Our faculty are committed to research that engages diverse perspectives and tackles human and social issues at all levels of society. Using this interdisciplinary approach, we foster a thriving and inclusive environment where old ideas are reexamined, and new ideas can emerge.
To contact a SHSS faculty member(s) about their research and/or creative production, use the Search box above the table to find faculty by name, department, or research topics.
Additional Resources:
Faculty members who would like to have their information included in or updated on this list should complete this questionnaire.
| Name | Department | Research Keywords | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jessica Gantt-Shafer | Communication and Journalism | jgantt-shafer@umkc.edu | Social Change; Organizing; Technology; Reproductive Justice; Dialogue |
| Steve Kraske | Communication and Journalism | steve@kcur.org | Current Affairs; Kansas City; Public Policy |
| Steven Melling | Communication and Journalism | comm-j@umkc.edu | Rhetoric; Public Culture |
| Linda Hoffman | Communication and Journalism | comm-j@umkc.edu | Human-Animal Bond |
| Ye Wang | Communication and Journalism | comm-j@umkc.edu | Data Science; Natural Language Processing; Consumer Insights |
| Sirisha C. Naidu | Economics | snaidu@umkc.edu | Care Work; Environment; Labor; Economic Development; Gender; Feminist Political Economy |
| Laurie Ellinghausen | English Language and Literature | ellinghausenl@umsystem.edu | Early Modern English Literature; Class; Labor; Maritime Empire |
| Virginia Blanton | English Language and Literature | blantonv@umkc.edu | Book History; Manuscripts; Nuns; Literacies; Digital Humanities |
| Antonio Byrd | English Language and Literature | antoniobyrd@umkc.edu | Digital Literacy; Critical Race Theory; Writing Studies; Technical Communications; Qualitative Research |
| Hadara Bar-Nadav | English Language and Literature | barnadavh@umkc.edu | Poetry; Creative Writing; Poetics; Interdisciplinarity |
| Jeff Rydberg-Cox | English Language and Literature | rydbergcoxj@umkc.edu | Ancient Greek Literature; Digital Humanities; Network Analysis |
| David Trowbridge | History | david.trowbridge@umkc.edu | Public History; Digital History; African-American History; Technology; New Media |
| Viviana Grieco | History | griecov@umkc.edu | Political Economy; Political Culture; Digital Humanities |
| Alexander M. Holsinger | Criminal Justice and Criminology | holsingera@umkc.edu | Risk and Needs Assessment; Program Evaluation; Treatment and Rehabilitation; Prisons and Jails; Probation and Parole |
| Brian Frehner | History | frehnerb@umkc.edu | Oil; Energy; Environment; Technology; American West |
| Massimiliano Vitiello | History | history@umkc.edu | Late Antiquity; Early Middle Ages; Byzantium |
| David Freeman | History | freemandf@umkc.edu | Christianity; Soccer; Digital Humanities; Atlantic World/History |
| Tamara L. Falicov | Media Art and Design | tfalicov@umkc.edu | Latinx Culture; Film Festival Studies; Latin American Film Industries; Latin American Cinema |
| Cristina Albu | Media Art and Design | albuc@umsystem.edu | Visual Culture; Contemporary Art and Cognitive Sciences; Contemporary Art and Biofeedback; Participatory Art; Installation Art; New Media |
| Davin Watne | Media Art and Design | watned@umkc.edu | Art Curation; Fine Art Painting; Art Education |
| Elijah Gowin | Media Art and Design | gowinp@umkc.edu | Photography; Art; Landscape; Entrepreneurship |
| Joseph Hartman | Media Art and Design | hartmanjr@umkc.edu | Art; Architecture; Ecology; Caribbean; Latin America; Visual Culture |
| Kati Toivanen | Media Art and Design | toivanenk@umkc.edu | Digital Imaging; Public Art; Digital Photography |
| Larson Powell | Media Art and Design | umkcmad@umkc.edu | Film; Music; Literature; Philosophy; Frankfurt School; Psychoanalysis |
| Zach Frazier | Media Art and Design | zfrazier@umkc.edu | Self-publishing; 'Zines; 'Zine-making; Graphic Design; Visual Culture |
