awarded the 2015 Norval Glenn Prize by investigates how exposure to critical the Department of Sociology at the global discourses and policies drives University of Texas at Austin, and even otherwise secular Muslims to received an honorable mention for the support implementing shari’a law. His 2015 Sally Hacker Award from the Sex dissertation research was supported by & Gender section of ASA. grants from the American Institute of Maghreb Studies and the Royster Kate is currently working on a book Society of Fellows. project that expands upon her dissertation research, using the In addition to his doctorate, Brandon homeschooling movement as a case also holds a graduate certificate from the study to examine conflicting Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East understandings of childhood needs and Studies, a MA in Political Science from children’s rights in larger debates about the University of Georgia, and a BA in gender and sexuality. Political Science and Middle East Studies from Georgia State University. Outside of academia, Kate enjoys dance, His research has been published in musical theater, Scandinavian crime Social Forces and Middle East Law and fiction, and spending time with her Governance, presented at annual extended family. Kate, her wife, Sanden, meetings of domestic and international and their yellow lab, Henry Louise, are professional associations, and covered excited to be back living in the on NPR. Northeast. Brandon is currently working on two major projects. Expanding on his Brandon Gorman dissertation research, the first uses supervised machine learning algorithms Brandon Gorman comes to Albany to analyze discussions of Islamism and after finishing a PhD in the Department Islamist organizations in tens of millions of Sociology at the University of North of Arabic-language posts scraped from Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research internet discussion boards. The second investigates how individuals and investigates the role of perceptions of organizations engage with international threat on identification with global politics by analyzing large bodies of society using quasi-experimental texts from newspapers, government techniques that compare attitudes in the publications, and internet message weeks before and after major terrorist boards, cross-national public opinion attacks. surveys, and in-depth interviews. Much of his work is on the Middle East and Outside of academia, Brandon enjoys North Africa, primarily Tunisia. He fishing, hiking, making delicious reads French and is fluent in Tunisian fermented foods, and traveling. He is a colloquial Arabic, Stata, and Python 2.7. die-hard Georgia Bulldogs football fan. His dissertation examined the causes and content of Islamist political orientations among Muslims. Specifically, it
awarded the 2015 Norval Glenn Prize by the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, and received an honorable mention for the 2015 Sally Hacker Award from the Sex & Gender section of ASA. Kate is currently working on a book project that expands upon her dissertation research, using the homeschooling movement as a case study to examine conflicting understandings of childhood needs and children’s rights in larger debates about gender and sexuality. Outside of academia, Kate enjoys dance, musical theater, Scandinavian crime fiction, and spending time with her extended family. Kate, her wife, Sanden, and their yellow lab, Henry Louise, are excited to be back living in the Northeast. Brandon Gorman Brandon Gorman comes to Albany after finishing a PhD in the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research investigates how individuals and organizations engage with international politics by analyzing large bodies of texts from newspapers, government publications, and internet message boards, cross-national public opinion surveys, and in-depth interviews. Much of his work is on the Middle East and North Africa, primarily Tunisia. He reads French and is fluent in Tunisian colloquial Arabic, Stata, and Python 2.7. His dissertation examined the causes and content of Islamist political orientations among Muslims. Specifically, it investigates how exposure to critical global discourses and policies drives even otherwise secular Muslims to support implementing shari’a law. His dissertation research was supported by grants from the American Institute of Maghreb Studies and the Royster Society of Fellows. In addition to his doctorate, Brandon also holds a graduate certificate from the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies, a MA in Political Science from the University of Georgia, and a BA in Political Science and Middle East Studies from Georgia State University. His research has been published in Social Forces and Middle East Law and Governance, presented at annual meetings of domestic and international professional associations, and covered on NPR. Brandon is currently working on two major projects. Expanding on his dissertation research, the first uses supervised machine learning algorithms to analyze discussions of Islamism and Islamist organizations in tens of millions of Arabic-language posts scraped from internet discussion boards. The second investigates the role of perceptions of threat on identification with global society using quasi-experimental techniques that compare attitudes in the weeks before and after major terrorist attacks. Outside of academia, Brandon enjoys fishing, hiking, making delicious fermented foods, and traveling. He is a die-hard Georgia Bulldogs football fan.
Sociology_Newsletter-Spring_2016_(2)_06-20-16.docx