I am a Latina sociologist and I’m deeply committed to being an excellent liberal arts teacher, scholar, and mentor.

In my courses, I work closely with students to explore the intersectional ways that race, class, and gender are constructed, embedded in power structures, and inform our perspectives and life chances. Additionally, we examine the relationship between social structures and agency and the myriad ways that people have come together to work for social justice. I also help students hone their critical thinking abilities and research skills. In all of my classes, I hope to convey to students how meaningful and important research can be, particularly as we work to tackle the many complex social issues facing us today.

Mentoring sociology majors is a central and highly rewarding part of my teaching career. For instance, I have mentored students in my capstone courses, guiding them in every aspect of the research process. This intensive mentoring process has led to numerous capstone students having sole-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals and winning national and regional undergraduate paper awards for their research. In addition, a number of students have participated in the American Sociological Association Honors Program and many have presented at regional and national sociology meetings. 

I am also dedicated to research collaboration with faculty and students. In total, I have worked collaboratively with 18 students on a number of scholarly works, including the Mississippi civil rights movement, campus climate (with Dr. Reginald Byron, co-Principal Investigator), neighborhood surveillance, and contemporary American racial attitudes research projects. These students include J. Clint Morris, Madeline Pizzo, Alice Nguyen, Melissa Garcia, Griffin Ferry, Brianna Billingsley, Nathan Tuttle, Holly O’Hara, Dakota Cortez, Madeline Carrola, Mary Jalufka, Madison Adams, Katherine Holcomb, Riley Naugle, Natasha Perez-Krause, ThuyMi Phung, Carson Maxfield, and Brigit Reese. As research collaborators, students are involved in every aspect of the research process and are also co-authors on conference presentations and journal publications. Our collaborative work has led to numerous national and regional presentations as well as a variety of publications.

Education

PhD, Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin

Master’s, Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin

BA, Sociology, Trinity University

Honors

• The Christine Robertson Morenz Endowed Professor, 2019-2024.
• Invited member of the American Sociological Association Honors Program Advisory Council, 2022-2024.
• Invited member of the 2022 Southern Sociological Society Program Committee.
• Herbert Allen Research Assistant Program award, 2019.
• Invited presenter, Race, Ethnicity, and Place conference, 2018.
• Invited presenter, Faculty of Color Uniting for Success Institute, 2018.
• Sam Taylor award for neighborhood surveillance project, 2017.
• Invited member of the Southern Sociological Society Program Committee for the 2017 meeting, 2016.
• Invited member of the senior editorial board for Journal of Undergraduate Ethnography, 2016-present.
• Invited member of the Undergraduate Paper Competition Committee, the Southwestern Sociological Association (chair: Robert Wallace), 2016-2017.
• Invited Keynote Address Speaker, 2015, Texas State University, Center for Diversity and Gender Studies Symposium titled Democracy’s Promise - Deisolating Gendered Experiences.
• The Sam Taylor Award, “They May Be Up To No Good,” 2013.
• Faculty-Student Collaborative Research Grant (Co-principal investigator with Reggie Byron). “Grid Iron in the Ivory Tower,” 2013.
• The Sam Taylor Award, “Grid Iron in the Ivory Tower,” 2012.
• Andrew W. Mellon Integrated Scholarly Community Grant (Co-principal investigator w/ Sue Mennicke and Reggie Byron). “What Happens When the ‘Global Citizen’ Returns?’ The Impact of Study Abroad on How Students View Racial Diversity at their Home Institution,” 2011.
• Andrew W. Mellon Integrated Scholarly Community Grant (Co-principal investigator w/ Reggie Byron). “Racing the Academy: A Baseline Assessment of How Students View the Racial Climate at Southwestern,” 2010.
• Southwestern University Teaching Award, 2009.
• Southwestern University Teaching Award finalist, 2004.
• Invited member of the American Sociological Association Honors Council, 2006-2010.
• Participant in The National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute titled African American Freedom and Civil Rights Struggles. Harvard University. WEB Dubois Institute for African American Studies, 2003.
• Recipient of the Funds for the Advancement of the Discipline Award (FAD) funded by The American Sociological Association and The National Science Foundation, 2000-2001.
• Southwestern University Unity in Action Diversity Award, 2000.
• New York University Press Author of the Month for Women of Steel: Female Bodybuilders and The Struggle for Self-definition, 1998.
  

