Affiliates
The Center currently hosts nine research fellows.Alexander R. Thomas, Director. Ph.D., Northeastern University. Dr. Thomas is a comparative sociologist who studies the development and functioning of urban systems. His current research aims at comparing New York City and its satellites to other urban systems in other places and time periods.
Jan DeAmicis, Professor of Sociology, Utica College. Ph.D, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. DeAmicis is an. historical sociologist with interests in the experience of race and ethnicity. His recent research is reflected in the Underground Railroad project in which he utilizes historical and archaeological data to analyze this important institution in the history of upstate New York.
Gregory M. Fulkerson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, SUNY Oneonta. Ph.D., North Carolina State University. Dr. Fulkerson is an environmental sociologist who studies the impact of urbanization on natural ecosystems. He uses a combination of visual data and advanced statistical modeling to examine social and economic changes taking place in rural communities.
Achim D. Koeddermann, Associate Professor of Philosophy, SUNY Oneonta. Dr. Phil., Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet, Mainz, Germany. Dr. Koeddermann works in applied philosophy and theories of culture, with a focus on Environmental, Media Ethics, and Conflict resolution. His current research emphasizes models of civil society that allow the sharing of scarce resources while avoiding the dilemma of a tragedy of the commons in the US, Europe and Asia.
Brian M. Lowe, Associate Professor of Sociology, SUNY Oneonta. PhD, University of Virginia. Dr. Lowe is a cultural sociologist who studies social movements and the creation of cultural identities and moral vocabularies. His recent research includes the cultural representation of rural communities and their relationship to the wider urban system.
Jessica Singer, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Utica College. Ph.D., University at Albany/SUNY. Jessica's broad areas of interest are in the fields of the sociology of the family and criminology, particularly where the two areas intersect. She plans on expanding on her dissertation research by investigating sources of governmental support to families, and the mechanisms through which they influence criminality.
Polly J. Smith, Director & Associate Professor of Sociology, Utica College. Ph.D., University at Albany. Dr. Smith is an urban sociologist with interests in small cities and rural communities, complex organizations, and how the restructuring of the American economy has affected smaller cities and towns. She utilizes statistics and geographic information systems (GIS) in her research.
Lauren A. Wynne, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Utica College, Ph.D., University of Chicago. Lauren’s work has explored the changing nature of human relationships with food in rural Yucatán, Mexico, specifically as it is expressed through a Yucatec Maya concept of “care.” She has also conducted ethnographic research on indigenous midwifery in Oaxaca, Mexico, and on the pregnancy and childbirth experiences of Mexican immigrants to Brooklyn, New York.