| Beth Vonnahme | Political Science and Philosophy | vonnahmeb@umkc.edu | American Politics; Political Psychology; Public Opinion; Campaigns |
| Clancy Martin | Political Science and Philosophy | martinc@umkc.edu | Ethics; Suicide; Mental Health; Creative Writing; Existentialism |
| Kristen Barber | Race Ethnic and Gender Studies | k.barber@umkc.edu | Gender Inequality; Masculinities; Work and Employment; Consumption; Culture |
| Ann Marie Wood | Sociology and Anthropology | sociology@umkc.edu | Aging; HIV/AIDS; Sexuality; Death; Dying |
| Deborah B. Smith | Sociology and Anthropology | smithde@umkc.edu | Families; Retirement; Evaluation; Research Methods; Parenting |
| Jeff Bennett | Sociology and Anthropology | bennettjs@umkc.edu | Psychoanalysis; Modernity; Anthropology; Religion; Politics |
| Joseph Workman | Sociology and Anthropology | workmanj@umkc.edu | Education; Poverty; Social Inequality; Stratification; Inequality of Opportunity |
| Shannon Jackson | Sociology and Anthropology | sociology@umkc.edu | Urban Studies; Technology; Built Environment; Embodiment |
| Alberto Villamandos | World Languages and Cultures | villamandosa@umkc.edu | Spain; Spanish Literature and Language; Graphic Novels; Comics; Europe; European Studies |
| Gayle Levy | World Languages and Cultures | levyg@umkc.edu | 19th- and 20th-Century French Literature; French Culture; French Language |
| Andrew Stuart Bergerson | History | bergersona@umsystem.edu | History of Everyday Life; Interdisciplinary German Studies; Ethnographic History; Public/Digital Humanities; Collaborative Co-authorship |
| Gwen Nally | Political Science and Philosophy | nallye@umkc.edu | Plato’s Ethics; Epistemology; Metaphysics; Political Philosophy; Analytic Feminism |
| Rebecca Best | Political Science and Philosophy | bestrh@umkc.edu | Civil Conflict; Terrorism; Veterans; Women Combatants; Peace Talks |
| Hye Young Shin | Media Art and Design | shinhyey@umkc.edu | Studio Art; Print Media; Drawing; Figure Drawing; Book Arts; Installation |
| Jennifer Phegley | English Language and Literature | phegleyj@umkc.edu | Victorian Women Writers; Novel Serialization and Popular Fiction; Periodical Studies; 19th-Century Mass-Market Media |
| Lori Sexton | Criminal Justice and Criminology | sextonl@umkc.edu | Theories and Experiences of Punishment; Prison Policy and Practice; Law and Society |
| Marijana Kotlaja | Criminal Justice and Criminology | marijana.kotlaja@umkc.edu | Cross-National Comparisons; Neighborhood Effects; Program Evaluation; Crime Trends; Juvenile Justice; Quantitative Methods and Measurement |
| Sandra Enriquez | History | enriquezs@umkc.edu | Latinx History; Urban History; Social Movements; Public History; Digital Humanities |
| Zhongjin Li | Economics | lizhon@umkc.edu | Political Economy; Labor; Development Studies; Gender; East Asian Economy |
| Erik Olsen | Economics | olsenek@umkc.edu | Political Economy; Microeconomics; Urban and Regional Economics; Economic Methodology |
| Toya Like | Criminal Justice and Criminology | liket@umkc.edu | Victimization; Violence Structural Inequality and Disadvantage; Risk and Resilience; Intersectionality |
| Stephen John Dilks | English Language and Literature | dilkss@umkc.edu | Ireland; Scotland; England; Beckett; Joyce |
| Marc Garcelon | Sociology and Anthropology | garcelonm@umsystem.edu | Social Theory; Social Movements; Globalization; Mass Media; Culture |
| Michael Pritchett | English Language and Literature | pritchettmi@umkc.edu | Historical Fiction; Speculative Fiction; True Crime |
| Ben Woodson | Political Science and Philosophy | woodsonb@umkc.edu | Courts; Legitimacy; Public Opinion; Psychology |
| Jeremy Slagoski | Applied Language Institute | jdslagoski@umkc.edu | Language Education; Instructional Design; Program Design; International Education |
| Christie Hodgen | English Language and Literature | hodgenc@umkc.edu | Fiction; Creative Nonfiction; Editing |
