Contributors

Victor Tan Chen is an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) who studies economic inequality and labor markets. He has authored three books: The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America (with Katherine S. Newman), named a Library Journal best business book of the year; Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy, for which he received the John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award; and Organizational Imaginaries: Tempering Capitalism and Tending to Communities through Cooperatives and Collectivist Democracy (with Katherine K. Chen), which received the Joyce Rothschild Book Prize. Chen’s work has been featured in the Atlantic, New York Times, BBC News, Fortune, and NPR. He is also the editor in chief of In The Fray, an award-winning magazine devoted to personal stories on global issues. You can read more about his work at victortanchen.com.

Gabriela León-Pérez is an assistant professor of sociology at VCU. Her scholarly interests lie at the intersection of the sociology of migration, Latino sociology, and medical sociology. Specifically, Gabriela’s research explores the determinants of migration from Latin America to the United States, as well as how social and contextual factors shape the health and integration of Latino immigrants and their children. At VCU, she teaches courses on research methods, immigration, and racial and ethnic health disparities. She also provides research mentorship to undergraduate and graduate students through her Migration and Health Equity Lab. You can read more about her work at gleonperez.weebly.com.

Julie Honnold is a professor emerita of sociology at VCU. She taught all of the undergraduate and graduate research methods courses offered by the department numerous times over several decades. Her primary research activities have been conducted as a methodologist and data analyst with the VCU Survey and Evaluation Research Laboratory (SERL). Since the early 1980s, she has been involved in a wide variety of projects for local, state, and national clients, using a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Her most extensive experience at SERL has been on policy-related projects in the areas of sexuality, youth risk behavior, and HIV/AIDS. In addition, she frequently works as a data analyst on joint projects.

Volkan Aytar is a teaching faculty member at VCU Sociology and a Fulbright scholar. His PhD degree is from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He has studied gentrification and leisure consumption in multicultural cities, such as Istanbul and Amsterdam. He teaches classes on research methods, the sociology of food, and media and society, as well as introduction to sociology and theory courses. Previously, he was the director of the Creative Industries Center at Bahcesehir University (BAU) in Turkey, and he served as the chair of the university’s Department of New Media. He was also a guest researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Ethnic and Religious Diversity in Goettingen, Germany. You can read more about his work at volkanaytar.academia.edu.

Visual Design

Bizhan Khodabandeh is a visual communicator who moves freely across professional boundaries as a designer, illustrator, artist, and cartoonist.  Khodabandeh is particularly fascinated by how art and design can be a catalyst for social change. He has received recognition for his work as both an illustrator and designer from various institutions, such as the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Society of Illustrators, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Creativity International, the International Design Awards, Adbusters, and Creative Quarterly. Khodabandeh is currently an assistant professor at VCU’s Robertson School of Media and Culture and freelances under the name Mended Arrow. You can read more about his work at mendedarrow.com.

Technology

Tom Woodward is the director of learning spaces and technologies at Middlebury College. He has been working at the intersection of education and technology for more than 20 years.

Copyright and Open Licensing

Jessica Kirschner is the digital publishing coordinator at VIVA, where she manages the open educational resources (OER) publishing efforts of Virginia’s academic library consortium. Jessica began her career working in the acquisitions department at SUNY Press. Since transitioning to librarianship, she has held various positions focusing on publishing and open education—including, most recently, serving as the OER librarian at VCU.