Faculty & Staff Directory
Faculty and Staff
Dr. David Arditi, PhD from George Mason University, 2012
Associate Professor, Sociology
Director of the Center for Theory
Email: darditi@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Cultural studies; cultural sociology; science technology & society; digital studies; popular culture; and social theory.
Dr. Krystal Beamon, PhD from Oklahoma State University, 2005
Associate Professor, Sociology
Email: kbeamon@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Race and ethnicity; sociology of sport; qualitative methods; and inequality.
Dr. Kelly Bergstrand, PhD from University of Arizona, 2015
Associate Professor, Sociology
Director of Graduate Studies
Email: kelly.bergstrand@uta.edu
Office: 425 University Hall (UH)
Research Specialization: Social movements; environmental sociology; and social psychology
Dr. Naomi Cleghorn, PhD from Stony Brook University, 2006;
Associate Professor, Anthropology
Associate Chair, Anthropology Program Director
Email: cleghorn@uta.edu
Research Specialization: Bioarchaeology; zooarchaeology; human osteology; Old World prehistory and human origins; the archaeology of Neanderthals and early modern humans; biological anthropology.
Dr. Christian Crowder, PhD from University of Toronto, 2005
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Forensic Anthropologist, Dallas County Medical Examiner Office
Email: Christian.Crowder@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Forensic Anthropology
Lauren Dent, PhD from University of North Texas, 2021
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Sociology
Email: lauren.dent@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Environmental hazards and disasters; climate change adaptation and emergency management in indigenous communities; sociology of media and culture; qualitative and quantitative sociological methods; sociological theory
Dr. Raymond Eve, PhD from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 1969
Professor Emeritus, Sociology
Email: eve@uta.edu
Research Specialization: Science v. religion; crime and deviance; and science and technology
Mark Graves
Administrative Assistant
Email: graves@uta.edu
M. Faye Hanson-Evans, M.A. from University of Texas at Arlington, 2013
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Sociology
Office Assistant
Email: mfaye@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Stratification beliefs about the causes of poverty among and between racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.; sociology of poverty; and political sociology
Dr. Heather Jacobson, PhD from Brandeis University, 2006
Professor, Sociology
Director of Graduate Studies
Email: jacobson@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Sociology of families; sociology of reproduction; and qualitative research methods
Dr. Dorothy Kalanzi, PhD from Texas Woman's University, 2008
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Sociology
Email: kalanzi@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Medical sociology; public health; gerontology; HIV/AIDS; Africa
Dr. Ritu Khanduri, PhD from the University of Texas-Austin, 2007
Associate Professor, Anthropology
Email: khanduri@uta.edu
Reaserch Specialization: Media; globalization; subaltern studies; gender; history; diaspora;
Dr. Robert Kunovich, PhD from The Ohio State University, 2001
Professor, sociology
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Email: kunovich@uta.edu
Research Specialization: Science, technology, and risk; race, ethnicity, and nation; social stratification and inequality; political sociology; and quantitative research methods and statistics. 
Dr. Ashley Lemke, PhD from University of Michigan, 2016
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Email: ashley.lemke@uta.edu
Research Specialization: Anthropological archaeology; prehistory; hunter-gatherers; and underwater archaeology
Dr. Isabel Montemayor, PhD from Michigan State University, 2014
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Email: isabel.montemayor@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Influence and intersection of immigration policy and health care policy on transnational lives
LaDorna McGee, M.A. from University of Texas at Arlington, 2005
Academic Advisor II
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Email: ladorna@uta.edu
Office: 434 University Hall (UH)
Advising and Teaching Specialities: Student Development and Success; Career Advising. Deviance; Collective Behavior; Intercultural Communication; Statistics; Computer Applications; Urbanism.
Dr. Carrie Perkins, PhD from Southern Methodist University, 2019
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Email: carrie.perkins@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Forced migration and refugee studies; applied anthropology within international development and humanitarian assistance; urban agriculture and environmental protection in refugee assistance.
Dr. Karl Petruso, PhD from Indiana University, 1978
Professor Emeritus, Anthropology
Email: petruso@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Aegean prehistory; classical archaeology; economic prehistory.
Dr. Luis F. B. Plascencia, Ph.D. from University of Texas at Austin, 2005
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Center for Mexican American Studies
Email: luis.plascencia@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Anthropology of law, human rights, political anthropology, economic anthropology, Latinos in the US, Mexico-US borderlands, transnational migration, nationalism & citizenship.
Dr. Linda Rouse, PhD from Florida State University, 1979
Associate Professor Emeritus, Sociology
Research Specializations: social psychology; sociology of family; education; and evaluation research
Dr. Joci Caldwell Ryan, PhD from Southern Methodist University, 1996; MPH from the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, 2010
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Email: jcryan@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Food and culture; gender and sexuality; medical anthropology; and African studies
Dr. Beth Anne Shelton, PhD from University of Texas at Austin, 1984
Professor, Sociology
Department Chair
Program Director of Sociology
Email: shelton@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Gender, work, family and civic engagement.
Dr. Jason Shelton, PhD from University of Miami, 2005
Associate Professor, Sociology
Director of the Center for African American Studies
Email: jeshelton@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Sociology of religion, black middle class culture and ideology, racial and ethnic attitudes, and debate over race versus class
Dr. Sara Skiles-duToit, PhD from University of Notre Dame, 2014
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Sociology
Email: sdutoit@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Cultural capital; aesthetic taste; symbolic boundaries; religious identification; and school sector differences
Dr. Shelley L. Smith, PhD from the University of Michigan, 1990
Professor, Anthropology
Email: slsmith@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Skeletal variation; human growth and development; and human evolution
Dr. Amy Speier, PhD from University of Pittsburgh, 2005
Associate Professor, Anthropology
Email: speier@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Medical anthropology; gender; the anthropology of tourism; various types of health and medical tourism; and Central European Studies.
Pat Woodward
Senior Office Assistant
Email: woodward@uta.edu
Dr. Robert Young, PhD from University of Michigan, 1982
Professor, Sociology
Email: bob.young@uta.edu
Research Specilizations: Social psychology and deviance
Dr. Christian Zlolniski, PhD from University of California-Santa Barbara
Professor, Anthropology
Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies
Email: chrisz@uta.edu
Research Specializations: Latinos in the U.S.; globalization; transnational migration; economic anthropology; and Mexico.