Kristine De Welde

Director of Women's and Gender Studies and Professor of Sociology



Ph.D., Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder 2003.
Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder 2002
B.A., Psychology, Magna Cum Laude, University of Colorado, Boulder 1998

Research & teaching interests: intersectional inequalities in higher education, gender, women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), sociology of food, sustainability, and service learning.

Selected peer-reviewed publications:

  • Disrupting the Culture of Silence: Confronting Inequality Making Change in the Academy with Dr. Andi Stepnick, Belmont University, TN. (2015), Stylus Publishing LLC.
  • “The Equity and Inclusion Imperative.” 2017. Humboldt Journal of Social Research, Special Issue: Diversity and Social Justice in Higher Education. pp. 192-211.
  • S. Wohlpart, K. De Welde, and B. Marino. “Cultivating Agency and Hope through Food and Ecology Sustainability Education.” 2017. Envisioning Futures for Environmental and Sustainability Education, eds. Arjen E.J. Wals and Peter B. Corcoran. Wageningen Academic Publishers. pp. 303-310
  • F. Davey, K. De Welde, and N. Foote. ”Feminist Pedagogies and Histories of Choice: Using Student-led Oral Histories to Engage Reproductive Rights.” 2017. Oral History and Education, eds. Kristina R. Llewellyn and Nicholas Ng-A-Fook, Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 107-127.
  • E. Seymour & K. De Welde. “Why Doesn’t Knowing Change Anything? Constraints and Resistance; Leverage and Sustainability.” 2015. Transforming Institutions: 21st Century Undergraduate STEM Education, Purdue University Press.
  • F. Davey, K. De Welde, N. Foote. “Oral History as Inspiring Pedagogy for Undergraduate Education.” 2015. Our Schools/ Our Selves 24(5).
  • “A Case Study of Sustainability and Civic Engagement in a Sociology of Food Course.” 2015. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 9(1), pp. 90-100.
  • N. Foote, F. Davey, K. De Welde. “Teaching and Researching Roe v. Wade.” Perspectives on History, January 2015. American Historical Association.
  • K. De Welde, N. Foote, M. Hayford, M. Rosenthal. “Team Teaching Gender Perspectives: A Reflection on Feminist Pedagogy in the Interdisciplinary Classroom.” 2013. Feminist Teacher 23(2), pp. 105-125.
  • Kick Ass Feminism: Violence, Resistance, and Feminist Avengers in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. For Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Kick Their Asses!: Feminist Perspectives on Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, Donna King and Carrie Smith, eds. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

Selected conference presentations:

  • K. De Welde & W. Reynolds. “Forming Partnerships to Teach for Inclusiveness: Initiating the Process.” 2017. Sunshine State Teaching and Learning Conference. St. Petersburg, FL.
  • Rodriguez & K. De Welde. “It’s Easy for Us to Take These Things for Granted”: Undergraduate Students’ Experiences with Abortion Narratives.” 2016. Southern Sociological Society Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA. (Undergraduate student author.)
  • F. Davey, K. De Welde, N. Foote, “Feminist Pedagogies and Histories of Choice: Using Student-Led Oral Histories to Engage Reproductive Rights.” 2015. Oral History Education: Theories, Dilemmas, Practices. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
  • K. De Welde, F. Davey, N. Foote. ”Unexpected Impacts: How Research and Activism can Intersect in an Undergraduate Research Project.” 2015. Annual Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, Couch Stone Symposium, St. Petersburg, FL.
  • K. De Welde & S. Wohlpart. “Food, Sustainability, Service-Learning, and Study Abroad: Pura Vida!” 2014. Annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Charlotte, NC.
  • K. De Welde, E. Otto, C. Gischel, J. Wohlpart. "Change from Above: Transforming Curricular Change from Top-Down to Collectively Owned." 2014. Association of American Colleges & Universities General Education and Assessment Conference, Portland, OR.
  • K. De Welde & A. Stepnick. “Self-Defense in the Academy: Advice for Navigating Hostile Situations.” 2014. Annual meeting of Sociologists for Women in Society, Nashville, TN.
  • "Women at Work: Hostility and Resilience in the Academy." Hawaii International Social Science Conference, Oahu, HI, May 2012. With Andi Stepnick.
  • “It’s Not as Glamorous as it Looks: Lived Experiences of Women Academics.” Annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Jacksonville, FL. April 2011. With Andi Stepnick.

