Dr. Laura Steck

1. Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Dr. Laura Steck Assistant Professor of Sociology Department of Behavior Sciences York College of Pennsylvania

2. Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Background • Undergraduate and Masters from Indiana University of Pennsylvania • PhD from University of Connecticut • Currently, Assistant Professor at York College of Pennsylvania

3. Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Knowing as a Sociologist • Sociologists center their learning and knowing around understanding how our personal experiences are shaped by our broader experiences. • The relationship of groups is what frame us or make us tick. Social forces shape our basic lives. • Process information with a wide and far reaching lens and very much experience driven.

4. Motherhood and higher education Emotional work issues Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Research Interests

5. Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Motherhood and Higher Education • Dissertation Research – “Gender and Parenthood in Postsecondary Education: The Social Organization of Everyday Life among Undergraduate Students with Children” • Current research is focused on college attendance and motherhood. • The research in this area is sparse concerning the general population. There are well-researched pockets of specific socio-economic targeted groups, but concerned with looking at whether the implications also extend to the general population.

6. Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Emotional Work • Emotional work issues – attempting to find the correct emotion/response for the situation with which you are involved • Current paper under review – “The Emotional Work of Infant Feeding” • Kin work issues – work associated with connecting with family

7. Qualitative studies – race, gender, media and family issues Most of her work is qualitative in nature, but working toward a better balance Quantitative studies – race scholarship, work in occupation, social organizations, social psychology, social variables Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Researching as a Sociologist • There is a division amongst researching sociologists – quantitatively and qualitatively

8. Evolutionary Physiology Conflicting ways of knowing Challenges of awareness Challenges associated with information dissemination Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Conflict and Challenges

9. Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Conflict • Evolutionary Physiology – a body of thought attempting to combine sociology and biology elements • Attempts to explain behavior by linking biological predispositions • We behave for the sole purpose of getting our genes into the population – “survival of the fittest” to explain human behavior and interactions

10. Background Information Knowing as a Sociologist Research Interests Researching in Sociology Conflicts and Challenges Dr. Laura Steck Challenge for Sociologists • General awareness of the disciplines worth and how it can be beneficial to a given community – even within an academic community. • Dealing with the oversimplification of information presented from social research. • Media bites oversimplify or target anomalies rather than present the larger and far reaching picture.

11. Questions Posed • Assorted background questions. How did you decide on sociology? Was academia your original goal?, etc. • What are your current research interests? • How do sociologists prove things to be true? What are some of the core beliefs that support this discipline? • How does your perspective as a sociologist effect the way that you learn new things? • What do you feel are the biggest challenges that sociologists face today? • Do you have some personal “ways of knowing” issues that contradict your field’s work? In other words, do you question/doubt some current facet of sociological thinking?