EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Post-Doctoral NIA Research Fellow, Gerontology Research Institute, Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California (Vern L. Bengtson, Ph.D., Preceptor), 8/87 - 2/89.
Ph.D. in Sociology--Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 8/84-12/87.
Dissertation: “The Management of Dying: Tasks and Social Relationships in Patient Care.” National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Award (Alan C. Acock, Major Chair).
Doctoral Minor in Anthropology: (Jill Brody, Ph.D., Minor Chair).
Specialization Exams: Medical Sociology (Sociology); Discourse Analysis (Anthropology); Doctoral Qualifying Exams in Social Theory, Research Methods, and Social Statistics.
Doctoral Studies in Sociology--Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia (Alan C. Acock, Ph.D., Major Chair), 9/83 - 6/84.
M.A. in Sociology--San Diego State University, San Diego, California,1/81 - 12/83.
Thesis: “Contrasts and Similarities in Health Care Providers Attitudes Toward Death.” (Jose Cuellar, Ph.D., and John Weeks, Ph.D., Co-Chairs).
Qualifying Exams: Macro and Micro Theory and Research Methods.
B.A. in Sociology--San Diego State University, San Diego, California, 9/77 - 12/80. Minor: Psychology.
General Education, California State University at Fullerton, 9/76 - 6/77.
Applied Training:
Teaching Medical Interviewing Faculty Development Course, 33 hour American Medical Association category 1 credit training, sponsored by the American Academy on Doctor and Patient, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993.
Teaching Medical Interviewing Faculty Development Course, 33 hour American Medical Association category 1 credit training, sponsored by the Task Force on Doctor and Patient, and the Society for General and Internal Medicine, University of Rochester, New York, 1991.
County of San Diego Probation Department, Standards Training for Probation Officers and Institutional Corrections Program, 120 hour Certified Training Program, plus, 24 hour advanced supplemental training on The Juvenile Offender, through San Diego Community College and the County of San Diego Probation Department, San Diego, California, 1982-83.
California State Health and Welfare Agency, Statewide Field Research Training Program for the California Multipurpose Senior Services Project, Sacramento, California (William Clark, M.A., Training Director), 1981-82
Forum for Death Education and Counseling, National Foundation Training Program, 40 hour Death Education Section Certificate, San Diego, California (Dana Cable, Ph.D., Director Foundation Workshops, Forum for Death Education and Counseling and Herbert Waxman, M.D., Chairman, Department of Medicine Continuing Education Committee, Albert Einstein Medical Center), 1982.
San Diego Hospice, 24 hour Certified training on Counseling the Dying Patient, San Diego, California (Randy Phillips, M.A., Training Coordinator), 1981.
Shanti Nilaya Foundation, 40 hour Life, Death, and Transition Workshop, Escondido, California (Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Workshop Preceptor), 1981.
SUBSTANTIVE AREAS OF INTEREST
Social Medicine
Ethnography
Triangulated Methods
Social Psychology
Death and Dying
Deviance
Visual Sociology
Applied
Sport
EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE
Administrative:
Graduate Director, Department of Sociology, Medical Sociology Doctoral Program, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 8/00-12/06.
Director, Gerontology Education (University Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Certificate and Undergraduate Minor). Supported and sponsored by the University Center on Aging and the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 9/89-8/97.
Director, Undergraduate Education Program, Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1/98-6/98.
Teaching:
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 10/94 - present.
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1/89 - 9/94.
UAB Graduate Courses Taught:
Sociology
1. Qualitative Methods (core sociology doctoral requirement)
2. Social Medicine (core medical sociology doctoral program)
3. Social Gerontology (core gerontology graduate certificate and
medical sociology doctoral program)
4. Sociology of Death and Dying
5. Visual Sociology
6. Deviant Behavior
7. Patient Care Relationships and Ethics
8. Research Seminar in Health and Aging
9. Sociomedical Theory and Practice
10. Multidisciplinary Research in Aging Colloquium
11. Multidisciplinary Seminar in Gerontology and Geriatrics
12. Proseminar on Research, Teaching and Scientific Writing
Department of General Internal Medicine
1. Medical Interviewing (post graduate interns and residents in the School of Medicine Primary Care Program)
School of Health Related Professions
1. Essentials of Health and Human Disease (core course for the Administrative Leadership in Health Care Graduate Program).
