People

Faculty

Antonaccio, Olena
Belgrave, Linda
Braddock, Jomills
Chitwood, Dale
Dawkins, Marvin

Dunham, Roger
French, Michael
Johnson, Robert
Murphy, John
Nielsen, Amie

Portes, Alejandro
Primov, George
Samson, Frank
Sokol-Katz, Jan
Wilson, George

Olena Antonaccio, Ph.D. (North Carolina State University, 2008)
Assistant Professor
Crime, deviance, social control, and sociological theory
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Olena Antonaccio received her Ph.D. in sociology at North Carolina State University in 2008. Her areas of specialty are crime, deviance, social control, and sociological theory. Her research interests include empirical tests and possible elaboration and integration of theories of crime and deviance, particularly using cross-cultural evidence. She is currently involved in the international data collection project being conducted in Bangladesh, Armenia, and Ukraine. Her articles have appeared in Criminology.
Linda L. Belgrave, Ph.D. (Case Western Reserve University, 1985)
Associate Professor
Social Gerontology, Medical Sociology, Social Psychology, Quantitative & Qualitative Research Methods
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Linda Liska Belgrave earned her Ph.D. in sociology at Case Western Reserve University in 1985. She specializes in the sociology of health and illness, social gerontology, research methods, and social psychology. Her primary research interests are in the experience of chronic illness and illness behavior, particularly as these intersect with aging, though she sometimes tackles other topics. She has published articles in journals such as Symbolic Interaction, Research on Aging, The Gerontologist, and Qualitative Health Research.

Dr. Belgrave's current research involves a study of the subjective meaning of well-being among elders. Linda Belgrave teaches a number of courses, including SOC 210 Introduction to Social Research and SOC 384 Medical Sociology at the undergraduate level and SOC 613 Advanced Sociological Statistics and Methods: Qualitative Research and SOC 691 Special Topics in Medical Sociology: Social Construction and Experience of Illness and Disease for the graduate program.
Jomills H. Braddock II, Ph.D. (Florida State, 1973)
Professor
Race & Ethnic Relations, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Sport, Social Psychology
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Dr. Braddock received his Ph.D. from Florida State University (1973). He has previously held faculty/research appointments in the Department of Sociology, University of Maryland Park and The Johns Hopkins University, Center for Social Organization of Schools/Department of Sociology. His broad research interests in issues of inequality and social justice have been supported by public and private grants and contracts addressing equality of opportunities in education, employment, and sports. His work on these topics typically involves secondary analyses of large-scale national longitudinal data and address public policy issues.

Dr. Braddock previously served two terms on the National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board which was established by Congress to develop a long-term research agenda and set priorities to guide the work of the Education Department's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). He is also the Director of the Center for Research on Sport in Society. This Center, working with individuals in South Florida and elsewhere, focuses on community-based projects emphasizing athletic activity and providing formative and summative evaluation expertise.
Dale D. Chitwood, Ph.D. (University of Kentucky, 1980)
Professor Emeritus
Medical Sociology, Epidemiology, Drug Abuse, HIV/AIDS
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Dr. Chitwood is professor of medical sociology with secondary appointments at the School of Medicine within the Departments of Epidemiology & Public Health and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences.

Professor Chitwood has conducted research for the past 25 years on drug and alcohol misuse, and since 1986 has been studying the relationship between HIV/AIDS and illicit drug use. He has been principal investigator of numerous research grants from NIH, CDC, and NIJ. Currently Dr. Chitwood is the principal investigator of a multi-year investigation of the efficacy of two behavioral interventions to reduce HIV-related risk behaviors among persons who sniff heroin. He also is a program leader in the NIDA-funded Drug Abuse and AIDS Research Center at the School of Medicine .

Dr. Chitwood has published extensively in the areas of drug misuse, HIV/AIDS, and health services research in a variety of peer-reviewed journals such as AIDS, AIDS Care, American Behavioral Scientist, American Journal of Public Health , Criminology, Drugs and Society, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Environmental Health Perspectives, Human Organization, Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes and Human Retrovirology, Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Drug Issues, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Urban Health, Lancet, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Population Research and Policy Review, Psychological Bulletin, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, and Social Science and Medicine.
Marvin Dawkins, Ph.D. (Florida State, 1975)
Professor
Race & Ethnic Relations, Urban Sociology,
African American Studies
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Dr. Dawkins received his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1975 and completed postdoctoral research at the Joint Center for Political Studies (Ford Foundation Public Policy Fellowship, 1975-76) and The Johns Hopkins University (NIE Fellowship-Center for Social Organization of Schools, 1979-80). He has held faculty appointments at the University of Maryland-College Park, Old Dominion University, and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. His research has examined issues of race and social equity, focusing on such topics as alcohol and other substance abuse prevention, the long-term effects of school desegregation, behavior problems and minority youth, and sports and race relations in America.