Affiliations

• American Sociological Association – Racial and Ethnic Minorities section; Race, Gender, and Class section; Latina/o section; Sex and Gender section; Community and Urban Sociology
• Southern Sociological Society
• American Association of University Professors

I use mixed methods and qualitative research to explore how race and racism impact people’s attitudes (Critical Race Theory), their experiences in their neighborhoods (racial profiling and racialized surveillance), their perceptions and experiences at their universities (campus climate research), and their involvement in activism (involvement in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement).

Selected peer-reviewed publications:

Lowe, Maria R., Luis A. Romero and Madeline Y. Carrola. 2024. “‘Racism Masked as Safety Concerns’: The Experiences of Residents of Color with Racialized Coveillance In a Predominantly White Neighborhood.” Sociology or Race and Ethnicity 10(3):389-404.

Lowe, Maria R., Madeline Carrola, Dakota Cortez, and Mary Jalufka. 2022. “’I Live Here’”: How Residents of Color Experience Racialized Surveillance and Diversity Ideology in a Liberal Predominantly White Neighborhood.” Social Currents. 9(3): 207-225. 

Lowe, Maria R., Reginald A. Byron, Holly O’Hara, Dakota Cortez. 2021. “Neutralized Hegemonic Banter: The Persistence of Sexist and Racist Joking Among Undergraduate Students.” Sociological Inquiry. 91(1): 181-206.

Lowe, Maria R., Angela Stroud, and Alice Nguyen. 2017. “Who Looks Suspicious? The Heightened Surveillance of Black Men and the Reproduction of Racialized Fears on a Predominantly White Neighborhood Listserv,” Social Currents. 4(1): 34-50. 

Byron, Reginald A. Maria R. Lowe, Brianna Billingsley, and Nathan Tuttle. 2017. “Performativity Double Standards at the Sexual Orientation Climate at a Southern Liberal Arts University, The Journal of Homosexuality, 64(5): 671-696. 

Lowe, Maria R., Reginald Byron, and Susan Mennicke, 2014. “The Racialized Impact of Study Abroad on U.S. Students’ Subsequent Interracial Interactions” Education Research International. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/edri/2014/232687/. 

Lowe, Maria R., Reginald A. Byron, Griffin Ferry and Melissa J. Garcia. 2013. “Food for Thought: Frequent Interracial Dining Experiences as a Predictor of Students’ Racial Climate Perceptions.” The Journal of Higher Education, 84(4): 569-400. (Lowe is corresponding author; Lowe and Byron are co-lead authors).

Lowe, Maria R. 2009. “‘Sowing the Seeds of Discontent:’ Tougaloo College’s Social Science Forums as a Prefigurative Movement Free Space, 1952-1964.” Journal of Black Studies. 39: 865-887.

Lowe, Maria R. 2008. “An Unseen Hand: The Role of Sociology Professor Ernst Borinski in Mississippi’s Struggle for Racial Integration in the 1950s and 1960s.” Leadership. 4: 27-47.

Lowe, Maria R. 2007. “An Oasis of Freedom in a Closed Society: The Significance of Tougaloo College in Mississippi’s Civil Rights Struggle, 1954 to 1965. The Journal of Historical Sociology. Vol. 20, #4: 486-520.

Lowe, Maria R. and J. Clint Morris. 2007. “Civil Rights Advocates in the Academy: White Pro-integrationist Faculty at Millsaps College. Journal of Mississippi History. Vol. 69, # 2: 121-45.

Projects underway:

Lowe, Maria R., Reginald A. Byron, Brigit Reese, Carson Maxfield. “Treated with Suspicion”: Racialized Surveillance, Anti-Blackness, and the Maintenance of Predominantly White Neighborhoods as White Spaces.”

Lowe, Maria R., ThuyMi Phung, and Kat Holcomb. “The Interaction of Race and Racial Resentment: Predictors of American Attitudes about Critical Race Theory.”

Lowe, Maria R. and Madison Adams. “How Does a Progressive Predominantly White Neighborhood Respond to Racism within Its Boundaries?”

Research in the News:

“Breaking Bread.” August 23, 2011. Inside Higher Education.

“Tracing the Origins of the Civil Rights Movement.” January 21, 2011. Southwestern in the News.

Lowe, Maria R., Brigit Reese, Carson Maxfield, “Racialized Fears in White Spaces: The Frequency with Which Residents Worry About Being Perceived As Suspicious in Their Neighborhood.” Paper presented at the Southern Sociological Society meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 2024.

