About Me

I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Sociology at Gettysburg College. I received my Ph.D. in 2012 from Syracuse University. I am a committed teacher-scholar who enjoys both my time in the classroom and engaging in innovative digital culture and online behavior research.

I take pride in being a first-generation academic. Raised in poor rural communities across the Pacific Northwest, I ultimately found my niche in higher education. Today, I specialize in the intersections of gender, social theory, technology, and social Inequality with an emphasis on the impact of first-generation status.

I am at heart, a qualitative researcher who believes that giving voice to my research participants provides robust and valuable data about the social world. I was fortunate to attend Syracuse University and learn from some of the best qualitative researchers in the field. My dissertation work was conducted under the supervision of the postmodern theorist Dr. Jackie Orr and institutional ethnographer Dr. Marjory DeVault, and my subsequent work has made substantive contributions not only to theorizing in youth culture, first-generation students, technology studies, socialization and inequality, but also to the emerging field of online research methods.

My current scholarship examines the implications of the integration and normalization of online communication technologies in the lives of Gen Z. Specifically, I seek to understand the impact of strategic surveillance by corporate media platforms to collect, distribute, manage and utilize individual level data on participants’ perceptions of privacy, individual identity representation, and group affiliation.

In addition to research, I am extremely passionate about teaching and treasure my time in the classroom. In my Teaching Philosophy I discuss my commitment to a diverse, rigorous and student-centered classroom. My Teaching Materials are designed to support this philosophy. I am committed to principles of inclusion, social justice and active scholarship. Teaching is one of the most important, and in many ways, most challenging part of my job. It is a challenge that I enjoy a great deal!

My career as taken me a very long way from my humble beginnings. However, I have not forgotten where I came from, and ALL the help of the people to get me where I am now! As a result, I believe in giving back as was given to me. I am committed to supporting first-generation and other marginalized students in my efforts to create a more inclusive and diverse campus. I will continue to seek-out opportunities to support them in whatever form I can.

astandle@gettysburg.edu • Gettysburg College • (717) 337-6194