction to Criminology and Women, Crime, and Victimization.

Publications

Selected publications:

O’Callaghan, E. & Shepp, V. (equal authorship) (2023). Only We Can Protect Us: Labor and Anti-Harassment Organizing Within the Neoliberal University. Social Sciences, 12(6), 1-11.

Shepp, V., O’Callaghan, E., & Kirkner, A. (2023). The Carcerality of Title IX. Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education. Advanced online publication.

O’Callaghan, E. & Ullman, S.E. (2022). Exploring Correlates of Social Reactions to Disclosure among Latina Sexual Assault Survivors. Violence & Victims. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1891/VV-2021-0015.

O’Callaghan, E., Shepp, V., Kirkner, A., & Lorenz, K. (2021). Sexual Harassment in the Academy: Harnessing the Growing Labor Movement in Higher Education to Address Sexual Misconduct against Graduate Workers. Violence Against Women, 28, 3266–3288. doi:  10.1177/10778012211035793.

O’Callaghan, E. & Douglas, H. (2021). #MeToo Online Disclosures: A Survivor-Informed Approach to Open Science Practice and Ethical Use of Social Media Data. Psychology of Women Quarterly Special Issue: Feminist Psychology and Open Science. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1177/03616843211039175.

O’Callaghan, E. & Ullman, S.E. (2021). Are All Substance-Involved Sexual Assaults Alike? A Comparison of Victim Alcohol Use, Drug Use, and Combined Substance Use in Sexual Assaults. Women & Criminal Justice. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1080/08974454.2021.1914284.

Lorenz, K. & O’Callaghan, E. (2020). “I realized that I couldn’t act normal”: A Qualitative Study of Sexual Assault Survivors’ Experiences of Workplace Disclosure. Journal of Family Violence. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1007/s10896-020-00183-z.

O’Callaghan, E., Shepp, V., Ullman, S.E., & Kirkner, A. (2019). Navigating Sex and Sexuality after Sexual Assault: A Qualitative Dyadic Study of Survivors and Informal Support Providers. Journal of Sex Research, 56, 1045-1057. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2018.1506731.

O’Callaghan, E., Lorenz, K., Ullman, S.E., & Kirkner, A. (2018). A Dyadic Study of Short and Long-Term Impacts of Sexual Assault Disclosure on Survivors’ Informal Support Relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1177/0886260518795506.

Courses

  • SOC 253: Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice

  • SOC 356: Inequality in Criminal Sentencing