Equity in Higher Education Workshops:

  • K. De Welde and A. Stepnick. “Step-by-Step: Creating Inclusive Departments.” 2016. Invited workshop for the American Sociological Association Departmental Management and Leadership Workshop. Seattle, WA.
  • K. De Welde, A. Ferber, and A. Stepnick. “Advancing Academic Justice: Assessment and Change Toward Feminist/ Multicultural Departmental Climates.” 2014. Annual meeting of the National Women’s Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico. (peer-reviewed)
  • K. De Welde, H. Laube, G. Wallace, K. Parrotta, R. Villalon, and B. Pescosolido. “Learning to be Agents of Change at our Institutions.” 2014. Annual meeting of Sociologists for Women in Society, Nashville, TN.
  • C. Solomon, M. Oliallien, & K. De Welde. “Creating Family-Friendly Policies in the Department.” 2012. American Sociological Association annual meeting, Denver, CO. (Invited).
  • K. De Welde, A. Ferber, & A. Stepnick. “From Chilly Climate to Gender-Progressive: How to Assess and Change Your Departmental Culture.” 2012. Sociologists for Women in Society Winter Meetings, St. Petersburg, FL.
  • Ferber, A. Stepnick & K. De Welde. “Building a Gender Progressive Department.” 2010. American Sociological Association annual meeting, Atlanta, GA. (Invited)
  • “Academic Justice in an Era of Budget Cuts.” 2010. Sociologists for Women in Society Winter Meetings. Santa Barbara, CA.

Recent Invited Lectures and Presentations:

  • Invited keynote: "The Fictions and Failures of Self-Empowerment for Women Leaders in Higher Education." Way-Up Conference: Developing Women Leaders to Enhance Iowa Higher Education. (Forthcoming).
  • Invited plenary, annual meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association (by incoming President, Dr. K. Pyke), conference theme: “Disrupting the Silence: Institutional Betrayal and Inequity in Academia.” 2017. With Andi Stepnick. 
  • Invited lecture: “The Equity and Inclusion Imperative: Moving the Needle at UNI.” 2016. Public lecture for the University of Northern Iowa.
  • Invited keynote: “"Yes, We Can: Overcoming Biases in Academia." 2016. Women in Academia Conference, Stockton University, New Jersey.
  • Invited lecture: “Benefits All Around: Fostering Equity and Diversity for an Inclusive Campus Community.” 2015. For New College of Florida’s Campus Conversation Series, led by Provost S. Miles.
  • Invited plenary: “Disrupting the Culture of Silence and Fostering an Inclusive Departmental Community.” 2015. For the American Sociological Association’s annual Chairs’ Conference, Chicago, IL. With Andi Stepnick.
  • “Feminism: History and Lingering Concerns.” 2013. Invited panelist for WGCU Women Makers community event (local NPR station). Florida Gulf Coast University.

Professional Service, Leadership Positions:

  • 2017-2018: Chair, Sociologists for Women in Society-South Awards Committee
  • 2014–2017: Appointed member, Committee on Sociology in Community and Small Colleges, Southern Sociological Society.
  • 2012–2014: Co-chair, Sister-to-Sister Committee, Sociologists for Women in Society. With Gail Wallace, University of Alabama, Birmingham 2013-2014, with Vrushali Patil Florida International University, 2012-2013.
  • 2010–2012: President, Sociologists for Women in Society-South.
  • 2009–2012: Co-chair, Committee on Academic Justice, Sociologists for Women in Society. Co-chair: Katrina Bloch, Penn State, 2011-12; Co-Chair Gail Murphy-Geiss, Colorado College, 2009-2011.

Public Sociology: