Profile

Michelle Newton-Francis

Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology

  • Dr. Newton-Francis' teaching and research interests lie at the intersection of the production and reception of popular culture, work and labor, and body and embodiment. Currently, she applies these interests to the study of entertainment industries. She regularly teaches U.S. Society in the University College program and qualitative methodologies.

  • Degrees

    PhD, Sociology, American University
    MA, Applied Sociology, Old Dominion University
    BS, Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University

  • OFFICE

  • CAS - Sociology
  • Battelle Tompkins - T-23
  • No office hours summer 2013.

  • CONTACT INFO

  • (202) 885-2485 (Office)
  • Send email Profile UserID

  • FOR THE MEDIA

  • To request an interview for a
    news story, call AU Communications
    at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Partnerships & Affiliations

  • American Sociological Association

    Member since 1995

Teaching

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

Core Research Areas: Popular Culture; Deviance (with emphasis on stigma); Sociology of Culture; Gender; Cultural Criminology

 

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

In 2008, Dr. Newton-Francis received the Women’s Leadership Award from the Appalachian College Association for her dissertation work.

Dr. Newton-Francis was also appointed a John B. Stephenson Dissertation Fellow by the Appalachian College Association.

She was selected as a fellow for the Women’s Leadership Development Institute, sponsored by the CCCU in Washington, D.C., which seeks to advance women in leadership positions in higher education.

She was also a consortium fellow at the Defense Data Manpower Center in Washington, D.C. where she did data analysis for several projects related to the military.

 

Professional Services

Newton-Francis has several years of experience as a research associate.  She recently served as a research associate on the Cops in Schools Training Program which is funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing at the Department of Justice.

 

Selected Publications

2009. “Yes, We Have Some Bananas: Politics and Development in the Eastern Caribbean.” (with Steve Hamilton) Contexts, 8: 52-57.

2009. “Criminal Justice Research and Practice: Diverse Voices from the Field.” By Susan L. Miller. Contemporary Sociology, 2: 236-237.

2008. “Adult Degree Completion Students’ Satisfaction with a College’s Support Services: Identifying Areas of Improvement.” (with Don Caudill) Global Education Journal, 3: 120-135.

2008. “Deviance and Race.” (with Steve Hamilton) Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, Richard T. Schaefer, editor. Sage Publications. 

 

Grants and Sponsored Research

Newton-Francis had the top-ranked proposal for the competitive John B. Stephenson Dissertation Fellowship by the Appalachian College Association.

As a PhD student at American University, she received Mellon Research Assistance Funds from CAS to support her dissertation research.

 

Professional Presentations

2009. "Producing an Explicitly Gendered Cultural Object: Women's Experiences of "Doing Hooters Girl" (with Gay Young). Paper accepted at the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA.

2006. “Using Popular Culture to Teach Introductory Sociology Concepts”. American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada.

2004. "An Exploratory Study of Gender & the Process of Negotiating Academic Contracts”. Eastern Sociological Society, New York, NY.