Recent Alumni

Michael Soto (Ph.D. awarded 2023)

Current Position: Data & Analytics Manager at Hennepin County

What drew you to the Sociology department at UMN?
In 2016, UMN had a department with several faculty members focused on international topics, which was not common in US Sociology departments, as far as I could tell. Additionally, several professors were across multiple thematic clusters, including memory, violence, culture, and social networks.

What was a strength of the department?
I found the department to be very inviting and supportive. At other institutions, the thematic clusters have thicker boundaries, but at UMN, I felt like there was a fair amount of cross-pollination, or at least a receptiveness to engage and interact with others from different specialties.

What research opportunities did you utilize during your time in the Sociology department at UMN?

• I was a fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC), which, among other things, facilitated my doing exploratory research in Colombia one summer and a year of fieldwork there. During that time, I was a visiting scholar at Centro de Estudios Sociales at Universidad Nacional.
• With the support of the Grand Challenges Human Rights Lab, I spent the summer of 2017 in Belfast conducting research in collaboration with Dr. Joachim Savelsberg on associational groups, memories, and transitions to peace. While in Northern Ireland, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.
• I received support from the Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP) Fellowship to work with Joachim Savelsberg on a project titled, “The Mobile Phone Network: Changing Identities, Representations and Life Courses among Participants in a Peace Building Initiative.”
• I worked two summers as a research assistant through the MPC, working on a project with Jack DeWaard, titled “Extreme weather disasters, economic losses via migration, and widening spatial inequality in the US”
• I worked as a research assistant for Alejandro Baer on a project titled “The New Jewish Question in Europe and the US.”

Amber Alton (Ph.D. awarded 2022)

Current Position: Innovation Consultant at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

What drew you to the Sociology department at UMN?
I chose the Sociology department at the University of Minnesota because of its reputation and the opportunity to collaborate with faculty to study topics related to race and racism in the United States. The faculty that I met during my initial visit to the department were incredibly welcoming and highlighted opportunities for me to expand my knowledge and collaborate on interesting research projects. I was also drawn to the Twin Cities and everything the area had to offer.

What was a strength of the department?
A strength of the department is its collaborative, open nature. Throughout my time in the program, I saw how faculty and graduate students work together to foster community, both socially and professionally, to create an environment rooted in trust and collaboration. I believe that this strength is at the core of the success of the department and its graduates.

What research opportunities did you utilize during your time in the Sociology department at UMN?
The research opportunities that I received in the Sociology department have equipped me with the skills necessary to be successful both within and outside of academia. In particular, I received funding through the American Mosaic Project’s Edelstein Fellows Program, which enabled me to work closely with faculty and other graduate students to analyze AMP survey data and publish research in peer-reviewed outlets. I utilize this research experience in my career every day, and I am grateful for the experience and opportunities provided to me by the department.

Devika Narayan (Ph.D. awarded 2021)

Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of Bristol (England)

What drew you to the Sociology department at UMN?
I was very keen to work with Michael Goldman. I had encountered his work during my Masters in Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics where I was fast gravitating toward critical political economy approaches. Michael was at Minnesota so it was a no brainer!

What was a strength of the department?
A group of fantastic scholars and mentors who were extraordinarily generous. 

What research opportunities did you utilize during your time in the Sociology department at UMN?
I was a research assistant on an NSF project called Speculative Urbanism, used internal summer grants to support international fieldwork over the summer, and was part of the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change. I also received a Fellowship that allowed me to be a resident fellow at the Charles Babbage Institute. Although in the end I didn’t conduct archival research, it was certainly an option.

Neeraj Rajasekar (Ph.D. awarded 2021)

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Sociology/Anthropology Department, University of Illinois—Springfield

What drew you to the Sociology department at UMN?
I’m from Minneapolis, and I also did my undergraduate major in Sociology at the UMN, so I was familiar with the department, university, and city when I began graduate school. But, even if I weren’t from Minneapolis, I’m sure I would have been happy to go to UMN! The research interests of the professors, as well as the opportunities for teaching and research as a graduate student, were strong draws for the department.

What was a strength of the department?
The institution of UMN Twin Cities, as well as the Sociology department specifically, is one of the largest universities in the country. I think that this size creates many strengths and opportunities! No matter what it is you are interested in learning about and researching, you will be able to find support. There are many professors who are experts in a wide variety of areas, as well as faculty in other departments and different support centers and research hubs (such as the Minnesota Population Center) who can help you succeed. Additionally, the UMN department has a large graduate student community and a supportive culture, and it’s great to have a big network of peers and friends to lean on!

