Current Graduate Students

PhD Candidates

Moriah Johnson

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: mjohnson58@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Race/Ethnicity; Sociology of Education; Homeschooling; Black Feminist Thought
Dissertation Title: Black Homeschooling Moms in Community: How Black moms are impacting the racialized educational terrain

Dana LaVergne

Advisor: Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: dlavergne@luc.edu

Research Interests: Medical Sociology; Embodiment; Gender and Sexuality; Qualitative Sociology
Dissertation Title: "Buying Time or Doing Harm?”:  Tracing Contestation and Consensus in Debates on Puberty Blockers for Trans Youth

Keyla Navarrete

Advisor: Cristian Paredes, PhD
Email: knavarrete1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Higher Education; Stratification; Race & Ethnicity; Public Opinion; Public Policy; Poverty, Law & Society; Gender; Sex Ratios
Dissertation Title: Fear of Victimization, Trust, Security, and Public Spaces in Guatemala

Tori Olson

Advisors: Anne Figert, PhD and Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: tolson9@luc.edu

Dissertation Title: Measuring Collective Efficacy and its Relationship to Urban Green Spaces

John Henry Sienkiewicz III

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: jsienkiewicz1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Precarious Labor; Sociology of Organizations; Social Movements
Dissertation Title: Grassroots on Asphalt: An Examination of Uber Drivers and Gig Worker Organizing

Julie Szamocki

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email:  jszamocki@luc.edu

Dissertation Title: Mapping Motivations: Analyzing Individual Anti-Gun Violence Activist Participation in Chicago

Juanita Vivas Bastidas

Advisor: Dana Garbarski, PhD
Email: jvivas1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Urban Sociology; Environmental Sociology; Sociology of Mental Health; Intersectionality; Research Methodologies
Dissertation Title: Transforming Latine Barrios in Chicago: How Residents Appraise and Cope with Neighborhood Stressors

Leslie Erin Watland

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: lwatland@luc.edu

Research Interests: Gender & Sexuality; LGBTQ; Sociology of Higher Education; Sociology of Violence; Policy Studies
Dissertation Title: A Phenomenological Study of Meaning Making in University Faculty Regarding Role Expectations in Response to Student Crises

Ryan SC Wong

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rwong1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Religion; Deviance and Social Control; Social Movement; Public Sociology
Dissertation Title: Return of the Religious: The Untold Story of Reaffiliation in the US
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Fatema Zohara

Advisor: Rhys Williams, PhD
Email: fzohara@luc.edu

Research Interests: International Migration, Race & Ethnicity; Sociology of Religion
Dissertation Title: Dating and Courtship Processes among Muslim Bangladeshi North Americans: Navigating Space and Social Identities

PhD Students

Raymond Akumbilim

Advisor: Cristian Paredes, PhD
Email: rakumbilim@luc.edu

Research Interests: Race and Ethnicity; Sociology of Religion

Betsi Burns

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: bburns4@luc.edu

Ahmet Ciftcioglu

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: aciftcioglu@luc.edu

Research Interests: Social Movements; Sociology of Religion; Critical Muslim Studies; Comparative and Historical Sociology; Neoliberalism

Dikshya Dahal

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ddahal@luc.edu

Research Interests: Environmental Sociology; Environmental Justice; Urban Sociology; Organizational Sociology; Social Organization of Philanthropy; Qualitative Methods; Asia and Asian Americans

Stacey Jaksa

Advisor: Teresa Gonzales, PhD
Email: sjaksa@luc.edu

Research Interests: Policy Studies; Demography; Sex, Gender, and Sexuality; Race and Ethnicity; Medical Sociology; Urban Sociology

Abu Said Juel Miah

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Research Interests: 

Email: ajuelmiah@luc.edu

Travis Moody

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Research Interests: Race & Ethnicity

Email: tmoody1@luc.edu

Camillus Njoku

Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: onjoku@luc.edu

Dissertation Title: The Role of Religion in Illness Meaning and Coping among Sub-Saharan African Christian Immigrants (SSACIs) in the US

Kajal Patel

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD and Minwoo Jung, PhD
Email: kpatel54@luc.edu

Research Interests: race/ethnicity with a focus on the South Asian population; sex/gender; digital media; qualitative methods

Lillian Platten

Advisor: Judson G. Everitt, PhD
Email: lplatten@luc.edu

Research Interests: Organizational Theory; Sociology of Education; Socialization; Social Psychology; Social Policy
Master's Thesis: "You can prepare people for harm without exposing them to small doses of it": Institutionalism, Peer Culture, and Cultural Reproduction in Active Shooter Drills

Mamitiana (Jenny) Rakotoarisoa

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: mrakotoarisoa@luc.edu

Richard Rodriguez

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rrodriguez7@luc.edu

Madelyn Shoemaker

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD.
Email: mshoemaker2@luc.edu

Dissertation Title: A Mixed-Methods Case Study of Gender Understandings Among Evangelicals

Sarah Thorngate

Advisor: Judson Everitt, PhD
Email: sthorngate@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Education; Cultural Sociology; Race and Class Inequalities in Higher Education; Sociology of Information

Eyyup Yilmaz

Advisor: Patrick Gilger, SJ, PhD
Email: eyilmaz@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Religion & Islam; Political Sociology; Social Theory; Historical Sociology

MA Students

Reem Althefeery

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ralthefeery@luc.edu

Sofia Carr

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: scarr1@luc.edu

Aaron Holzmueller

Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: aholzmueller@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Sports; Sociology of Disability
Masters Thesis Topic: Analysis of media coverage of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Phoebe Jackson

Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: pjackson8@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality; Qualitative Methods
Thesis Title: A Qualitative Analysis of Gender and Power in Bars and Clubs

Jacob Pritchard

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jpritchard1@luc.edu

Jasmine Saunders

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jsaunders2@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Race, Place, and Space; Public Policy; Policy Studies; Political Sociology; Urban Sociology

Jonathan Savidge

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: jsavidge@luc.edu

Robert Stevenson

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: rstevenson2@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Religion; American Evangelicalism; Quantitative Methods

Max Xu

Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: mxu9@luc.edu

Research Interests: Race and Ethnicity; Mental Health; Chinese Diaspora; Qualitative Methods

Mirfat Yahaya

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: myahaya@luc.edu

Sabina Zabarte

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: szabarte@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Globalization; Sociology of Religion; Historical Sociology; Application of Sociology within the Sphere of Social Work

BA/MA Students

Anton Jahn-Vavrus

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ajahnvavrus@luc.edu

Kaitlin Jones

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: kjones6@luc.edu

Spuma Khyari

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: smorrisonbrodsgaard@luc.edu

Kevin Sanchez-Carrizales

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: ksanchezcarrizales@luc.edu

Kai Sinnott

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: asinnott@luc.edu

Angelina Smith

Advisor: Marilyn Krogh, PhD
Email: asmith75@luc.edu

Doctoral Degrees Earned in 2025

Melissa Kinsella

Advisor: Anne Figert, PhD
Email: mkinsella1@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Gender; Sociology of Masculinities; Medical Sociology; Qualitative Methodology  

Dissertation Title: A “Scary Time” to Be a Man? Comparing Men’s Engagement with Sexual Violence and Anti-Sexual Violence Discourses in the Private and Public Spheres  

Samir Talati

Advisor: Peter Rosenblatt, PhD
Email: ftalati@luc.edu

Research Interests: Sociology of Education; Ethnicity; Tribal Sociology; Political Sociology

Dissertation Title: Ethnicity through Education: An Analysis of the Influence of Formal Education on Ethnicity in Garo Hills