Sociology Faculty
Daniel Burland, Ph.D.
Adjunct Instructor
OnLine instruction only
dburland@eou.edu
Jay Coplin, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology
Office: Ackerman Hall 116
Office Phone: 541-962-3819
jcoplin@eou.edu
Dr. Jay Coplin, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, received degrees in sociology from Northwestern University (B.A.) and the University of California, San Diego (M.A. and Ph.D.). His interdisciplinary interests and research have enabled him to teach journalism, broadcasting, and communications courses at the University of California, Northern Illinois University, and Drake University. The comparative focus of his work is founded on funded research in India on social movement development and Vedic literature. Publications and presentations have ranged from peace studies to membership acquisition to methodological innovation. Among the courses he will be teaching are popular culture, visual sociology, sports, and urban and rural studies.
Vernita Ediger, Ph.D.
Adjunct Instructor
OnLine/OnSite instruction only
vediger@eou.edu
Vernita Ediger, Ph.D., is a distance education, and online/onsite instructor. She received her PhD from Stanford University in Environmental Anthropology, with an emphasis on private uses of public lands, collaborative conservation, and institutional structures and power relationships. In addition to teaching, Vernita designs and facilitates institutional effectiveness workshops and community leadership trainings for Eugene-based Rural Development Initiatives (RDI), and is in charge of RDI’s evaluation program. She currently teaches upper-division coursework in community development and collaboration, and applied research methods in the social sciences, and is developing courses on land tenure and management, and environmental anthropology.
Bill Grigsby, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology
Office: Ackerman Hall 204-B
Office Phone: 541-962-3591
bgrigsby@eou.edu
Dr. Bill Grigsby, Associate Professor of Sociology, received degrees from Washington State University (Ph.D. in Sociology) and the University of Idaho (M.S. in Forest Resources), and has been on the EOU faculty since 2002. His interests and research are interdisiciplinary, including the study of technology, the environment, media, and international development. Dr. Grigsby also coordinates the social welfare concentration. He has published research on land tenure and property rights issues in Africa, gender and international development, technology adoption and distributed knowledge systems in health care (‘telehealth’ networks), and is currently focused on the relationship between democratic institutions and commercial news media. Dr. Grigsby is a co-founder of Haven from Hunger, a student-run, faculty-supervised service learning and community development initiative that seeks to address hunger and food insecurity locally through projects that raise awareness of the problems, build social capital between university and community, and reduce the stigma of asking for assistance. He teaches classes in the areas of social problems, social welfare, the environment, international development and gender, and media, politics and propaganda.
Nelda Nix-McCray, Ph.D.
Adjunct Instructor
OnLine instruction only
nnimccr@eou.edu
Dr. Nelda Nix-McCray is an associate professor of Sociology in the Business, Social Sciences, and Wellness Division at the Community College of Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, where she has taught since 1999. Her M.A. degree in sociology, also from Morgan State, was awarded in 1992. Dr. McCray has over 12 years of demonstrated teaching excellence in the traditional classroom setting and in on-line teaching and is proficient in both Web-CT and Blackboard technology. An active proponent and continuing student herself of the potential of on-line instruction, Dr. McCray joined EOU as an instructor for distance education in 2006, and offers several regular on-line courses at EOU in General Sociology; Inequality and Diversity; and Social Psychology.
Rosemary Powers, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
[Sabbatical 2012-13 Academic Year]
rpowers@eou.edu
Dr. Rosemary Powers, associate professor of Sociology, received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Davis, in 1998. She also completed the associated Designated Emphasis in Feminist Theory and Research awarded by the UCDavis Women’s Studies Program. Dr. Powers has taught at EOU since fall 1998, and coordinates the Sociology Concentration. She is responsible for teaching the required introductory course (SOC 204), courses in theory and in research methods, and numerous electives covering the social institutions of family, religion, education, and special topics such as inequality and diversity, gender relations, social movements and social psychology. Dr. Powers has been instrumental in the design and continued development of the Gender Studies Minor Program, and currently serves as the Chair of the Gender Studies Advisory Council. Her past research focused on the role of secondary teachers in sexuality education, and on pedagogical issues in the sociology curriculum. She is currently conducting research with upper-division sociology majors on the experiences of student parents at EOU. Most recently, Dr. Powers was appointed by Oregon Governor Kulongoski to a two-year term on the State Board of Higher Education as a representative of faculty from regional universities.
S. Diane Turner, Ph.D.
Adjunct Instructor
OnLine instruction only
sturner@eou.edu
Paula Wenell, Ph.D.
Adjunct Instructor
OnLine instruction only
Email: pwenell@eou.edu
Paula Wenell, MA, is a distance education and online adjunct Instructor. She received her MA from George Fox University in Family Studies, with an emphasis on Sociology of the Family and Marriage. Along with her teaching she has maintained an active counseling career. She has worked with State agencies, and served on Boards that support the needs of children. She currently teaches upper-division coursework in death and dying, and child abuse and neglect, to support the Anth/Soc social welfare concentration.
