Our Research Mission & Values
Inspired by Colorado State University’s land-grant heritage, the Sociology Department support’s CSU’s commitment to excellence and to setting the standard for public research university research for the benefit of the citizens of Colorado, the United States and the world. Sociology at CSU has a long tradition of high quality research in support of effective solutions to complex social, economic development and environmental problems.
- Our Sociology Department supports four research centers that actively contribute to CSU’s Tier 1 interdisciplinary community of faculty and graduate.
- Sociology faculty members blend their research, teaching and outreach/engagement, bringing to their classrooms up-to-date knowledge and expertise about current societal problems and providing unique opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to work with them on research.
- Sociology faculty are University leaders in “engaged scholarship,” which is encouraged by Colorado State University as a Carnegie Elective Classified University for Engagement. According to Carnegie, “Community engagement describes collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.”
Recent Faculty Projects
AgriFood Chains research by Michael Carolan funded by USDA
This research project is supported by a $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The purpose of the support is wide-ranging — to explore food systems and food practices throughout Colorado and beyond.
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Tara Opsal receives funding for interdisciplinary, community-rooted crime and justice institute
Sociology Chair and Professor Dr. Tara Opsal and colleagues have received funding to reestablish The Center for the Study of Crime and Justice as an […]
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Jeni Cross works with Community Foundation of Northern Colorado on “Pursuing Regional Well-Being” report
Dr. Jeni Cross is part of the CSU team that worked with the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado to produce the 2024 Northern Colorado Intersections: […]
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Jeni Cross new Co-Chair of national Environmental Health Matters Initiative
Jeni Cross is the new Co-Chair of the Environmental Health Matters Initiative (EHMI) Committee with the National Academy of Sciences. EHMI addresses complex environmental problems […]
Read MoreRecent Books & Publications
Carrie Chennault and Joshua Sbicca’s prison agriculture research published by Agriculture and Human Values
Carrie Chennault (Anthropology and Geography) and Joshua Sbicca (Sociology) have published “Prison agriculture in the United States: racial capitalism and the disciplinary matrix of exploitation […]
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Michael Carolan wins international Business Impact Award for A Decent Meal
Michael Carolan received the Frankfurt Book Fair’s getAbstract 2022 International Book Award for Business Impact. Carolan was flown to Germany in October and honored during […]
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Stephanie Malin releases latest book Building Something Better: Environmental Crises and the Promise of Community Change
Stephanie Malin and co-author Meghan Kallman published Building Something Better: Environmental Crises and the Promise of Community Change through Rutgers University Press. In April, CSU’s Center for […]
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Kellie Alexander and Jeff Nowacki’s research on gender & promotion in policing published by Feminist Criminology
Ph.D. student Kellie Alexander and Dr. Jeff Nowacki’s research “Women in power? Examining gender and promotion in policing through an organizational perspective” was published December 24, 2021 by Feminist […]
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Jessie Luna visits West Africa as keynote speaker and radio panelist on pesticides & public policies
Jessie Luna gave the keynote address at a fall conference in Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa) on Pesticides and Public Policies in the Global South. Her […]
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Michael Carolan keynote speaker for RIHN 15th International Symposium
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) held its 15th International Symposium virtually January 13–16, 2021. This year’s theme was “Transitioning Cultures of Everyday Food […]
Read MoreAwards & Honors
Prabha Unnithan honored at retirement gathering
Prabha Unnithan’s retirement gathering was held April 26 at CSU’s Durrell Center. Current faculty, staff and graduate students were joined by emeritus professors and former graduate students in honoring Dr. Prabha Unnithan and Dr. Shashi Unnithan, his wife. Prabha grew up in Malaysia after his parents migrated there from India. After completing high school in […]
Michael Carolan wins international Business Impact Award for A Decent Meal
Michael Carolan received the Frankfurt Book Fair’s getAbstract 2022 International Book Award for Business Impact. Carolan was flown to Germany in October and honored during a formal ceremony. Carolan’s newest book, A Decent Meal: Building Empathy in a Divided America, was selected from 10,000 non-fiction titles. The jury chose it “for its timely relevance that […]
Prabha Unnithan honored by the Academy of Criminal Justice Science
The Academy of Criminal Justice Science (ACJS) presented Dr. Prabha Unnithan with the prestigious Gerhard O.W. Mueller Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Criminal Justice at the International Section’s Annual Awards Luncheon during the 2022 ACJS Annual Meeting held in Las Vegas in late March. This annual award is given to an individual who has made an […]
In The Media
The Audit: Can healing our divided nation start at the dinner table?
CSU Sociology Professor and Food Systems Institute Co-director Michael Carolan spoke to The Audit podcast about his research into food, food systems and building empathy on common ground.
Joshua Sbicca interviewed by Civil Eats about agrihoods and “green gentrification”
Agrihoods Promise Fresh Food and Community. Can They Add Equity to the List? Agrihoods promise to save farmland by turning it into a residential amenity. Can this effort to bridge housing and farmland support environmental justice? Article by Greta Moran. Originally published by Civil Eats. Please click here to read.
Food Sleuth Radio interviews Joshua Sbicca about prison agriculture
By Melinda Hemmelgarn. Originally appeared on Food Sleuth Radio. Did you know that over 600 U.S. prisons include agricultural activities of some kind? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Joshua Sbicca, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Prison Agriculture Lab at Colorado State University. […]