Sociology Faculty

PAGE 1 · PARKER · PIERCE · PRESTON
PROKOS · SHALIN · SMITH · WRAY

Professor Parker has written and taught extensively in the areas of urban sociology and the sociology of work. His book Building American Cities (co-authored with Joe R. Feagin) is being reissued in 2002 by Beard Books. He is also the author of Flesh Peddlers and Warm Bodies: The Temporary Help Industry and its Workers (Rutgers, 1994). Earlier in 2002, he published two chapters: "The Social Costs of Rapid Growth in Southern Nevada" (in The Grit Beneath the Glitter edited by Rothman and Davis) and "The Global Economy and Changes in the Nature of Contingent Work" (in Berberoglu, ed. Labor and Capital in the Age of Globalization). Parker enjoys teaching and working with students at all levels and recently added Globalization to the list of courses he offers.

Joined faculty in 1989.

Joy Pierce graduated with her Ph.D. from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign in 2006. She does qualitative research in the areas of class, race and gender. Her most recent project focuses on new technology literacy among digital "have nots" in the Digital Divide debate. Joy uses critical race theory, multicultural feminist theory and critical pedagogy to explore why underrepresented populations lag behind in computer use and home ownership. Her works in new technology, social problems and feminist multicultural theory have been presented in conferences in the United States and Britain . Joy has also published in Television and New Media, Studies in Symbolic Interaction, and Minorities and Communication. She worked in the fields of immigration law, journalism and publishing before returning to academia. Her commitment to mentorship is exemplified through her volunteer work in new technology literacy and minority student college recruitment.

Dr. Preston is currently the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Sociology. He is the co-founder and Director of Research of The Problem Gambling Center which houses one of the premier treatment programs for problem gamblers in the world. Most of his recent research involves gambling and gambling related issues as well as the broader fields of addiction and deviance. He was co-editor of special editions of the American Behavioral Scientist (2004 & 2005) which focus on unintended consequences (2004) and problem gambling (2005). He has directed three enumerations of the homeless population of Clark County, NV (1999, 2004, 2005) which have served as exemplars nationally and for Census 2000. He consults widely on gambling related issues including work for the F.B.I., the provinces of Alberta and Ontario, most national gaming corporations, and numerous state legislative bodies including Nevada, Louisiana, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Hawaii and he has served as an expert witness in many gambling related trials around the country. He is currently completing a monograph on families of problem gamblers. His text is now in its eighth edition having been published by St. Martin’s (1977 and 1982), Allyn and Bacon (1989), Simon and Schuster (1997), and Pearson (1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005). He was named Outstanding Faculty Teacher in the College of Liberal Arts in 1994. From 1997 to 2000, Preston was coach and advisor for the UNLV Rodeo Team and he remains very proud of the women’s team which won the national championship in 1999.

Preston chaired UNLV’s Department of Sociology for over ten years during which time he designed the Ph.D. program and brought it to fruition in 1988. He received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary and the Ohio State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Ohio State where he was named Outstanding Graduate Student.

Joined faculty in 1973.

Anastasia Prokos graduated with her Ph.D. from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL in 2001 and spent the following academic year as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Berkeley Center for Working Families. She does research in the areas of social inequality, emphasizing gendered inequalities in employment and the work/family interface. She is currently working with Dr. Keene exploring trends in employer-provided health insurance coverage. Her other projects include issues pertaining to work-hour preference, family structure and children’s economic well-being, ethno-racial disparity in homeownership, and gendered experiences in science and technology occupations. Dr. Prokos teaches courses in Research Methods, Statistical Methods in the Social Sciences, Gender and Work in Society, Social Inequality, and Introductory Sociology.

Recent publications include:

· Prokos, Anastasia H. and Irene Padavic. 2005. “Explaining the Sex Pay Gap for Women in Science and Engineering Fields.” Gender & Society. 19(4): 523-543.

· Prokos, Anastasia H. and Jennifer Reid Keene. 2005. "The Long-Term Effects of Spousal Caregiving on Survivor's Well-Being in Widowhood." Social Science Quarterly. 83(3): 664-682.

· Prokos, Anastasia H. and Irene Padavic. 2002. “There Oughtta Be a Law Against Bitches”: Masculinity Lessons in Police Academy Training. Gender, Work & Organization 9(4), 439-459.

Joined faculty in 2002.

 Dr. Shalin is a professor of sociology, director of the UNLV Center for Democratic Culture, coordinator of Justice & Democracy Forum series, editor of the Social Health of Nevada Report, co-director of the International Biography Initiative, and organizer of international forums on Russian Art and Culture. His research interests and publications are in the areas of pragmatism, social theory, emotional intelligence, and Russian society. Dr. Shalin writes occasional newspaper columns. His teaching interests include SOC 725 – Seminar on Pragmatist Hermeneutics; SOC 723 – Classical Sociological Theory; SOC 451-651 – Russian Society in Transition; SOC 457-657 – Marriage and the Family; and SOC 101 – Introduction to Sociology.

Joined faculty in 1990.

Ron Smith is the Director of the Center for Advanced Research for the UNLV College of Liberal Arts and Principal Investigator for the Center for Health Information Analysis. He is strongly committed to the professional goals of quality teaching, scholarship and service to others as well as to his students, colleagues and fellow citizens.

Prof. Smith has recently gained national recognition for his efforts at developing a sociology of architecture. To find out more, click here.

Joined faculty in 1972

Matt Wray graduated from University of California, Berkeley's doctoral program in Ethnic Studies in 2000 and spent the following academic year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. There he completed research for his forthcoming book based on his dissertation, Not Quite White: White Trash and the Boundaries of Whiteness (Duke University Press, 2006). Wray writes about cultural and social theory and teaches courses in race and ethnic relations. He is a former editor of the internet journal, Bad Subjects (eserver.org/bs) and co-editor of the Bad Subjects Anthology from NYU Press. He also co-edited White Trash: Race and Class in America (Routledge, 1997), a collection of essays dealing with representations and experiences of poor rural whites in the U.S, and The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness (Duke University Press, 2001), an anthology based on the 1997 Berkeley conference he co-organized. Wray is currently researching and mapping the sociological dimensions of suicide in Las Vegas and is on leave 2006-2008 as a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at Harvard University.

Joined faculty in 2001.