Sociology & Criminology Faculty & Staff

Dr. Stephen (Steve) Barnard is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology.  Before joining the faculty at Butler, he was Associate Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at St. Lawrence University, where he worked from 2014-2021.  Steve earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Missouri in 2012, where he also earned an M.A. (2007) and B.A. (2005).  He also held two interdisciplinary postdoctoral positions—one with the University of Denver’s Department of Media, Film, and Journalism Studies (2013-2014), and another with the School of Journalism and Peace Studies Program at the University of Missouri (2012-2013). 

His scholarship focuses on the role media and communication technologies play in relations of power, practice, and democracy.  Steve’s latest book, Hacking Hybrid Media: Power and Practice in an Age of Manipulation, examines how problematic information flows through contemporary media.  His first book, Citizens at the Gates: Twitter, Networked Publics, and the Transformation of American Journalism, won the 2020 Best Book Award from the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) section of the American Sociological Association.  Steve is also co-author of All Media are Social: Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media (2020, Routledge).  His work has appeared in the journals New Media & Society, Journalism, Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, Hybrid Pedagogy, and in several edited volumes.  Steve has written for popular audiences in publications like The Hill, RealClearPolitics, and Contexts, the magazine of the American Sociological Association.  His current book project, “Hacking Hybrid Media: Power, Practice, and Problematic Information” is under contract with Oxford University Press.

Steve teaches a number of classes, including Deviance & Social Control,  Social Theory Seminar, Violence, Media & Culture, Surveillance & Society, and a section of Social World 200: Understanding Society focused on media.

For more information about Dr. Barnard, see his personal website.

I am Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Butler University. Before coming to Butler, I earned a dual-title Ph.D. from Purdue University in sociology and gerontology. I then spent at year at the University of Missouri as a postdoctoral scholar in the Research Center for Human Animal Interactions. 

My research interests include the roles of women and mothers, health and body weight issues, and social psychology. I teach a variety of courses including;  families, international crime, gender, race, and crime, health and society, aging and the life course, and gender and society.

My research is currently funded by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). This research examines mothers’ perspectives of the benefits of interscholastic activities of their high school students. This is a 10 year longitudinal study that begin in the fall of 2019. I also host the podcast, MOMent with Mom, with members of the NFHS. 

Jay Howard is Professor of Sociology and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis. For two years (August 2017-May 2019), he simultaneously served as Acting Dean of the College of Communication. Prior to coming to Butler, he served as Interim Vice Chancellor and Dean (2007-09), Assistant Dean for Budget and Planning(1999-2002), Head of the Division of Liberal Arts, and Professor of Sociology at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC). He earned a BA in Sociology from Indiana University South Bend (1988), and an MA (1990) and PhD (1992) in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame. 

Research

Dr. Howard’s research interests range from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning to religion and popular culture. His most recent book, Discussion in the College Classroom: Getting Your Students Engaged and Participating in Person and Online, was published by Jossey-Bass (2015). His Advice Guide, "How to Hold a Better Class Discussion," in The Chronicle of Higher Education is available online. https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-hold-a-better-class-discussion

First Contact: Teaching and Learning in Introductory Sociology, co-authored with Nancy Greenwood, was published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2011.  Other publications in the scholarship of teaching and learning include: "The Sociology Literacy Framework and Students’ Views of Learning in Introductory Sociology," Teaching Sociology (with Jess Butler, 2018), "Student Reading Compliance and Learning in the Social Sciences" in Learning from Each Other (2018), “The John F. Schnabel Lecture ‘Sociology’s Special Pedagogical Challenge,” Sociological Focus (2015), “Where Are We and How Did We Get Here? A Brief Examination of the Past, Present, and Future of the Teaching and Learning Movement in Sociology,” Teaching Sociology (2010), “Teaching and Learning and the Culture of the Regional Association in American Sociology,” Sociological Focus(2007), “The Role of the Introductory Sociology Course on Students’ Perceptions of Achievement of General Education Goals” Teaching Sociology (2007), and “Just-in-Time Teaching in Sociology or How I Convinced My Students to Actually Read the Textbook,” Teaching Sociology (2004). He is editor of Discussion in the College Classroom: Applications for Sociology Instruction (2004) published by the American Sociological Association Teaching Resources Center.  

His book, co-authored with John M. Streck, Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music (University Press of Kentucky,1999) was named a 2000 Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title.

Professional Roles

Dr. Howard served as Deputy Editor of the American Sociological Association journal, Teaching Sociology (2003-09).  He is a Fellow of the P.A. Mack Center at Indiana University for Inquiry on Teaching and Learning.  He served as the 2006-07 President of the North Central Sociological Association and as an elected member of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation Board of Trustees (2004-2010).

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology & Criminology at Butler University. I am a socio-legal scholar exploring how legal, political, and social actors influence global and local institutions and organizations, producing social change or reproducing structural inequalities. Globally, I study how lawyers shape trade regimes between countries, which has contributed to today’s climate crisis. Locally, I analyze the mobilization against and governance of climate change in Brazil’s Amazon, where I was born and raised. My work has appeared in World Development, Sociology of Development, Law & Social Inquiry, University of Illinois Law Review, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and Cambridge University Press.

After moving from Brazil to the U.S., I earned my LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University Bloomington. In 2022-2023, I was a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. At IU-Bloomington, I remain affiliated with the Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes and the Maurer School of Law’s Stewart Center on the Global Legal Profession. I am currently co-editing a special issue of the Law & Society Review on Law in a Changing Climate.

You can find more information about Vitor at vitormartinsdias.github.io.

