Tina Fetner
Professor | Chair of the Department of Sociology
Area(s) of Interest: Gender and Sexuality, Political Sociology and Social Movements, Social Inequality Dr. Tina Fetner, Associate Professor of Sociology at McMaster University, will lead the team. Her expertise is in the sociology of sexualities, social movements, and political sociology. Her research employs qualitative, quantitative, and historical methods to examine a number of issues related to social change and sexuality. Her qualitative work includes an examination of the meanings of marriage and the wedding ritual in the context of legal recognition of same-sex marriage, as well as several studies of the impact of gay-straight alliances on youth in high school. Her quantitative work is focused on the social determinants of changing social attitudes toward lesbian and gay people.
Melanie Heath
Associate Professor | Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences
Area(s) of Interest: Gender and Sexuality, Political Sociology and Social Movements, Race and Ethnicity, Social Inequality Dr. Melanie Heath is Associate Professor of Sociology at McMaster University with expertise in sexualities, gender, family, the welfare state, social policy, culture, and qualitative methods. Her research has incorporated ethnography, in-depth interviews, content analysis, and archival research to study the connections between the state regulation and transformations in sexuality, gender, and family. Her expertise in qualitative methods—she is co-author of a book that provides a step-by-step guide on how to conduct qualitative research (Sage 2016) – provides a unique set of skills to the design and analysis of this project.
Michelle L. Dion
Ph.D. Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel HIll, 2002
Professor | Senator Wm. McMaster Chair in Gender & Methodology
Area(s) of Interest: Comparative Politics, Gender & Politics, Globalization, Public Policy, Social & Health Policy Dr. Michelle L. Dion is Associate Professor of Political Science at McMaster University with expertise in the politics of social insurance and policy, comparative historical research based on archival evidence and elite interviews, research design, survey experiments and analysis, and advanced quantitative methods. Dr. Dion has substantive expertise on welfare regimes and popular attitudes toward social and sexuality policy.