Barret Katuna, Executive Officer
Barret Katuna became the full-time Executive Officer of Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) in January 2017. Barret has been a member of SWS since 2008. Her initial SWS involvement began with the International Committee where she served as a lead United Nations delegate to the Economic and Social Council for SWS.
Prior to working for SWS, Barret was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut from August 2014 – December 2017. Barret completed her Ph.D. in April 2014 from the University of Connecticut. The title of her dissertation is: Breaking the Glass Ceiling?: Gender and Leadership in Higher Education. While pursuing her Ph.D., Barret also earned certificates from the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and Human Rights Institute. Barret has published her research in Societies Without Borders and Social Movement Studies. Barret is originally from Northeastern Pennsylvania and received a Bachelor’s Degree (French and Political Science) and Master’s Degree (Political Science) from Lehigh University before pursuing her graduate studies in Connecticut. Barret currently resides in South Glastonbury, Connecticut.
Adia Harvey Wingfield, President
Adia Harvey Wingfield is Professor of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research examines how racial and gender inequality persist in professional occupations. Dr. Wingfield has lectured internationally on her research in this area, and her work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals including Social Problems, Gender & Society, and Ethnic and Racial Studies. She is also a contributing writer for The Atlantic and has written for Fortune and Inside Higher Ed. Professor Wingfield is the author of several books, most recently No More Invisible Man: Race and Gender in Men’s Work, and has won multiple awards from sections of the American Sociological Association
Andrea Boyles, Sister to Sister Committee Co-Chair
Dr. Andrea (Drea) S. Boyles, a native of St. Louis, MO, earned a B.A. in English and M.A. in Sociology from Lincoln University of Missouri. Later, she received her PhD in Sociology from Kansas State University with concentrations in Gender and Criminology. Her research interests are social inequality; gender; the intersection of race, class, and gender; criminology; incarceration; race, place, and policing, ethnography; neighborhood disorder and crime prevention. She has taught a broad series of courses in Anthropology, Sociology, and Criminal Justice ranging from Culture and Communication, Social Problems, Sociocultural Theory, and the Sociology of Poverty and Conflict to Policing, Victimology, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender and Public Policy in Criminal Justice.
Dr. Boyles has also taught within the Missouri prison system and presented research on the effects of incarcerated parents on children. As author of Race, Place, and Suburban Policing: Too Close for Comfort, Dr. Boyles’s current research hinges on community disorder and black social ties with another manuscript under contract with the University of California Press.
Angela J. Hattery, Past Treasurer
Angela J. Hattery, is Professor and Director of the Women & Gender Studies Program at George Mason University. She earned her B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Carleton College and her M.S. and PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her teaching and research focuses on all forms of inequality including racism, classism and sexism. She is the author of 11 books, including a new book in the fall 2017, Policing the Black Body, as well as dozens of book chapters and peer reviewed articles. She has written several books on the impact of social inequality on Black families and she has been researching and teaching about violence against women for more than 20 years. She has numerous articles on sexual abuse and domestic violence, as well as three books on these topics, including: Gender, Power and Violence (coming in 2017), The Social Dynamics of Family Violence which was published in a second edition in 2016 and Intimate Partner Violence which was published in 2008. On a regular basis, she is asked to comment on stories about violence against women for the Washington Post, USA Today, New York Times and other outlets. She serves as a consultant to agencies that seek to combat violence against women and she regularly appears as an expert on these issues with major US TV and radio news media. From 2014-2019 she holds elected office in the international feminist organization Sociologists for Women in Society. She teaches class on feminist research methods, social stratification, African American families, and family violence. She has served on the SWS council as secretary and currently serves as treasurer.
Chriss Sneed, Student Representative
Chriss Sneed is a Sociology PhD student at University of Connecticut and the 2017-2018 Student Representative on Council of Sociologists for Women in Society. Their recent scholarship has focused on identity, social movements, and the reproduction of narratives of social difference/inclusion. Outside of research, Chriss is the founder and lead organizer of the interdisciplinary conference “Borderlands: A Critical Graduate Symposium” held each year at University of Connecticut.
Heather Laube, Publications Committee Co-Chair
Heather Laube is Associate Professor of Sociology and department chair at the University of Michigan-Flint. She also currently serves as the Faculty Fellow for Faculty Mentoring. Her scholarly interests center on feminists in academia and on the ways we can transform the academy and society. She has been an active member of SWS since graduate school and has served in numerous ways, including as chair of the Awards Committee, co-chair of the Committee on Academic Justice, and now as co-Chair of the Publications Committee. She served as program chair for the 2012 Winter Meetings.
