What is your name? Dr. Janet Dilling What kind of work do you do in the college? I am a Teaching Professor in the Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program. I teach, do applied research and engage in service in the Program, profession and community. Why did you decide to become an academic? I first…
Category: teaching
Meet a Social Scientist: Dr. Anne Barrett from the Department of Sociology
Why did you decide to become an academic? I think I became an academic because I never wanted to stop going to school! When I was an undergraduate, I realized that I enjoyed using data – whether survey responses, interview excerpts, or cultural products – to tell stories about the social world. An interest in…
Meet a Social Scientist: Dr. Irene Padavic from the Department of Sociology
Why did you decide to become an academic? I had been working as a paralegal in DC, thinking—like many young people in the 1970s—that law school was the route to a career dedicated to furthering social change. Instead, I found the legal world narrow, the hours punishing, and the fight for social change apparently located…
Meet a Social Scientist: Dr. Katie Sherron from the Department of Economics
Why did you decide to become an academic? I just really love school! I’ve always enjoyed learning and teaching, especially mathematics. I gravitated toward economics because I had amazing teachers and professors. I found out that a big part of economics was straight-forward reasoning and stories set to mathematics. I took multiple economics courses with…
Research Spotlight: Gentrification in Saint Paul, Minnesota
I am a PhD candidate in Geography at FSU. My research has taken a journey on its own. At Syracuse University, where I completed my Masters in Geography, my work was situated in the South Asian context, in rural South India to be exact. In my Masters work, I was studying the impact of corporate…
Graduate Student Spotlight: Rachel Sparkman from the Department of Sociology
What department are you a graduate student in? I am a Doctoral student in the Sociology department, with a focus on Demography through the Center for Demography and Population Health. Why did you decide to go to graduate school? I graduated with a master’s degree in 2012 and worked at a university until 2019. At…
Graduate Student Spotlight: Metin Guven from the Department of Sociology
What department are you a graduate student in? Sociology Why did you decide to go to graduate school? When I was a freshman in the university, one of my professors inspired me about the value of learning, searching, and teaching as an academician. I decided to go graduate school at that time. Did your interests…
Meet a Social Scientist: Dr. Gary VanLandingham from the Department of Public Administration
Why did you decide to become an academic? Teaching has always been on my to-do list. A long time ago, I was in a workshop that required participants to state our career goals in as few words as possible, and I came up with “Learn, make it better, pass it on” – meaning that I…
Graduate Student Spotlight: Hayley Lemoine from the Department of Geography
What department are you a graduate student in? Geography Why did you decide to go to graduate school? I wanted to grow my skills and knowledge to better address the issues and topics in which I am most interested. I love to learn and I really enjoy research, so I decided that pursuing a doctorate…
Graduate Student Spotlight: Katelyn Hess from the Department of Political Science
What department are you a graduate student in? I am a sixth-year Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science. Why did you decide to go to graduate school? I wanted to go to graduate school to increase my professional options and career prospects. It has given me the necessary skills to prepare me both…
