Kristin Geraty

Kristin Geraty is Associate Provost & Dean of Engaged Learning and Associate Professor of Sociology. As a sociologist, one overarching question drives Kristin's scholarly interests: How can we better understand the cultural processes that drive organizational change? Drawing on theories from cultural sociology and social movement theory, and using qualitative research methods, she has examined this phenomenon in two settings: the mobilization of religious congregations to engage in broad-based community organizing efforts and the mobilization of a variety of institutional actors around curricular change in higher education. 

Kristin has taught courses at North Central on the sociology of religion, urban communities, research methods, and career & professional development. She is interested in academy-community partnerships and in the potential for community-based research to foster social change. Kristin's portfolio as a practitioner in engaged learning has focused on preparing students, faculty, staff, and community partners for equitable and high-quality experiences in the following areas: general education, career readiness, honors education, community-engaged learning, and undergraduate research. In addition to developing student programs in these areas, she's also focused on assessment of student outcomes, faculty development, and employer and community partner engagement.

Selected Scholarship

Geraty, Kristin.  2017.  “Navigating Entrenched Understandings of Community Organizing in Suburban Congregations” in Religion and Progressive Activism: New Stories about Faith and Politics editors Ruth Braunstein, Todd Fuist, and Rhys Williams.  New York: New York University Press. 

Wilde, Melissa J., Kristin Geraty, Shelley Nelson, and Emily Bowman.  2010.  “Religious Economy or Organizational Field?  Predicting Bishops’ Votes at the Second Vatican Council.”  American Sociological Review 75(4): 586-606.