Assistant Professor of Sociology Amanda Hernandez and environmental studies graduate Sarah Ventimiglia ’24 traveled to Chicago to present at the Association for the Sociology of Religion Annual Meeting. Sarah presented their faculty/student collaborative research “Hashtag ChristianGirl: The White Commodified Self on TikTok.” Amanda’s 2024 book, Intersectional Identities of Christian Women in the U.S.: Faith, Race, and Feminism, was the subject of an “Author Meets Critic” book panel.

Assistant Professor of Sociology Amanda Hernandez was interviewed on the “Classical Ideas” podcast about her 2024 book Intersectional Identities of Christian Women in the United States: Faith, Race, and Feminism. The episode can be streamed here. She also soft launched her forthcoming podcast “But Is It Feminist?,” which can be heard here.

Sociology students and faculty members attended the Southern Sociological Society annual meeting in Charlotte, NC from April 9-12. Five sociology seniors presented their capstone research: Catherine Angell presented “Presidency or Penitentiary: Exploring Americans’ Attitudes Towards Felons’ Right to Vote;” Isabella Bahamon presented “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Choice: Predicting Americans’ Attitudes Towards Abortion Rights,” which won the 2025 Odum Award for Best Undergraduate Paper; Emily Dimiceli presented “‘Obama was voted president by white people’: Predictors of Americans’ Perceptions of Racism;” Mary Kate McAdams presented “‘It seems like the system has a few favorites’: Factors that Affect American Attitudes about Racial and Economic Bias in the Criminal Justice System;” and Chelsey Rocha presented “‘DEI is just racism against white people’: Americans Attitudes About Anti-DEI Bills in Higher Education.” In addition, faculty and students presented on their collaborative research projects. Assistant Professor of Sociology Amanda Hernandez and environmental studies major Sarah Ventimiglia ’25 presented their co-authored study titled, “Hashtag Blessed: Performances of White Femininity and Consumption on TikTok.” Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe presented her collaborative study (with co-authors Dr. Reginald Byron of the University of Denver, Brigit Reese ’24, and Carson Maxfield ’24) titled, “Residents of Color in non-Predominantly White Neighborhoods: Are They More Likely to Worry about Racialized Surveillance Than White Residents?”

Assistant Professor of Sociology Amanda Hernandez was selected to be in the Sacred Writes Spring 2025 Carpenter Cohort. Sacred Writes provides support, resources, and networks for scholars of religion committed to translating the significance of their research to a broader audience. This spring cohort focuses on training scholars of religion, gender, and sexuality on translating their work into public scholarship. More about the program and her cohort can be found here.

Assistant Professors of Sociology Adriana Ponce and Amanda Hernandez, Assistant Professor of Political Science Alexander Goodwin, Assistant Professor of History Bryan Kauma, and Assistant Professor of English Sonia Del Hierro published “Teaching with Color: Thematic Hires and the Politics of Teaching in Texas,” in the journal Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. This article joins a growing conversation in the humanities and humanistic social sciences on ways faculty of color shoulder the burden of thinking about our shared futures as racialized, intersectional, and collaborative. You can find the article here.