I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Bryn Mawr College. My research examines how organizations transform and reproduce social inequality. My specific areas of interest include organizations and power, economic elites and philanthropy, education and social mobility, social networks, and emotions. My work, which has received awards from several sections of the American Sociological Association (Organizations, Occupations and Work; Sociology of Culture; Sociology of Education; and Sociology of Emotions), is published in the American Journal of Sociology, Sociology of Education, Sociological Forum, Symbolic Interaction, and Du Bois Review. I have co-authored pieces with Annette Lareau (University of Pennsylvania) and Elliot Weininger (SUNY Brockport) that appear in Teachers College Record, The New York Times, and The Hechinger Report. My collaborative work with Rand Quinn (University of Pennsylvania) and Amy Steinbugler (Dickinson College) appears in Sociology of Education and Educational Researcher.
My prior work includes an ethnographic study of the summer session of a program that prepares low-income students of color to attend elite boarding schools.
My current work includes an ethnographic study of two organizations attempting to redistribute power across institutional roles—a family foundation seeking to transfer control over a portion of its grant-making to a community-based board, and a democratic school in which students and teachers have equal voice (one vote per person) in decisions.
I am also collaborating on a project with Rand Quinn (University of Pennsylvania) and Amy Steinbugler (Dickinson College) that investigates the school- and neighborhood-based social networks of parents sending their children to a school of choice. Publications from this project appear in Sociology of Education and Educational Researcher.
Before pursuing my PhD, I worked as a community organizer and a high-school Latin teacher. I hold a PhD in sociology and education from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Sociology of Education from Stanford University, an MSEd in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in Classical Civilizations from Wellesley College.