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College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Sociology

Faculty - Kathryn J. Fox

Fox

Kathy Fox, Associate Professor

Area of expertise

qualitative methods, social control and deviance

Contact Information
Email: Kathy.Fox@uvm.edu
Phone: (802) 656-2170

Office Hours: by appointment

I came to UVM right after finishing my Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 1994. I also received my Master’s degree in sociology from Berkeley. While there I focused on the study of deviance and qualitative research. At UVM I teach large sections of Introductory Sociology, a mid-level class on the Sociology of Punishment and smaller senior seminars on Criminal Justice and occasionally a service-learning course on applied sociology. My proudest achievement is the University teaching award I received in 1999.

For the past ten years or so, my research interest has been in the area of social control and punishment. Specifically, I am influenced by Foucault and other writers who assess the ways that language shapes people’s experience, and the way that language limits how we think about behavior. Also, I am fascinated by the ironies of social control. More recently, though, I have become interested in what works or how things work, especially in the area of offender reentry/reintegration.I have been conducting research on offender reentry programs in the state of Vermont. In spring 2013, I was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar award to compare offender reintegration in the U.S. and New Zealand, where I am currently affiliated with Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.

My specialty is qualitative research, using observational research and in-depth interviews. I have mostly studied intervention programs, such as my dissertation topic, which was about an HIV prevention program for injection drug users on the west coast.

I am active in the American Society of Criminology. I served as the first crime and deviance section editor for the new Blackwell on-line Sociology Compass journal. In my spare time, I like to walk with my dog, drink coffee with friends, sample dark chocolate, strum my ukulele, and plan my family’s next adventure.  

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