School of Dentistry
1. Dentistry and Dental Health: Socio-cultural Factors (Dentist-Patient as a Social and Professional Relationship).
UAB Masters/Senior Level Courses Taught:
1. Sociology of Aging (core gerontology minor)
2. Sociology of Death and Dying (also as online distant learning)
3. Deviance and Social Control
4. Sociology of Sport
5. Publics, Social Movements, and Policy
6. Sociology of Film and Photography
7. Aging Policy and Programs
8. Minority Aging
9. Growing Old in a New Age
UAB Undergraduate Courses Taught:
1. Introductory Sociology (also as online distant learning)
2. Introduction to Social Psychology
3. Social Problems
Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Southern California, 9/88-12/88.
1. Crowds, Publics and Social Movements (USC Dual Masters/Senior Level)
Instructor, Department of Sociology, Louisiana State University, 9/84-6/87.
(LSU Undergraduate):
1. Sociology of Deviance
2. Social Problems
3. Marriage and Family Relationships
4. Introductory Sociology
Instructor, Staff Development Office, County of San Diego Probation Department, 6/84-9/84. Course taught: Juvenile Delinquency.
Instructor, Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech University, 9/83-6/84.
(VT Undergraduate):
1. Deviant Behavior
2. Contemporary American Society
Instructor, Department of Sociology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, 1/83-6/83. Course: Introduction to Sociology
Teaching Assistant, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University. Course: Psychology of the Personality (PSY. 3500, coursemaster Roy MacDonald, Ph.D.), 9/80-12/80.
Applied:
Instructor, Alabama Abuse Counseling Center, Shelby County Court mandated training courses on 1) Anger Management, 2) Domestic Violence, and 3) the Sex Offenders Program, Columbiana, Alabama, 2/07 - 8/07.
Medical Interviewing Coordinator, Primary Care Training Program, Division of General and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 7/91-6/94.
Medical Sociologist, Geriatric Assessment Unit, Department of Research and Development, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama (Jerry Spenney, M.D., Chief, Medical Research; Kathleen Fix, M.D., Director of Geriatrics Clinic), 6/89-5/92.
Field Interview Director, The California Multipurpose Senior Services Project, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Care Financing Administration Title XIX, and the State Health and Welfare Agency, Assembly Bill 998, California Welfare and Institutions Code 9400-9413. Based at The University Center on Aging, San Diego State University (David Decker, Ph.D., Southern California Director), 6/81-9/82.
Assistant Deputy Probation Officer, County of San Diego Probation Department, San Diego, California. Rancho Del Rayo Juvenile Rehabilitation Facility (August 1982 to September 1983); Juvenile Hall (June - August 1984).
Research:
Scientist, Center for Social Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, (William Cockerham, Ph.D., Director), 9/94-present.
Scientist from Associate Scientist, AIDS Center, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham (Michael Saag, M.D., Director), 5/91-present.
Scientist from Associate Scientist, Center for Aging, University of Alabama at Birmingham (Richard M. Allman, M.D., Director), 1/90-present.
Research Associate, Behavior and Social Science Program, Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California (Dean Edward Schneider, M.D.), 9/87-12/88.
Research Assistant, Center for Life Cycle and Population Studies, Louisiana State University. The Louisiana General Social Survey, Louisiana State Experiment Station Project No. LABO2456 (Director, Alan C. Acock, Ph.D.), 1/87-9/87.
Research Assistant, The University Center on Aging, San Diego State University. The Codification of Research on Minority Older People, Administration on Aging Title IVB Grant No. 0090-AR-0022 (E. Percil Stanford, Ph.D., Project Director), 9/80-6/81.