Dr. Katherine (Kate) Novak is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology where she teaches courses in criminology, mental illness, social psychology, research methods and statistics. She holds a B.A  in sociology and in psychology, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology, with a concentration in criminology, and a Ph.D. minor in Criminal Justice from Indiana University-Bloomington. 

Much of Dr. Novak’s current research focuses on adolescent and college student substance use and delinquency and has been published in academic journals such as Crime & Delinquency, Addictive Behaviors, Journal of Criminal Justice, Sociological Inquiry, Journal of Social Psychology, The Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, The Journal of Family Issues, The Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, and The Journal of Primary Prevention. She is the co-author of two textbooks- Individual and Society:  Sociological Social Psychology (with Lizabeth A. Crawford) and Applied Communication Research (with Judith M. Buddenbaum).  Additionally, Dr. Novak has collaborated with other faculty on research projects focusing on homelessness in Indianapolis, perceptions of crime and safety in the local community, immigrants’ perceptions of prejudice and discrimination, faculty work-load satisfaction, and student learning in a topically-focused introductory sociology course. She has published several class assignments and activities in TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology and serves on the advisory board for the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Novak regularly mentors students, supervising internships and directed research projects, and serving as the faculty advisor for department and university honors theses. Her students have presented their research at college and sociology conferences and to organizational leaders and administrators and have published papers in peer-reviewed research journals. 

Dr. Novak has received many internal grants for both research and teaching, and she has won a number of university awards.  She received the Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016 and the Liberal Arts and Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award in 2010 and 2003.

Recent Publications:

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2013.  Individual and Society: Sociological Social Psychology. Routledge/Taylor& Francis. [2nd edition released March 2018]  https://www.routledge.com/Individual-and-Society-Sociological-Social-Psychology-2nd-Edition/Crawford-Novak/p/book/9781138284692

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B. 2023. “Beliefs About Alcohol and the College Experience as Determinants of Academic and Social Outcomes Among Undergraduate Students.”  College Student Journal 56(4):371-381.

Kowalski, Jennifer R., Lineweaver, Tara L., and Novak, Katherine B.  2021.  “DevelopingIntegrative Thinking in Undergraduate Students through an Interdisciplinary General Education Course on Mental Illness.”  College Teaching.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87567555.2021.1982856\

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine, B.  2020.  “College Student Activities, Social Capital, and Drinking Behavior.”  Journal of Alcohol and Drug Eductation 64(1):9-32.

Crawford, Lizabeth A, Novak, Katherine B, and Rasitha R.Jayasekare.  2019. “Volunteerism, Alcohol Beliefs, and First-Year College Students’ Drinking Behaviors: Implications for Prevention.”  The Journal of Primary Prevention. Advanced On-line Publication.  https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s10935-019-00558-z?author_access_token=VsSE7FJJx4odI99TFRd2z_e4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY5U0p0vLjEfjXTWGPJg3fnUs7hDFpqWDQBu-3S9HNrZBdSXHQeiJNHtTScfiJScXxZnrFgi8YqhWDnMn4l9SXYNcCZl9aE9GpZQl-UpIAGxcA%3D%3D

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2018. “Being with Friends and the Potential for Binge Drinking During the First College Semester.”  Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition 30(2):79-96.

Crawford, Lizabeth A., Novak, Katherine B., and Foston, Amia K. 2016 (online)/ 2018 (print).“Routine Activities and Delinquency: The Significance of Bonds to Society and Peer Context.”  Crime & Delinquency 64(4):472-509.

Howard, Jay R., Novak, Katherine B., Scott, Marvin B. and Cline, Krista M.C.  2014. “Another Nibble at the Core: Student Learning in a Topically-Focused Introductory Sociology Course.”  Teaching Sociology 42(3):177-186.

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2013. “The Effects of Public Self-Consciousness and Embarrassability on College Student Drinking: Evidence in Support of a Protective Self-Presentational Model.”  The Journal of Social Psychology 153(1):109-122.

Crawford, Lizabeth A. and Novak, Katherine B.  2011.  “Beliefs about Alcohol and the College Experience, Locus of Self, and College Undergraduates’ Drinking Patterns.”  Sociological Inquiry 81(4):477-494.

Crawford, Lizabeth A., and Novak, Katherine B.  2010. “Beliefs about Alcohol and the College Experience as Moderators of the Effects of Perceived Campus Drinking Norms on Levels of Alcohol Use among College Undergraduates. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education. 54(3):69-96.

Novak, Katherine B.and Crawford, L. A.  2010.  “Routine Activities as Determinants of Gender Differences in Delinquency. Journal of Criminal Justice 38(5):913-920.

Menendez-Alarcon, Antonio V. and Novak, Katherine B.  2010. “Latin American Immigrants in Indianapolis: Perceptions of Prejudice and Discrimination.”  Latino Studies. 8:93-120.

Alex Roehrkasse is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology. He is faculty fellow at the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab and a faculty affiliate in the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies programs. 

Alex’s research focuses on inequality, crime and punishment, families and children, and quantitative and historical methods. He is particularly interested in the ways that families interact with the legal, criminal justice, and child welfare systems with consequences for racial, class, and gender equity and child well-being.

Alex teaches courses on introductory sociology, sociological theory, research methods, social statistics, victimization, incarceration and inequality, and prison abolition, among others.

Before joining the faculty at Butler, Alex held postdoctoral fellowships at Cornell and Duke Universities. He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and an A.B. in economics from Brown University. More information about Alex’s research and teaching is available at alexr.info.