Graduate Course Syllabi

I teach urban community at the undergraduate level and graduate seminars on a variety of topics.  First, there is a seminar on organizational theory.  This seminar traces the development of theory from the 1930s to the present.  It focuses principally on sociologists but covers a variety of authors from Weber to March, Simon, Blau, Stinchcombe, Perrow, Burawoy, Williamson, Hannan, Freeman, McPherson, Burt, Powell, Meyer, DiMaggio, and Granovetter. 

A second seminar examines research and theory on the nonprofit sector.  This seminar reviews various disciplinary perspectives on the nonprofit sector including the work of Hall, Simon, Putnam, Weisbrod, Salamon, Keck and Sikkink, James, and Powell.  We also read the research on individual, corporate, and foundation giving and volunteering.  There is a discussion of the nonprofit form in countries outside the U.S. with particular attention on China and Japan.

The third seminar explores how social network analysis has been used by sociologists and other social scientists to explore various substantive issues.  Thus the focus is more applied than methodological.  Topics include the 'community question' and social support, social capital, networks of collective action, diffusion networks, 'small world' phenomena, social networks and cultural identity, cognitive networks, sexual networks, and networks of innovation.