Faculty Profile

Current Position

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

Courses

Education

Ph.D., Development Sociology, Cornell University

Research Interests

Research Interests:

My research has taken me to many parts of Asia, and I've lived and worked in rural Thailand for nearly five years (first as a Peace Corps volunteer and later as a researcher), as well as Vietnam and Japan. In my research, I employ both qualitative, quantitative, and mixed approaches.

I am currently working on several projects:

1)       a cross-national comparative project examining access to health care and health care decision-making in remote rural areas that lack doctors and most other medical services. I completed data collection for the Thailand phase in August 2006 with the support of a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Area Studies Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. My research for the Montana phase has taken me to West Yellowstone, Stanford, Helena, Ekalaka, and Broadus.

2)      a project on Thai women married to Japanese men and how their marriage and residence in Japan have impacted their gender roles and social status

3)      a project on eco-tourism and sustainable development in Vietnam, with data drawn from my Fulbright Scholarship to Vietnam in 2012-13

Projects

Selling a Cow for an MRI: Barriers to Health Care in Remote Rural Areas of Thailand

Moving Out but Not Up:  The Marriage Migration of Thai Women in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Modeling Sustainable Tourism:  A Case Study of Mango Bay Resort,  Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

Where There Is No Doctor:  Four Remote Rural Communities' Struggles to Retain Mid-Level Providers in Montana

Field of Study

Development Sociology

Social Demography

Research Methods

Women's and Gender Studies

Southeast Asian Studies

Publications

See CV

Honors

Fulbright to Vietnam (2012-13)

Fulbright-Hays to Thailand (2007)

Fulbright-Hays to Thailand (1998-99)

Languages

English, Thai, Spanish, Vietnamese, German

Home Department

Department of Sociology 

Area of Expertise

Eugenics; Fair Trade; Gender Studies; Global Footprints; Human Trafficking in Asia; International Development and Labor Migration; Marriage Migration; Southeast Asian Studies; Population Studies; Peace Corps; Poverty; Stratification; Sustainable Development; Thailand and Vietnam

Chair Director Departments

International Development Studies

Affiliations

International Development Studies Program

Peace Corps Prep. Program

Women's and Gender Studies Program

South and Southeast Asian Studies Program

Global Public Health Program

Hobbies

Gardening, hiking, the symphony chorale, cooking and eating Asian food, travel, and reading.