RICHARD PITT
Ph.D. University of Arizona, 2003
TITLE:   Assistant Professor
OFFICE:   311 Garland Hall
EMAIL  r.pitt@vanderbilt.edu
PHONE:  615-322-7530
CV:  RichardPittCV.pdf

HONORS, AWARDS, GRANTS RECEIVED

"Double Majors: Identities, Impacts, and Influences" Teagle Foundation; 12/01/2007-11/30/2010, $194,724 (with Steven Tepper,
Co-PI)

UA Dean's Summer Research Fellowship, University of Arizona, 2002

Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, National Research Council. 1999-2002

UA College of SBS Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, 2002

UA Department of Sociology Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, 2002

COURSES TAUGHT

UNDERGRADUATE:

  Schools and Society
  Racial and Ethic Minorities in the US
  Gender in Society
  Families and Households
  Sociology of Religion

GRADUATE:

  Sociology of Religion
  Sociology of Education


RESEARCH INTERESTS

Sociology of Education: Human capital accumulation, higher education access and diversity, academic identity
Sociology of Religion: Religious professionals, identity and behavior incongruence
Sociology of Gender: Men and masculinities, sexual and gender identity, intersections of family and work
Social Psychology: Identity work, cognitive dissonance, accounts

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

"Divine Callings: Understanding The Call To Ministry In Black Pentecostalism” (NYU Press, 2012) uses a series of more than 100 in-depth interviews with African-American ministers to examine how they negotiate their pursuit of a "call" to religious labor with the educational deficiencies, gender discriminations, and constrained labor market that threatens both the legitimacy and the pursuit of those callings. The book also draws on a number of social psychological theories to explain how interactions with "God" and their religious community create the belief that they are "called to the ministry."

"Double Majors: Influences, Identities, and Impacts” is the first study to explore the growing, and surprisingly unexamined, phenomenon of multiple majoring on college campuses. Professor Pitt (with Professor Tepper) uses various kinds of data, including 1800 surveys, 200 transcripts, and focus groups, to study the impetus for and impact of double majors. An important component of their research is the way this trend is stratified by race (Blacks double major less than other groups), gender (women double major less than men), and class (low SES students double major less than those with higher SES)."

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

"Killing the Messenger: Gay Black Men's Negotiation of Anti-Gay Religious Messages." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.(2010)

"Still Looking for My Jonathan: Gay Black Men's Management of Religious and Sexual Identity Conflicts." Journal of Homosexuality.(2010)

"Revisiting Hypermasculinity: Shorthand for Marginalized Masculinities?" In Where Are the Brothers: Essays and Studies on African American Masculinities.(2010, with George Sanders)

"Someone Else's Shoes: Stakeholder Debates as a Means of Engaging Student Learning of Complex Social Problems." Teaching Sociology.(2010, with Josh Packard)

"Bachelorhood and Men's Traditional Gender Role Ideology." Journal of Men's Studies.(2008, with Elizabeth Borland)

"Downlow Mountain? De/Stigmatizing Bisexuality Through Pitying and Pejorative Discourses in Popular Media." Journal of Men's Studies.(2006)

"From the Bench to the Paddle" in Judging School Discipline: The Crisis of Moral Authority in American Schools Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (2003, with Richard Arum and Jenn Thompson)

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Vanderbilt University Graduate School - Assistant Dean (2006-2009)

American Men's Studies Association - Executive Board (2006-2010)

American Sociological Association - Cox, Johnson, Frazier Award Committee (2009-2012); Organizer Regular Sessions on Religion (2009) and Masculinities (2006)

Southern Sociological Society - Program Committee (2007-2008); Committee on the Status of Students (2005-2007)