Tell us about your trajectory since Bowdoin
After graduating, I led Bowdoin’s Community Service Resource Center (now the McKeen Center) for three years and had the privilege of kicking off Bowdoin’s Common Good Grant program, leading the first alternative spring break trip, and creating the Community Immersion Pre-O program. I loved my job so much that I decided I needed a master’s degree in higher education, so I left to pursue that at the University of Arizona.
My first grad student research paper challenged us to learn more about a subpopulation of students on campus. I was interested in how the hypervisible football student-athletes at Arizona negotiated their demanding dual roles as students and athletes on campus. That research question carried me into a PhD program, a few years on the faculty, and in 2013, I joined the research staff at the The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), where I am now the director of research and policy. In my current role, I develop and oversee research projects on the academic and social experiences of NCAA student-athletes and work directly with NCAA staff, our 1,100 member schools, and other relevant parties to apply research findings to inform policymaking.
How has your Bowdoin Sociology education and experience informed your work and life?
My sociology courses at Bowdoin were fascinating and rigorous. Given the volume of reading and papers assigned, I graduated as a much stronger writer and critical thinker—well prepared for graduate school. My senior thesis advised by Nancy Riley, A. Myrick Freeman Professor of Social Sciences, is still one of my proudest accomplishments, and that process was an exceptional entrée into independent research, which carried into my master’s and doctoral programs.
Here in the NCAA research department, we all come from a range of scholarly backgrounds: econometrics, epidemiology, higher education, quantitative psychology, sociology, and sport management. I think this range of epistemologies allows us to meld our unique perspectives when we’re designing a study, analyzing data, and presenting our findings. As someone grounded in the sociological imagination, I am always attempting to discern what social forces are impacting the experiences of student-athletes, shaping their educational pathway, and post-college aspirations, and that certainly shows up in the survey items I design or what variables I build into my analyses.
What are the one or two events, courses, or people that stand out in your mind from your time at Bowdoin?
My Sociological Theories course with Visiting Assistant Professor Karen Halnon was one of the most rigorous courses I’ve ever taken (including graduate school). I still have all of my soc. theory books because my notes in the margins were meticulous and after putting in all that work, I can’t bear to let them go. While we wrote weekly papers and read eight or nine books that term, I loved that intellectual butt-kicking—trying to discern what the historical theorists were attempting to convey with their complex language and debating it with my classmates. My love for that course was probably a sign that I was cut out for a future in academia/research.
Outside of my sociology major, I was also a government and legal studies major, sang with Chamber Choir all four years, worked as an America Reads tutor and was on the Campus Activities Board, so many memories from those portions of my Bowdoin experience remain meaningful as well.
What advice do you have for current and prospective Bowdoin Sociology students?
I think my advice for Bowdoin sociology students and those who are considering the major would likely be the advice I’d give to any Bowdoin student. Take courses that sounds interesting to you as you’re exploring a major—you don’t need to declare one right away! Take the time to meet with your professors during their office hours and get to know them and share with them what interests you. If you’re interested in gaining research experience or possibly designing an independent study, making the effort to get to know faculty outside of the classroom is where those connections can be made and doors can open.
Finally, if you’re contemplating grad school post-Bowdoin—especially if you’re the first in your family to attend grad school, like I was—discuss this with trusted members of the Bowdoin faculty. The graduate admissions process is very different than the undergraduate admissions process and the considerations you should weigh upon selecting a graduate program are unlike the college choice factors that went into your decision to attend Bowdoin. Ask for help navigating this process—ideally gather perspectives from a handful of faculty mentors and request to be connected to recent grads from your major who are now attending grad school themselves. Enhancing your social capital in this space will help you make a decision that’s right for you!