What research opportunities did you utilize during your time in the Sociology department at UMN?
During my time as a grad student in the Sociology department, I was involved with several different endeavors. I was a research assistant with the American Mosaic Project, which uses survey data to analyze the American public’s attitudes and values surrounding topics such as race, religion, diversity, and civil society, and I was able to publish several papers thanks to AMP! I was also a longtime member of TheSocietyPages, an open-access public sociology periodical hosted in our department. I was also involved with Dr. Enid Logan’s research surrounding student attitudes regarding presidential election outcomes. Besides these, I was also involved with other projects while I was a graduate student; there’s always plenty happening in the UMN Sociology department!

Jacqui Frost (Ph.D. awarded 2020)

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Sociology at Purdue University

What drew you to the Sociology department at UMN?
I chose the Department of Sociology at UMN because of its strong reputation in the sociology of religion and culture. I knew I wanted to specialize in the study of religion and Minnesota Sociology was, and still is, one of the best places to do that. I was also attracted to the diversity of methods used by the faculty and the numerous opportunities available for joining big research projects and learning new methods.

What was a strength of the department?
The program has many strengths, but one that stood out to me as a graduate student was the collaborative and supportive environment of the department. Not only are there tons of different research projects to get involved with and numerous opportunities to co-author papers with faculty and other graduate students, but I also benefited from being part of reading groups and attending professionalization workshops that were held often. There were numerous avenues for me to get feedback on my work, both in and outside of my graduate courses, and there was a lot of support when it came time to go on the job market. While it is a top program in the field and has some of the best methods and theory training you can find, the culture at Minnesota Sociology is collaborative rather than competitive. As a result, it is a program where graduate students can really flourish, and I am still working with faculty and graduate students that I met during my time at Minnesota Sociology.

What research opportunities did you utilize during your time in the Sociology department at UMN?
I benefited in so many ways from the research and training opportunities I was given at Minnesota Sociology. During my first year in the program, I joined the American Mosaic Project where I received training in survey research methods, in publishing journal articles, and in theories of religious diversity and change. By my second year I was a regular contributor to The Society Pages, the department’s open-access social science project, where I honed my writing skills and learned to translate sociological research for public audiences. My third year I joined the Talking About Social Controversies focus group project where I was trained in subject recruitment for qualitative research and learned how to run my own focus group. These experiences helped prepare me to take on my own project for my dissertation, but they also taught me how to collaborate with co-authors and manage big research projects. I could not have asked for a better graduate training experience!

Yagmur Karakaya (Ph.D. awarded 2020)

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Yale University

What drew you to the Sociology department at UMN?
I learned about the department from my then-advisor Murat Ergin—who was a graduate. We worked really well together, so I thought the department that he hailed from must have been excellent. Of course, the decision always comes to the question of intellectual fit. I had a cultural orientation to sociology, and UMN Sociology was an excellent hub for it. Teresa Gowan, Penny Edgell, and Doug Hartmann, while working in different areas of sociology, did utilize interpretative sociology. I was also interested in Collective Memory, so having Joachim Savelsberg and Alejandro Baer in the department was very alluring. Similarly, the department had a robust international focus with Michael Goldman, Cawo Abdi, and Rachel Schurman’s research areas. Last, but not least, in 2011, what sold me on the department was Ann Meier and Liz Boyle’s informational videos on the website. They just looked so welcoming, which I found to be more than true when I arrived in the great Midwest on a hot summer day in 2012. A certain Becky Drasin was so helpful that she even drove me to my appointment at the Social Security Office to get an SSN. 

What was a strength of the department?
There are so many strengths to UMN Sociology. Simply put, UMN Sociology raises well-rounded students. I think when we graduate, we are ready not only to research but also to teach, serve, and mentor. There were many research groups that one could become a part of when I was there, and those venues provided an incredible support system and intellectual stimulation. The Culture Club, the Ethnography Reading Group, the Flexible Work and Wellbeing Center, and the American Mosaic Project were a few that I can name. It was not very hard to find a home or two. 

What research opportunities did you utilize during your time in the Sociology department at UMN?
I worked as an RA for the Flexible Work and Wellbeing Center and learned a lot about the merits of teamwork, good organizational skills, and intellectual collaboration when it comes to academic flourishing. While “work and occupations” was not my expertise, I was included in the project for my qualitative coding expertise. When I was hired to the team at the end of my first year, I felt like I now had skills with which I could contribute to a massive project.

Similarly, I worked with multiple professors as a co-author, which taught me how to conceptualize projects, write effectively, and collaborate properly. Shout out to GRPP! I hope it still exists!