Originally from Athens, GA, I attended Kenyon College where I was an English major and an NCAA Div. III Academic All-American swimmer. After college, I taught English as a Second Language in Cape Verde, West Africa, for the Peace Corps. I then went to graduate school to study sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There I worked at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) with Laura Dresser and Joel Rogers, and I studied under Erik Olin Wright and Jamie Peck.

I came to UB Sociology in 2008. This department specializes in five areas of sociology: family & the life course, urban sociology, law & social policy, social inequalities, and work & organizations. My research spans the latter three through analysis of the relationship between work, social inequalities, and law.

In 2019 I was selected to be the PPG and Cornell ILR Buffalo Commons Public Research Fellow

University at Buffalo, Department of Sociology. 404 Park Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260. (716) 645-8476.