| Misty Campbell | Criminal Justice and Criminology | campbellmis@umkc.edu | Community-Inclusive Violence Prevention Methods; Interdisciplinary Collaboration; Trauma-Responsive Practices; Victimology; Human Trafficking; Interpersonal Violence; Practitioner-Researcher Collaborations; Vicarious Trauma in First Responders |
| Seth Fallik | Criminal Justice and Criminology | sethfallik@umkc.edu | Officer Decision-Making; Racial Profiling; Criminal Investigations; Detective Effort; Policy Analysis; Translational Scholarship; Sexual Assault; Policing |
| Byunggu Kang | Criminal Justice and Criminology | bkd8v@umkc.edu | Population Dynamics and Crime Trends; Cross-National Criminology; Violence; Occupational Health; Quantitative Methods |
| Lyn Elliot | Media Art and Design | elliotle@umkc.edu | Film; Fimmaking; Screenwriting; Directing |
| Kate DeBenedetti | Applied Language Institute | debenedettik@umkc.edu | English; Assessments; ESL; Evaluate |
| Michael D. Turner | Applied Language Institute | turnermic@umsystem.edu | Language; AI; Testing; Pronunciation; Language Acquisition |
| Bruce Bubacz | Political Science and Philosophy | bubaczb@umkc.edu | Freedom; Classical; Traditional |
| Debra Leiter | Political Science and Philosophy | leiterd@umkc.edu | Elections; Voting; European Politics; Forecasting; Social Networks |
Matthew Edwards, Department of World Languages and Cultures
Publication subvention for Toward Dissent: Accessing Political Struggle Across the Americas
Zachary Frazier, Department of Media, Art and Design
Participation in New York Art Book Fair and research into discrimination in the field of graphic design
Caitlin Horsmon, Department of Media, Art and Design
Documentary film that examines technology, colonialism, and climate change through the lens of three common houseplants
Massimiliano Vitiello, Department of History
The last Pagan women of Rome
Mel Sangyi Zhao, Department of Media, Art and Design
Location scout and visual research in Vancouver for Cougar fictional short film
Deja Beamon, Department of Race, Ethnic and Gender Studies
Ohio against the world: community supported infrastructures and affective belonging in Columbus during COVID-19
Brian Frehner, Department of History
Italian immigrant coal miners: transitioning for coal to oil
Jessica Gantt-Shafer, Department of Communication and Journalism
Documenting reproductive justice activism in Ireland, the U.S., and beyond
Marijana Kotlaja, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Support interview components to evaluate the programs funded under the Violence Prevention Fund
Zhongjin Li, Department of Economics
The dynamics of digital platform companies and their effect on the global economy
Jennifer Frangos, Department of English
David Freeman, Department of History
Gwen Nally, Department of Political Science and Philosophy
Hyeyoung Shin, Department of Media, Art and Design
Deborah Smith, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Ben Woodson, Department of Political Science and Philosophy
Misty Campbell, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
J. Antonio Molinar and Greg Vonnahme, Department of Political Science and Philosophy
Ye Wang, Department of Communication and Journalism
Joseph Workman, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Dale Dan-Irabor, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Jessica Gantt-Shafer, Department of Communication and Journalism
Marijana Kotlaja, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Lori Sexton, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Michelle Smirnova, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Zachary Frazier, Department of Media, Art and Design
J. Antonio Molinar, Department of Political Science and Philosophy
Greg Vonnahme, Department of Political Science and Philosophy
Whitney Terrell, Department of English
David Trowbridge, Department of History