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
Stephanie Malin’s team receives $2 million DOE award to study spent nuclear fuel storage
As part of a U.S. Department of Energy study, CSU is partnering with Boise State University to research how to improve the approach of locating these storage facilities by encouraging meaningful community engagement and participation in decision-making to enhance environmental equity.
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CSU’s Food Systems Institute brings interdisciplinary work to one table
The new CIOSU will work to advance University efforts toward strengthening the economic, environmental, cultural and social foundations of the state’s local and regional food systems.
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NSF funds Jeni Cross and transdisciplinary sustainability collaborators
Breaking free from the silo: Regional network focuses on all parts of the sustainability puzzle Article by Stacy Nick. Originally published on SOURCE. A new Colorado […]
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Prison Agriculture Lab launched by Joshua Sbicca, Becca Chalit Hernandez, Azmal Hossan, Julia Kovacs
Joshua Sbicca has launched the Prison Agriculture Lab, a collaborative space for inquiry and action that focuses on agricultural practices within the criminal punishment system. […]
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 […]
Read MorePresentations
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
Laura Raynolds and Josh Sbicca receive highly competitive SoGES fellowship awards
CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) has announced the selection of Dr. Laura Raynolds and Dr. Josh Sbicca as Resident Faculty Fellows. The Department of Sociology is very proud to house two of only four fellows chosen from what SoGES calls a competitive field of proposals. According to this SOURCE article, the fellowship awards are intended to encourage […]
Prabha Unnithan elected president of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
Unnithan has been a faculty member at CSU since 1987. His research and teaching involve a range of topics related to criminology and criminal justice.
Tara Opsal receives Ann Gill Faculty Development Award
Dr. Tara Opsal has been awarded an Ann Gill Faculty Development Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity in the College of Liberal Arts. Her winning project is Penitentiaries on the Plains: Rural Economies, Identities, and the Carceral State. In her proposal, Dr. Opsal says this is one component of a larger comparative project that examines the […]
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. […]