Sarah Becker


Sarah Becker

Director of CCELL (Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership), Associate Professor of Sociology & Associate Professor of Women's and Gender Studies

Address:
141 Stubbs Hall

Email Address:
sbecker@lsu.edu

Office Phone:
225-578-7243

College:
Humanities & Social Sciences

Department:
Sociology; Women's and Gender Studies

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Criminology
  • Intersectionality
  • Ethnography
  • Sexual Victimization
  • Community-based Reactions to Crime, Disorder, and Formal/Informal Policing Strategies
  • Education of Marginalized Youth

 

Biography

I am a criminologist and ethnographer whose work focuses on the processes through which inequalities are enacted, reproduced, and/or challenged in various structural contexts.  I use qualitative and quantitative methodologies to study violent crime; sexual victimization; and community-based reactions to crime, disorder, and formal/informal policing strategies. My work appears in journals such as The Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Sex Roles, and Social Currents. My approach to scholarship involves the tight integration of research, teaching, and community-based action.  This is reflected in my current primary research agenda: a multi-site collaborative ethnography of community gardens in the Southern United States.  I am also involved in a collaborative peer interview-based study of young people’s understandings of barroom aggression. Mentoring is a priority for me.  I therefore work and co-author with my graduate and undergraduate students; supervise a wide variety of independent student research projects; and volunteer with the Ronald McNair Undergraduate Research Program, ASPIRE Undergraduate Research Program, and the Pre-Doctoral Scholars’ Institute (PDSI). My current role at LSU is Director of the Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership (CCELL).

Education

PhD: University of Massachusetts Amherst (2008)