Full-time Faculty:
Patricia Christian, PhDAssociate Professor of Sociology
E-mail: christia@canisius.edu
Old Main 014C
(716) 888-2878
Dr. Christian is a sociologist whose teaching and research interests center around families, child care, and gender issues. She teaches two required courses for the sociology major, SOC111, Contemporary Social Problems, and SOC342, Research Methods. She also teaches various electives for the major, including SOC291, Gender and Society, SOC340, The City, and SOC390, Marriage and Family. She was an undergraduate major in anthropology at Wellesley College and did her graduate work in sociology at Brown University. As a Member of the Board of the Child Care Resource Network she helps in the operation of the local child care resource and referral agency. Her latest research project involves participant-observation at day care centers and interviews with parents of children in day care centers.
Erin Robinson, PhDAssociate Professor of Sociology
Old Main 014B
E-mail: robinso5@canisius.edu
(716) 888-2748
Dr. Robinson is a sociologist who concentrates her teaching and research in the areas of environmental sociology and the study of social movements. The required courses she teaches for the major include SOC110, Introduction to Sociology, and SOC432, Theories in Sociology.
She also offers a number of electives, including SOC 324, Visual Sociology, SOC 273, Social Movements and Social Change, and SOC 234, Environment and Society. She also teaches a course in qualitative methodology, ANT351. She received her undergraduate degree in sociology and English from SUNY Geneseo, her MA in sociology at the University of Tennessee, and her Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr.Robinson is the chair of the Environment and Technology section of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). Recently, Robinson received a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Grant for a project entitled “People’s Park Community Development and Sustainability.” This project will address the need to develop and maintain “People’s Park” on Main Street adjacent to the Tri-Main Center, into a sustainable community garden. She also works with the United Way, Tools For Living Working Group, helping to evaluate agencies who are awarded community grants. She is also working on a research project with the Clean Air Coalition of WNY, assessing community perception of air quality in Tonawanda, New York. Her efforts are focussed on environmental justice issues surrounding Tonawanda Coke and other industrial facilities in Western New York.
Staff:
Ms. Maureen Martens
Administrative Associate
E-mail: martensm@canisius.edu