Department of Sociology and Criminology |
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Welcome to the fall 2026 edition of Interactions! We're excited to share the latest updates on student achievements and faculty endeavors within the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Villanova University.
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Congratulations to our 2026 student award winners! The medallion of excellence award winners are Madeline Nesbit '26 CLAS (Criminology) and Ainsley Payne '26 CLAS (Sociology). The McGarry award winners are Holden Deysine '26 CLAS (Sociology) and Ella Mattocks '26 CLAS (Criminology and Sociology).
View their reflections of their time as department majors and previous award winners on our Awards page.
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Welcome, Elif Birced, PhD!
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We are pleased to welcome new Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Elif Birced, PhD. Dr. Birced earned her PhD in Sociology from Boston University in 2025 and worked as a postdoctoral associate at MIT Sloan School of Management and Schwartzman College of Computing. As a qualitative researcher, her research explores how social media platforms transform work and shape access to creative work. In some of her current research projects, she examines how and why social media platforms keep content creators committed without any full-time employment and decent pay, and how cultural intermediaries, like influencer marketing agencies, restrict influencers' access to sponsored content creation through their evaluation of influence, thereby exacerbating social inequalities in the creator economies. Her work has been published in multiple outlets, including Socio-Economic Review, Poetics, and Work & Occupations.
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Congratulations to Rory Kramer, PhD, on his promotion to full professor!
Congratulations to Guillermo Jesus Escaño, PhD, for winning the 2026 Richard Block Award for his dissertation work, “Macroeconomics, state action, civic trust, and homicide: The causes and consequences of interpersonal violence in Latin America.” Dr. Escaño completed his PhD in the School of Criminal Justice at University at Albany in 2025. The award honors the scholarly achievements of Richard Block, as well as his role as co-founder of the Homicide Research Working Group, and is awarded to a scholar for producing an outstanding dissertation with a focus on homicide and/or lethal violence.
Congratulations to Dr. Escaño for also winning the American Sociological Association’s Drugs and Society Distinguished Scholarly Paper Award for the article, “Population-Level Alcohol Consumption and Homicide Rates in Latin America: A Fixed Effects Panel Analysis, 1961–2019.”
Congratulations to Melissa Hodges, PhD, for receiving a GRASP grant (Grants for Research for Arts and Sciences Professors) with Co-PI Camille Burge, PhD, chair and associate professor of Political Science, for 2026-2028. Their project explores how candidate family narratives shape political discourse and voter perceptions in United States presidential primaries from 2000-2004.
Congratulations to Jill McCorkel, PhD, who was honored by the Corrections Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for her work with her non-profit research and advocacy organization, The Philadelphia Justice Project for Women and Girls.
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Lorena Avila, PhD, with coauthor Andres F. Rengifo, PhD, published the article “The Moral Economy of Pretrial Justice: Formal and Informal Punishments of Female Defendants in Colombian Courts” in Theoretical Criminology
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Meredith Bergey, PhD, published the article “'If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me. . .’: Health-Related Coaching, Personal Responsibility, Empowerment, Digital Health, and the Expanding Practice of ADHD Care” in Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine
- Elif Birced, PhD, published several works, including:
- Guillermo Jesus Escaño, PhD, published two articles with coauthor William Pridemore, PhD:
- Lance Hannon, PhD, published two articles with coauthor Molly Biddle, MPhil:
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Rory Kramer, PhD, with coauthors Jonathan Ben-Menachem, MA, and Taylor B. Alarcon, MA, published the article “Sundown Towns, Durable Exclusion, and the Legacy of Northern Racial Regimes” in Open Science Framework
- Jill McCorkel, PhD, published two book chapters:
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Tia Noelle Pratt, PhD, published the book Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity, and Religion
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Ken Chih-Yan Sun, PhD, with coauthor Erin M. Rehel, PhD, published the article “Replacing Dad? How Extended Family Support Shapes Gendered Allocation of Time in Middle-Class North American Families” in Social Problems
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Alumni News and Resources |
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Alex Frantz '11 CLAS is a food systems creative focused on regionally-produced food, and the current Director of Local and Sustainability at Midwest Foods—a woman-owned, Chicago-based produce distributor. She discusses how her degree in Sociology helped shape her approach to food-system change, reflecting on how looking beyond individual decisions to the systems, incentives and barriers shaping them has become central to how she approaches lasting change.
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An Alumna's Tribute to Retired Faculty
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In spring 2026, Brian Jones, PhD, announced his retirement. Madalyn Sullivan '21 CLAS shared the following message with the department:
"I wanted to give a shout out to Dr. Jones on his retirement. I took Intro to Sociology with him as a freshman and knew I needed to major in Sociology after the very first class. Five years later, I am a family law attorney and I use the analytical, sociological mindset I learned from Dr. Jones and the rest of the Sociology faculty to inform my client interactions, litigation strategy and overall approach to family law. Thank you, and congratulations!"
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The Nova Network is Villanova's social and professional networking platform where alumni can connect with groups, find Villanovans in their industry or local area, offer career advice to students and access resources for experienced professionals.
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We are looking for alumni to feature in future editions of the newsletter. If you would like to contribute, please tell us about your successes and updates!
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Stay Connected with the Department of Sociology and Criminology
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