Joan M. Brehm, Ph.D.

I began my academic career as an Assistant Professor of Sociology with Illinois State University in the Fall of 2003.  My teaching focus involves research methods, social problems, community, and society and environment.  My educational training and personal interests all broadly revolve around gaining a better understanding of the complex relationships between society and the environment which sustains us. I strongly believe in the need for a better understanding of how humans interact with the environment if we have any hope of protecting it for future generations.  Our human and social well-being is intrinsically linked to ecological well-being.  As Ken Wilkinson so eloquently stated, "“It is not accurate or appropriate to treat the environment as though it were somehow separate from the social life it supports.  An active interdependency characterizes the relationship between social life and its surroundings” (1991, pg. 68).