Jennifer Black, Bookkeeper
Meet Jennifer Black, the new SWS bookkeeper. I am thrilled to be working with Sociologists for Women in Society. The feminist mission is one that I wholeheartedly embrace. I have too frequently seen instances, in both my professional and personal life, where a woman is considered less important than a man. During my career, I have worked with organizations that allowed me to help women reach their full potential and look forward to continuing that work with SWS.
I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Hartford and have spent most of my career in actuarial and data management roles at Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford, Connecticut. I have three adult children living near me in the central Connecticut area and have the companionship of an extra-large cat, Nacho.
Contact Jen at:swsbookkeeper@outlook.com
Laura Kramer, Career Development Committee Chair
Since 2008, I have been Professor Emerita of Sociology at Montclair State University. I remain professionally active, serving on several advisory boards of NSF ADVANCE projects. I consult with other ADVANCE projects, and with institutions otherwise working on initiatives toward developing a more diverse faculty. In addition, I sometimes serve as a proposal reviewer, panelist, or site visitor for NSF programs, and continue to participate in ASA’s Department Resource Group. I joined SWS in its first year, when I was a graduate student at Stony Brook; I served as Treasurer, and received both the Feminist Activism and Mentoring Awards. With Kathrin Zippel’s leadership I became involved in the first pre-meeting writing workshop, and have continued to participate in this informal opportunity for professional networking and developing.
Natasha Santana, Intern
Meet Natasha Santana, the new SWS Communications Intern.
My name is Natasha Santana. I am the Communications Intern for Sociologists for Women in Society. I am a Senior majoring in Communications and minoring in Sociology at the University of Connecticut. I have a wide-range of interests from design, photography, and blogging to marketing and advertising. However, I have always had a soft spot for social sciences, which is why interning with the SWS is a great way to combine my skills and passions. Along with being the Communications Intern for SWS, I am also the Marketing Director and writer for Her Campus UConn and a layout designer for The Daily Campus. After graduation, I hope to work at a non-profit organization, a magazine, or an advertising firm. During my time interning at SWS, I hope to further promote the organization and all SWS has to offer.
Contact Natasha at:natasha.santana@uconn.edu
Ranita Ray, Sister to Sister Committee Co-Chair
I am a feminist ethnographer focused on class, race, gender, and discourses around urban poverty, as well as educational and work trajectories of marginalized youth. I am an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. My latest book, The Making of a Teenage Service Class: Poverty and Mobility in an American City (University of California Press, 2017), draws on women of color feminism to challenge common wisdom that targeting “risk behaviors” such as drugs, gangs, violence, and teen parenthood is key to breaking the cycle of poverty. I have also written about how white feminism can engage with race and class (“Identity of Distance: How Economically Marginalized Black and Latina Women Navigate Risk Discourse and Employ Feminist Ideals” in the journal Social Problems), and kinship ties under the constraints of poverty in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Additionally, I have written about urban issues, human rights, and aging experiences of Asian Americans.
I am currently conducting a multi-year and multi-sited feminist ethnographic project that explores the relationship between education, poverty, social mobility, and policing in marginalized communities in Las Vegas. I’m also actively involved in community oriented research projects, and I teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students studying poverty, social inequalities, intersectional feminisms, and contemporary theories.
I have been involved with SWS and sister to sister for a decade now.
Veronica (Ronni) Tichenor, Treasurer
I am an Associate Professor of Sociology, employed by the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. I joined SWS in 1996 and have served on several committees, including Discrimination, Academic Justice, and Sister-to-Sister, co-Chairing the last from 2010-2012. I served on the Program Committee for the SWS Winter Meeting in Tamaya, New Mexcio in 2013, and served two years on the Editorial Board for Gender & Society.
SUSAN LEE – Past Chair of International Committee
Susan Lee has been a member of the International Committee since 2002 and chair since 2014. She specializes in gender and development with interests in rural women, Cambodia, widows, women in Buddhism, human rights, and women’s political leadership. She is a Master Lecturer in Social Sciences at Boston University and a priest in the Episcopal Church. She serves as Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Fall River, Massachusetts. Susan has two sons and lives in New Bedford, Massachusetts.