Completed Theses and Dissertations

Following are the theses and dissertations sociology students have completed in recent years. 

(Theses and dissertations submitted prior to 2014 can be located at ThinkIR (the University’s Institutional Repository), and ThinkIR links to 2022 theses and dissertations will be posted when available.)

Theses

• Janessa Puckett (2023): "Labor Process Theory in Education: Teacher Retention, Turnover, Attendance, and Optimism in Jefferson County Public Schools."
• Cat Alexander (2022): "'I Don’t Want to Upset Anyone – I Just Want to Exist':  Nonbinary College Student Experiences at a Public Mid-Southern University,”
• Ryan Price (2022): “Beyond a Divide: Reconceptualizing Digital Capital in the Education System."
• Aubrey Woolley (2021): "In the Balance:  Perceptions of Work-Family Balance for Women in Higher Education."
• Taylor Tolles (2021): "Framing the Guard: A Content Analysis of how the News Media Frames the National Guard During Time of Crisis."  
• Joseph Brewer (2021): "Exploring Socialization Processes for Leisure-Based Esports: A Qualitative Study."
• Thomas Isaak (2020): "External Homophobia and Outness among Gay Men."
• Rebecca Halpryn (2020): "Connecting Right-Wing Authoritarianism to Environmental Beliefs and Behaviors:  A Pilot Study.”
• Michael Daugherty (2020): "Gun Ownership as an Expression of Whiteness and Masculinity."
• Bailey Holland (2020): "Evaluation of a Jail Reentry Program."
• Courtney Lush (2020): "Marriage and Cohabitation in the United States:  The Effects of Union Type on Relationship Quality."
• Brandon Schmidt (2019): "'Monogamish' : constructing shared meaning of commitment and marriage in same-sex relationships."
• Assel Kuzembayeva (2019): "Marriage Among U.S. International Students: Meanings and Aspirations."
• Megan Robinson (2017): "The lose-lose situation : identity prioritization and gendered communication in co-recreational intramural basketball."
• Elizabeth Roberts (2017): "Organizational collaboration and its impact on immigrants and refugees in Louisville."
• Jack ("Trey") Allen (2017): "American Muslim men and stigma : the use of religious communities as mechanisms for stigma management."
• Eileen Schuhmann (2017): "Framing bottled water : an analysis of the framing contest between the anti-bottled water movement and the bottled water industry."
• Dan Martin (2016): "Casting calls on the hillbilly highway : a content analysis of Appalachian-based reality television programming."
• Dan Delaney (2016): "Secular but not superficial : an overlooked nonreligious/nonspiritual identity."
• Eric Jordan (2016): "Reel racism, real consequences : a multiple case analysis of savior films as racial projects."
• Jessica Newton (2015): "'If we don't talk about it, they'll never go away' : an examination of the experiences of and reactions to stigma by a diverse population of adoptive parents in the United States."
• Jennifer Hall (2015): "Food safety : analyzing the connection between government and industrial influence."
• Shawn Rolfe (2015): "Another collateral consequence? : Examining homeless shelters policies on sex offenders across four states."
• James "Kent" Pugh (2014): "Down comes the mountain : coal mining and health in central Appalachia from 2000 to 2010."
• Brandon McReynolds (2014): "Informal college study groups : gender and group homophily."
• Brittany Buttry-Watson (2014): "A case study of the early institutionalization process of a restorative justice social movement organization."

Dissertations

• Nancy Steinmetz (2023): "Fear of Becoming a Victim of Crime on a College Campus:  A Visual and Factorial Experimental Design Survey Analysis of Location and Demographic Factors."
• Jack "Trey" Allen (2021): "A Study of Arab and South Asian American Men with Immigrant-Family Origins in Two New Immigrant Destinations."
• Nathan Jones (2020): "In Need of a Hero?  The Creation and Use of the Legend of General George S. Patton, Jr." 
• Jonathon Holland (2020): “The Norms Are More Guidelines Than Actual Rules:  Applying Isomorphism to Disability Accommodations in the Catholic Church.”
• Jennifer Hall (2020): “The Sidewalk Less Traveled: Evaluating Change in Community and Police Perception."
• Eric Jordan (2020): “Exploring Black "Saviors": A Content Analysis of Black Characters, and Racial Discourses, in Obama Era Films.”
• Theo Malone (2020): “Getting Up: An Ethnography of Hip Hop Graffiti Writers, their Art, and Perceptions of Society’s Reactions.”
• Jamar Wheeler (2020): "Black Middle-Class Neighborhoods in Louisville through Multiple Lenses."
• Tonya Lanphier (2019): "Evaluation of a Learning Community Program for Developmental Reading Students at a Two-year College."
• Telesphore Kagaba (2018): "Gender boundary negotiation within the U.S. immigrant/refugee resettlement : how transnational bridge-building matters."
• Jennifer Sinski (2018): "Gender and leadership in animal sheltering organizations."
• Adam Sizemore (2018): "Killing Martin county : resiliency in a central Appalachian community."
• Kathryn Adamchik (2018): "'Why am I in school?':  a mixed methods investigation into stopping out of college."
• Heidi Williams (2017): "Embeddedness and commitment : tracing patterns of family instability and child wellbeing over time."
• Jelisa Clark (2017): "This is a black-white conversation : navigating race, class, and gender at an urban school."
• Brandon McReynolds (2017): "The knowledge economy : increasing human capital on the U.S. I-65 corridor."
• Kent Pugh (2017): "Moving mountains : a study examining long-term impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining on mortality in the Appalachian region using geographic information sciences techniques."
• Rob Shelby (2016): "Modern megachurch organization in the United States (2005-2013) : an exploratory organizational study of the American megachurch phenomenon."
• Christa Moore (2016): "Care, constraint, and collaboration : situating gender and power among multidisciplinary human service organizations."
• Cheryl Crane (2016): "'We weren't created to do it by ourselves' : good mothering and maternal support across race, class, and family structure.
• Mike Littrell (2015): "The citizen police academy : rational myths, legitimization, and emotion work : the effects of emotion on acceptance of rational myths."
• Maggie McCandless (2014): "The whore paradox : "rational" condom use decisions among prostitutes in the context of stigma and patriarchal bargaining."