Lowe, Maria R., ThuyMi Phung and Katherine Holcomb, “’Because history has been whitewashed for decades: Predictors of Attitudes about Critical Race Theory.” Paper presented at the Southern Sociological Society meeting, Myrtle Beach, SC, April 2023

Lowe, Maria R. and Madison Adams, “’Better than Most, Less than Hoped:’ A Progressive Predominantly White Neighborhood Addresses Racialized Surveillance Practices.” Paper accepted at the Southern Sociological Society meeting, Jacksonville, Florida, April 2020 (meeting canceled because of Covid-19 pandemic).

Lowe, Maria R., Madeline Carrola, Dakota Cortez, and Mary Jalufka. “Racialized Surveillance of Parks and Pools in a Liberal Predominantly White Neighborhood.” Lowe and Carrola co-presenters. Paper presented at the American Sociological Association meeting, New York, NY, August 2019.

Lowe, Maria R. and Madeline Carrola. “Outsiders Within: The Effects of Online and In-person Surveillance on Residents of Color in a Predominantly White Neighborhood.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Atlanta, GA, April 2019.

Invited presenter, “Do They Belong Here? Racialized Boundary Monitoring in an East Austin Neighborhood.” Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference, The University of Texas at Austin. October 23-25, 2018. Co-authors: Madeline Carrola, Dakota Cortez, and Mary Jalufka.

Lowe, Maria R. and Dakota Cortez. “Race and Contested Spaces in a Liberal Predominantly White Planned Urban Community.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, New Orleans, LA, April 2018.

Lowe, Maria R., Reginald A. Byron, Holly O’Hara, and Dakota Cortez. “Neutralizing the Harm of Sexist and Racist Jokes Among Undergraduate Students.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the August American Sociological Association, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2017.

Byron, Reginald A., Maria R. Lowe, Nathan Tuttle, and Brianna Billingsley. “The Paradox of Colorblindness: Undergraduate Students’ Selective Perceptions about Race and Racial Diversity,” Paper presented at the August American Sociological Association meeting, Seattle, WA. 2016.

Lowe, Maria R. and Reginald A. Byron. “The Specter of Gendered Aggression: Predicting Students’ Level of Comfort at Weekend Campus Parties.” Paper presented at the August American Sociological Association meeting, Chicago, IL. 2015.

Lowe, Maria R., Angela Stroud, and Alice Nguyen. “‘Suspicious Person or Neighbor?’: Heightened Surveillance of Black Men On a Predominantly White Neighborhood Listserv.” Paper presented at the August American Sociological Association meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2014.

Byron, Reginald A. Maria R. Lowe, Brianna Billingsley, and Nathan Tuttle. “Performativity Double Standards and the Sexual Orientation Climate at a Southern Liberal Arts University.” Paper presented at the August American Sociological Association meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2014.

Lowe, Maria R., Reginald A. Byron, Nathan Tuttle, and Brianna Billingsley. “On a Normal Day, Zero to One Times: Predicting the Frequency with which Students Think about their Race at a Predominantly White Southern University, Paper presented at the April Southern Sociological Society meeting, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2014.

Lowe, Maria R. and Alice Nguyen. “They May Be Up to No Good: The Heightened Surveillance of Men of Color on a Predominantly White Neighborhood Listserv.” Paper presented at the Southern Sociological Society meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2013.

Lowe, Maria R., Susan Mennicke, and Reginald A. Byron. “What Happens When the ‘Global Citizen’ Return? The Impact of Study Abroad on How Students View Racial Diversity at their Home Institution.” Paper presented at the Southern Sociological Society meetings, New Orleans, LA. March 2012.

Lowe, Maria R., Reginald A. Byron, Griffin Ferry and Melissa J. Garcia. “Food for Thought: The Impact of Race and Frequent Interracial Dining Experiences on Students’ Perceptions of the Racial Climate on Campus.” Paper presented at the “Race/Gender/Class Perspective on Navigating the Academy” paper session of the American Sociological Association meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada. August 2011.

Byron, Reginald A., Maria R. Lowe, Melissa J. Garcia and Griffin Ferry. “Racially Invisible Yet Invisibly Racial: White University Students’ Conflicting Perspectives on Race and the Value of Racial/Ethnic Diversity.” Paper presented at the American Sociological Association meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada, August, 2011.

Lowe, Maria. “Diversity Among Activists: Factors Affecting Faculty and Student Participation in Mississippi’s Civil Rights Movement.” Paper presented at the American Sociological Association meetings, Atlanta, Georgia, 2010.

Lowe, Maria. “The Impact of Race, Gender, and Social Networks in Mississippi’s Struggle for Racial Equality: An Analysis of Pro-Integrationist Tougaloo College and Millsaps College Students, 1954 to 1965.” Paper presented at The Southern Sociological Society meetings, New Orleans, LA, 2009.