I was a small town/rural kid from "downstate" (the Hudson Valley area about an hour north of NYC). I showed up at »Ê¹Ú²©²ÊÍøÖ· in 1985, not quite sure why I was going to college except that everyone expected me to go. I stumbled around a bit lost for a couple of years and landed at Sociology as my major (with a computer science minor). I wasn't all that inspired for my first couple/few years (academic probation after my 1st semester), but becoming a SOC major ended up inspiring me (thanks partly to the great faculty).
I did graduate on time in '89, but felt like I had only just gotten started with Sociology. I was still "hungry." I was also inspired by a couple of my profs to think about graduate school.
They are now long gone from »Ê¹Ú²©²ÊÍøÖ· (retired), but it was especially Dr. Jim Watson (Theory prof) and my adviser Dr. Nancy Kleniewski (later President at SUNY Oneonta.)
I was pretty burned out, so I took 2 years off from school and worked and traveled. (Dr. Watson advised a 2 year limit or "life entanglements" would end up in the way). I then ended up going to the University of Virginia, and earned my MA (1994) and PhD (2000). I landed two 1 year "visiting assistant professor" contracts at the University of Richmond, and then a tenure-track job at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.
And that's where I remain. I'm now a full professor, and still trying to, (often succeeding) bring the "sociological imagination" to my students - a quality of mind that allows one to grasp the intersections between history and biography (C. Wright Mills - you've all heard this one!).
I'm often heard to say that one of the biggest problems in the world - at the root of most other problems - is that people don't know enough sociology. I believe that whole-heartedly.
I sometimes tell my students that we teach people to "do" nothing and everything all at once. A Sociology major gives you forms of knowledge and skills that are completely multi-purpose - flexible and adaptable. That's the story of the fast-moving 21st century. You will land on your feet and be valuable to the world in many ways.