He is co-author (with Graham C. Kinloch) of African American Golfers During the Jim Crow Era (Praeger, 2000) and has published articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of Drug Issues, International Journal of the Addictions, British Journal of Addiction, Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Black Studies, Black Scholar, Western Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Negro Education, Negro Educational Review, Urban Education, Sociological Spectrum, International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences, among others.
Roger G. Dunham, Ph.D. (Washington State, 1977)
Professor and Chair
Policing, Juvenile Delinquency, Criminology
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Professor Roger Dunham earned his Ph.D. in sociology at Washington State University in 1977. His areas of interest are Juvenile Delinquency, Theories of Crime and Deviance, and Policing. His main criminology courses are SOC470 Theories of Deviant Behavior and SOC372 Police and Community.

His current research involves the analysis of police decision-making regarding the exercise of important police functions, such as stopping, searching, and arresting citizens of different races and genders, police use of force, and vehicle pursuits. Drawing upon years of research on these police-citizen interactions, he and coauthor Geoffrey Alpert have constructed and tested a theory of police-citizen interactions called The Authority Maintenance Theory.

Professor Dunham's recent publications include Policing: Continuity and Change (Waveland Press, 2006), Critical Issues in Policing (Waveland Press, 2010), and Understanding Police Use of Force: Officers, Suspects, and Reciprocity ( Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Michael T. French, Ph.D. (Boston College, 1986)
Professor
Health Economics, Health Policy, Human Resource Economics, and Economics of Crime
Dr. French is a professor of health economics in the Department of Sociology at the University of Miami, with secondary appointments in the Department of Economics and Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. He is also director of the Health Economics Research Group (www.miami.edu/herg) in the Department of Sociology and research director of the Health Administration and Policy Program in the School of Business Administration. His research interests and experience includes health policy and program evaluation, substance abuse research, health economics, alternative health care delivery systems, human resource economics, and the economics of crime. He has been principal investigator or project leader on numerous research grants with the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and several state agencies. Dr. French served on the Health Services Research Initial Review Groups (IRG) for NIDA (1995-2004) and NIAAA (1998-2001), as well as various Extramural Contract and Grant Review Committees for public and private organizations. He is currently on the editorial board for Health Services Research and Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment and serves on several research advisory boards for universities and health care organizations. He was a technical consultant for the National Science Foundation and a technical advisor on evaluation studies of health care programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition, he has provided expert testimony on several legal cases, serves as a research consultant to various public and private organizations, and is a frequent referee for numerous peer-reviewed professional journals. Dr. French has published approximately 150 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of multidisciplinary professional journals including Journal of Health Economics, American Journal of Public Health, Medical Care, Medical Care Research and Review, American Journal of Health Promotion, Health Services Research, Labour Economics, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Evaluation and Program Planning, Health Economics, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Adolescent Health, The Gerontologist, Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Law and Policy, Journal of Public Health Policy, Social Science Research, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Applied Economics, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Justice Quarterly, Public Health Reports, Evaluation and the Health Professions, Telemedicine and e-Health, Economics of Education Review, Journal of Internal Medicine, Addiction, Social Science Quarterly, Social Science Research, Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics, Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, Evaluation Review, Population Health Management, and Southern Economic Journal.
Robert Johnson, Ph.D. (University of Utah, 1983)
Professor
Medical Sociology, Life Course and Aging, Longitudinal Methods, Social Psychology, Deviance
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Professor Johnson specializes in medical sociology, life course and aging studies, and the social psychology of the self. His research interests involve the social and psychological correlates of physical health, and the social and physical correlates of mental health. Professor Johnson's recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, The Gerontologist, and the Journal of Aging and Health, Research on Aging and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Currently, he is investigating the impact of receiving help on perceived health status among older adults, the later stages in the life span and how they moderate the relationships among various dimensions of physical and mental health status, and the relationship between and common antecedents of depression and PTSD.
John Murphy, Ph.D. (Ohio State, 1981)
Professor
Sociological Theory, Social Philosophy, Culture/Globalization Studies
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Dr. Murphy received his Ph.D. degree in 1981 from Ohio State University. His interests are sociological theory, social philosophy, and globalization. He has published books related to the community mental health movement, the computerization of social service agencies, and contemporary social theory. His most recent books are Uriel Molina and the Sandinista Popular Movement (with Manuel J. Caro), La filosofía en la era de la globalización (with Alejandro Serrano Caldera), Globalization with a Human Face (with Jung Min Choi, and Manuel J. Caro), and The Body in Human Inquiry (with Vincent Berdayes and Luigi Esposito). His most recent articles include “Globalization and Medicine in Trinidad,” “Transracialism, multiculturalism, and community,” “El papel de la diversificacion critica en la sociedad contemporánea,” and “Ladiverdidad y el Nuevo contracto social.”
Amie L. Nielsen, Ph.D. (Delaware, 1997)
Associate Professor
Criminology, Deviance, and Quantitative Methods
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Amie L. Nielsen, Ph.D., is an associate professor of sociology. Dr. Nielsen's research interests are in the general areas of race/ethnicity, deviance and crime. Her research has focused on issues related to racial/ethnic differences in heavy alcohol use and drunkenness in adulthood and race differences in criminal behavior. Her current research centers on race/ethnicity, immigration and violence at the community level. Specifically, Dr. Nielsen is examining issues related to racial/ethnic composition, immigrant concentration and neighborhood effects for violent crime. She is also studying the neighborhood characteristics of high concentrations of alcohol outlets. Her recent publications have appeared or will appear in Criminology , Justice Quarterly , The Sociological Quarterly , Journal of Studies on Alcohol , Deviant Behavior , and elsewhere.
Alejandro Portes, Ph.D.
Research Professor
Enthnic enclaves; informal economics; immigrants and immigration; children of immigrants
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Alejandro Portes is Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Sociology and director of the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University. He has formerly taught at Johns Hopkins University, where he held the John Dewey Chair in Arts and Sciences; Duke University, and the University of Texas-Austin. In 1997, he was elected president of the American Sociological Association and served in that capacity in 1998-99. Born in Havana, Cuba, he came to the United States in 1960. He was educated at the University of Havana, Catholic University of Argentina, and Creighton University. He received his M. A. and Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Portes is the author of 250 articles and chapters on national development, international migration, Latin American and Caribbean urbanization, and economic sociology. He has published 30 books and special issues. His books include City on the Edge – the Transformation of Miami (California 1993), co-authored with Alex Stepick and winner of the Robert Park Award for best book in urban sociology and the Anthony Leeds Award for best book in urban anthropology in 1995; and Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3rd edition, (California 2006), designated as a Centennial Publication by the University of California Press in 1996.

