Helen Mederer
Professor
Sociology
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Family, Aging, Work and Society, Gender Inequality
Professor Helen Mederer holds a B.A. in Sociology from Muhlenberg College and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota. She has been on the Sociology faculty at URI since 1984.
Helen Mederer's interests in Sociology revolve around families, work, and gender, and the intersections of these social institutions. She also is keenly interested in the social implications of population aging. Dr. Mederer regularly teaches Soc 212 Families in Society, Soc 350 Work & Family Life, Soc 413 Gender Inequality, and Soc 438 Aging in Society.
Her research program broadly focuses on studying barriers to women's participation in the workforce, and on men's participation in family life. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Elsevier Foundation, and NOAA's Sea Grant program. One of her current research projects is a study of women's participation in and impact on fishery management policies in the Northeast. A recently completed project was a NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant, which focused on how to make employment practices more compatible with 21st century workers' lives on and off the job. In addition, Professor Mederer has been the Chair of the URI Work-Life Committee since its inception in 2003.
News & Announcements
Anthropology Honor Society
URI Anthropology students have been chartered as the Alpha Rhode Island Chapter of Lamda Alpha, the national anthropology honor society. This is a tribute to the hard work of several students and to the academic excellence of our majors and our faculty. Right now, the recruitment of charter members is underway. If you're interested in being one of the first Lamda Alphas, shoot off an email to Ashley Waggoner for all the details.
The URI Anthropology Society is also up and running. Check out their page too.
Department contacts
Department Chair
C. B. Peters, cbp@uri.edu
Justice, Law & Society Minor Coordinator
Professor Leo Carroll, lcarroll@uri.edu
Administrative Assistant
Theresa Nobile, nobile@uri.edu
