Welcome to my Website

About Me:

I received my PhD in 2003 from Utah State University, and am currently an Associate Professor of Sociologyat Illinois State University.  My teaching focus involves research methods, social problems, community, and society and environment.  My educational training and research 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).