His current research is on the adaptation process of the immigrant second generation in comparative perspective, the role of institutions on national development, and immigration and the American health system. In 2001, he published, with Rubén G. Rumbaut, Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation and Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America (California 2001). Legacies is the winner of the 2002 Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association and of the 2002 W. I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki Award for best book from the International Migration Section of ASA. Five volumes of his collected essays have been published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. His most recent articles have appeared in the American Sociological Review, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, International Migration Review, and Population and Development Review.

Portes is a former fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences and of the Russell Sage Foundation. He has received honorary doctorates from the New School for Social Research, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Genoa (Italy). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he received the annual Award for Scientific Reviewing (Social and Politcal Sciences) from the National Academy of Sciences. In 2009, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society and, in 2010; he received the W.E.B. DuBois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award from the American Sociological Association.
George P. Primov, Ph.D. (University of Washington, 1975)
Lecturer and Coordinator of Introductory Courses
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Prof. Primov's substantive interests are in the area of socioeconomic development, especially in Latin America. Dr. Primov previously served as Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Subsequently, he worked two years as a technical advisor in rural sociology for a development project in Northeastern Brazil and for three and a half years for a similar project in Morocco; he has also worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development as a short-term consultant in various African and Latin American countries. For eight years he served as the Chief Technical Officer of a private sector consulting company in Miami.

He currently teaches various undergraduate courses and is responsible for coordinating the department's introductory courses SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology and SOC103 Social Problems
Frank Samson, Ph.D. (Stanford University, 2009)
Assistant Professor
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Frank Samson is an assistant professor of sociology. His research interests include race and ethnic relations, inequality, social psychology, and political sociology. Frank's dissertation utilized a mixed-methods approach (survey-based experiments, a laboratory-based experiment, content analysis, and in-depth interviews) to understand attitudes toward academic meritocracy as a public policy.
Jan Sokol-Katz, Ph.D. (University of Miami, 1993)
Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Criminology
Juvenile Delinquency, Social Problems
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Dr. Jan Sokol-Katz received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Miami in 1993. Formerly with the Center for Research on Sport in Society at the University of Miami, she held the positions of Research Assistant Professor of Sociology and Principle Investigator of TEAMS: Teaching Excellence, Achievement, and Motivation through Sport, a grant housed in the Center. Dr. Sokol-Katz has written and published on issues related to delinquency and substance abuse and on adolescent athletic participation as it relates to gender, delinquency, and psycho-social development. Her articles have appeared in the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior and the Encyclopedia of Violence in the U.S.; and in academic journals including Adolescence, International Journal of the Addictions, Sociological Spectrum, and Sociological Focus.
George Wilson, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University, 1995)
Professor
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Dr. Wilson is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Miami. He earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1995 and his teaching and research interests focus on the institutional production of racial and ethnic inequality in the workplace and the social structural determinants of beliefs about the causes of racial and ethnic inequality as well as how minority groups perceive themselves and other groups in the American stratification system. He currently serves as a Deputy Editor of the American Sociological Review and is also advisory editor for Social Problems.